Vincent Edwards more comfortable on ankle, excited for another impact NCAAs

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DETROIT — The buzzer had just sounded, and folks were beckoning Vincent Edwards toward center court.

But he didn’t want to just end Purdue’s open practice Thursday on a jump shot.

So he pulled Carsen Edwards aside and approached the basket and chatted about an approach. A practice pass judged height and distance.

Then, the buzzer. Then, the Edwardses looked and wondered if they should abandon the task.

They didn’t.

Vincent slipped down the lane, and Carsen flipped the ball high above the rim, and Vincent pushed off the ground and shot toward the sky.

Quick and fierce like.

In other words, old Vincent Edwards like.

He leaped and grabbed the pass above the rim. He missed the alley-oop-type dunk, but maybe that’s not the point. Maybe the point is Vincent got above the rim and even had a chance.

He couldn’t say that two weeks ago, not with a bum ankle that was throbbing.

Ashamedly so.

"It was embarrassing — Carsen threw me an alley-oop against Rutgers, one of the first possessions of the game, and I just had to lay it in," said Vincent Edwards, referencing Purdue's first game in the Big Ten Tournament March 2. "That hurt me on the inside more than people know."

But a 12-day layoff from games has Vincent Edwards rejuvenated and eager.

He knows he'll be pivotal piece to Purdue's run in the NCAA Tournament, starting with Friday's game against Cal State Fullerton, and he's happy to say he'll be able to do it with an ankle rated at "89, 90 percent."

Just weeks ago, that wasn’t the case, even though he opted not to sit for the Big Ten Tournament when he could have. Maybe even should have, with that ankle still swollen, forced inside a brace and a shoe nonetheless.

Instead, Edwards played. Even though he couldn’t cut well. Even though he couldn’t jump-stop well — evidence when he was called for a travel against Michigan when his ankle buckled when he tried to stop). Even though he couldn’t get bounce to grab important rebounds.

But with some rest, continued treatment and, simply, time without games, Edwards has made progress.

“I feel great mentally,” he said Thursday from inside Purdue’s locker room. “Excited to have a couple practices and be able to start jumping again and being able to move really well. I think that’s been great for me. Talking with (athletic trainer) Chad (Young), he was happy to see I was actually jumping and dunking and doing things in practice again.

“That’s very exciting for me.”

For the Boilermakers, too.

A healthy Edwards has been a productive one, generally speaking but especially as it relates to the NCAA Tournament.

Edwards’ career averages minus his five NCAA Tournament games are good: 11.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, 47-percent shooting, 39-percent three-point shooting.

But he’s been an elite-level player during Madness: 17.6 points, 8.0 rebounds, 52 percent (38 percent threes).

“When the lights are shining, he likes that moment,” teammate P.J. Thompson said. “He wants to be special. I know he lives for March. He wants to perform at a high level.”

That’s certainly a consistent goal for Edwards, but his versatility may be at its most valuable in the NCAAs.

He’s a 6-foot-8 wing who can create his own shots — a prime commodity in the tournament — by posting up smaller guys or pulling bigger ones out to the perimeter to stick shots or take them off the dribble. He can crash the boards with anyone. He can facilitate offense, too, with a savvy and great decision-making skills.

And though he can deliver the wow-type of play on occasion — he has had some impressive dunks this season and in his career — he mostly seems very workmanlike. And that’s impressive in its own way.

“He does a lot of everything,” teammate Ryan Cline said. “There are games he’s close to throwing up a triple-double and you just look up and you’re like, ‘Wait. He did that? It was quiet.’

“He’s been great for us. ... For us to make a deep run, he’s going to have to be there and be our leader.”

Edwards wants to set that leadership example right away in one area: Effort. Maybe especially because of how he finished his last game.

In the Big Ten Tournament championship against Michigan, Coach Matt Painter sent Edwards to the bench and kept him there for the final seven minutes, citing lack of effort. Ultimately, Edwards admitted his ankle was hurting and he, simply, couldn’t do what he’d been accustomed to doing, not just in practical ways but in that effort, too.

Edwards promises to leave no such concerns open for interpretation in the next several weeks.

He said, generally, he has a “sense of urgency” in the Tournament — that’s maybe why he’s so good in it — but he “for sure” won’t leave doubts about efforts in this final stretch.

And, more than that, he wants to leave few doubting his importance to this program and this team’s tournament run, which they expect to be significant.

“My productivity level as a player has to be as high as it can be in order for us to be successful,” he said. “I can’t have non-productive minutes out here. Somewhere, somehow, I’ve got to be impacting the game. It doesn’t have to be scoring, but I have to do it in some type of area.”

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