#jadenivey

Welcome to the Big Ten Jaden Ivey! You could see the improvement as the season has gone on, but if you weren't familiar how about the big finish at Ohio State? After going 0-4 from deep in the game, and some ugly misses at that, Ivey had eight of Purdue's final 13 points including the game winner.

Ivey is fearless and already has coach Painter's confidence as he put the ball in Ivey's hand on the take out for the last possession. Painter has also said he's the most talented guard on the team already, as a true freshman. It's because the coach has already developed a player very similar to Ivey, Carsen Edwards.

Boogie was an unheralded recruit out of Texas that turned in to an all-time Purdue great, and I'll die on that hill. In case you forgot, turn on the 2018-19 March Madness tournament and watch him carry Purdue to half a second from the Final 4. Edwards is in the NBA and if you squint while watching the Boilers this year,you see a young Edwards back in West Lafayette.

Watching Carsen as a freshman made you pull your hair out at times with his aggressiveness. Edwards was able to get to the cup but seemed out of control a fair amount of times. He would take drives and deep shots that would lead to empty possessions and frustrate when you had Caleb Swanigan and an upperclassmen dominated team. However, he wasn't afraid of the moment and showed fans the ability to do something a lot of Purdue players can't, drive to the hoop and finish.

I would describe Ivey the exact same way. I've had my fair share of 'That was an ugly shot Jaden.' already this season, but that doesn't stop him. 0-4 from deep against Ohio State and he still shot the last two with conviction and had no doubt. He also drove to the hoop to create offense and made a tough backboard shot late in the 2nd half.

Carsen's freshman year he was third on the team in turnovers and Ivey is currently third on the team in turnovers, but Painter was smart not to turn off their aggressiveness. For his freshman season Carsen Edwards finished with 10.3 points per game, 38.2% from the field, 34% from 3 and 74.3% from the line. On the season Jaden Ivey is 6.4 points per game, 37.5% from the field, 18.5% from 3 and 55% from the foul line, though he has been in double digits in two games of the four game winning streak with 15 against the Buckeyes.

Edwards' final season had him at 24.3 points per game, 39.4% from the field, 35.5% from deep and 83.7% from the charity stripe. That was Edwards as the number one assignment for defenses, but the year before he went for 18.5 points per game, 45.8% from the field, 40.6% from 3 and 82.4% from the free throw line. Carsen came to West Lafayette as a better shooter but Ivey is bigger than Boogie.