"It's crazy," Zach Edey says from the Hawaii weight room after Purdue pulled off the victory over Gonzaga. "Every time he touches the ball he shoots it. It's a special talent."

Edey is smiling, sharing a laugh at the expense of his true freshman guard, Myles Colvin, who for the second straight game knocked down multiple late game three-pointers to close out an opponent. Colvin, head down looking at his phone on a weight bench, doesn't hear Edey. If he does hear Edey, he's not reacting. The same way he barely reacts on the court. The same way he barely reacts off the court.


The true freshman, whether through osmosis or learning from his father, a Purdue legend, Roosevelt Colvin, doesn't let the moment get to him. He doesn't let anything get to him.

"I think it's just sticking to my routine, my shooting mechanics," Colvin says to the media, the last of the players to speak to media before Purdue goes to eat and rest up before its second game of the Maui Invitational tomorrow against Tennessee.


"I think it's just me being able to play defense," he'll say later, again his voice not rising. Colvin hasn't expressed an emotion past mild enjoyment as he talks to us. Media has that effect on players, I suppose, but Colvin goes beyond. He doesn't raise in decibel or demeanor.

"I'm more focused on defense because I tend to do better on offense when I'm locked in and focus on defense," Colvin says, again asked in some way of how he does this. Rising to the occasion, making big shots late, all as someone that just recently turned 18.

Colvin was always likely to be great, but this timeline seems aggressive. The true freshman is shooting better than 50% from three and helping close out big time opponents on big time stages.

"He doesn't realize they're big shots, but they were," Matt Painter says towards the end of his press conference after the game.

The lone true freshman for 2023 was always gonna be special, he's just that talented, but his transition to closer this early in his career bodes well for a Purdue team that seems to be finding ways to win they didn't have last year, and last year's team won a lot.