My Favorite Photos From The 2023-2024 Purdue Basketball Season

This was a fun year to make photos around the Purdue basketball program. They had a historic season that ended at the National Championship game. I really enjoyed seeing friends on TV during the big game living out dreams. The best part about this season is that in addition to being great basketball players this team also was full of really good guys. That made them very easy to root for. In 2005 I moved back to Indiana and bought Purdue basketball tickets with the purpose of getting better football seats. It was Matt Painters first season as a coach, and I quickly fell in love with how his team played. It was great seeing him get his team into the Final Four this year. It is hard to take all of the photos from a season and cull them into a post like this one. This year I tried to just find stories or moments that made this season so much fun.

I want to start with this photo. It was a long time coming. I waited a long time to finally get to photograph the confetti after a Purdue championship. Last year I was not able to get a pass, and it was really deflating to think that all my years of work with the department meant nothing. It was a painful lesson that in this business you have to always be out for yourself. This year I found a way into the stadium through the wire and I was finally able to make my confetti photos. Hopefully it is the first of many times that I will be able to do this.

Zach Edey was the best player in the country, and he was also probably the most fouled. You know that you are doing something special when the game is called differently for you. It is amazing that he was able to be on the floor as long as he was every game with the effort that he had to constantly show every game. I made it a point this season to try and show some of the battles that he would find himself in. Above are a few of my favorites.

This is a two part photo story. The top photo was my last sports photo of 2023. I loved watching how much Zach Edey interacted with the fans. The reigning and future player of the year would spend hours signing autographs and posing for photos with fans after the games. I wanted to document that. I thought that I had made the photo early in the years. After Purdue clinched their 26th Big Ten title I made a similar photo with the championship gear on. There were many reasons why Zach was a fun player to cover. This is just one of them.

Late in the year I had a 400mm lens to play around with during the games. It was not good for many photos, but it did help me make some that I really liked. Here Lance Jones is every student in the stands as he cheers for a chance at free chicken as part of a promotion. He might have been the reason why the second free throw was missed and the crowd got their free chicken.

As the season moves on you start to try and find new ways to show familiar moments. I fell back on an old idea here and it really turned into a photo that I really liked. Some new signage in the background really made this a photo that I liked from the season.

Braden Smith might be one of the more under appreciated players in college basketball. This year he was doing things that only one other person had ever done. That person was Magic Johnson. If you are doing that then I think you should be a star. He is still a sophomore though so he has time to get his name and number in the rafters before it is all said and done.

After a big win against Indiana I made this photo of Zach Edey with a softening filter on my camera. I love the way that the lights look here. I don’t know that it is the best that I ever made, but it is one of my favorites from the season.

My favorite game of the year is the t-shirt game. I don’t get much use from wide photos now, but I still made a point to get up there to make some during the early part of the game. Mackey is a great place, and I need to find ways to show it off more often.

A Zach Edey dunk was the photo that you wanted from every game. If he was facing your direction that was even better.  Here are three of my favorite dunks by Zach from this past season.

Lance Jones quickly became one of my favorite players to photograph. He played the game with a joy that just looked great on camera. He also had the game to back it up. Here he leaves a Michigan player in the dust on his way to the basket.

During his high school days I saw lots of great photos of Ethan Morton from Steph Chambers. My goal was to try and make something as good as her. I don’t think that I ever did it, but I like this pregame image. It is a fun moment with a key part of this team.

Caleb Furst might be best known for his videos around Christmas, but he is a heck of a ballplayer as well. I was really happy for him when he had the chance to lay down a monster dunk.

When the three point shooter takes it to the rack it can change everything. Here Fletcher Loyer does just that against Illinois. I really  like how everything came together here.

This might have been my most popular image from the season. Against rival Indiana Zach hit the only three pointer of his college career.  I went wider with my 50mm for the moment trying to get more of the crowd into my image. I really like how this turned out.

Just when you think that the dunks from the big man might be done you realize that big things are ahead for next year as well. Here Will Berg gets into the action early in the year.

We will keep the dunk theme going with this huge dunk by Myles Colvin. He has the potential to be one of those guys that just gives out great photos. I can’t wait to see what he does during his sophomore season.

I think that we will be waiting a while to find someone as good as we had with Zach. Both on and off the court he really was what I had always hoped a Purdue player would be. A great player and a great person. I can’t wait to see what he can do at the next level.

This was an early season remote image that I really liked. TKR throws down a huge slate with the beauty of Mackey in the background. I really like this photo.

I want to finish where my involvement with this team finished. I was not going to miss the scene at the airport as Purdue returned following their win in Detroit that would send them to the Final Four. It was a historic moment that I wanted to a be a part of. It was fun to see the players enjoying the moment as the fans gave them some love.

This was a great season that we will not soon forget. This team took Purdue to heights that it has not been to in over fifty years. After the game in Arizona I saw headlines that said that UConn ended Purdue’s season. They played as long as they could have played. It was a fun ride to watch. The best part about all of this is that I have a feeling that we will see things like this more often. I think that this program is just getting started.