Purdue

Welcome back for another amazing season. This is a segment where we cover seniors from different conferences. Purdue will be starting us off with a fantastic season to come for the Big Ten.

Eric Hunter Jr. 2 Guard

6’4 170 lbs

Stats

• In high school, he was named the 2017 Indianapolis City Player of the Year. Eric also led Tindley Prep to its first state title in school history after averaging 25.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting over 53 percent from 3-point range as a junior. Eric was ranked as a 4-star shooting guard by Rivals in high school.
• He chose Purdue over offers from Minnesota, Nebraska, Butler, Ohio State and Creighton.
• As a freshman in college, Eric appeared in all 37 games, averaging 2.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game in 12.6 minutes per game.
• As a sophomore Eric started in 30 of 31 games he played.
• He ranked second on the team in scoring (10.6 PPG), assists (82), steals (32) and 3-pointers made (43) and shot 41.5 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from long distance and 76.1 percent from the free throw line.
• As a junior, he appeared in 23 games with 22 starts, missing the first five games of the season with a knee injury suffered in preseason and averaged 8.5 points, 2.8 assists and 2.2 rebounds per game in 30.5 minutes per contest.

Outlook

Eric is poised to have an outstanding year as he is likely to start at point guard. He should increase his scoring and assist totals this year and help lead the Boilermakers to a successful season.

Interesting Info

Eric was born on January 23, 1999 to the parents of Eric Sr. and Bridgett Hunter. He enjoys drawing and painting portraits. Eric is also majoring in selling and sales management.

Trevion Williams 50 Forward

6’10 265 lbs

• Throughout high school, Trevion was named Team MVP three times and won the Leadership Award twice and Mr. Metro once.
• Trevion is a tremendous passer and has great footwork for a player his size and was even invited to the prestigious NBPA Top 100 Camp last June. 
• However he fractured a foot in the first game of the state tournament, hampering his summer production but still averaged 7.8 points and 8.6 rebounds in just 11.4 minutes per game for The Family in Nike EYBL play last summer, while still recovering from his injury.
• Trevion surpassed 1,000 career points at Henry Ford in Feb. 2018. He averaged 22 points and 25 rebounds per game at Henry Ford Academy in Detroit as a junior.
• Trevion was named the Michigan Metro Athletic Conference Player of the Year as a junior. 
• He led team to the 2018 district championship and was a finalist for Michigan’s Mr. Basketball and was named first-team All-State. 
• As a freshman in college, he averaged 20.3 points (2nd on team) and 15.8 rebounds per 40 minutes played.
• In games that he played at least 12 minutes, Purdue went 11-3. However when he didn’t play as much, Purdue went 15-7. His 54.2 percent shooting from the field was the eighth-best percentage by a freshman in school history.
• Trevion appeared in 34 games and averaged 5.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
• As a sophomore, Trevion had 18 points with 16 rebounds at Nebraska. Ten of the rebounds were on the offensive end, tying the school record.
• He recorded eight double-doubles that season with six being conference play.
• He scored 36 points with 20 rebounds and two assists in a double-overtime loss at Michigan and became the first Purdue player since 1971 to post a 35-20 game and recorded the only 35-20 game in the country in 2019-20.
• Trevion was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten after averaging 11.5 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in 21.4 minutes per outing.
• As a junior, he had six 20-10 games, good for third among all high-major players. He had 11 double-doubles. He ranked ninth in the Big Ten in scoring and second in rebounding and had 255 rebounds, the 20th most in a season in Purdue history. 
• Trevion now enters his senior season, needing 33 points for 1,000 in his career and his 630 rebounds are the fifth most for a Purdue player through three seasons.

Outlook

Trevion should surpass the 1000 point plateau early in the season and lead the offensive attack once again.

Interesting Info

One of his role models is the great Caleb Swanigan. Trevion was born to the parents of Shawndra Lewis and Theodore Williams on September 16, 2000. He enjoys singing and is majoring in retail management.

Sasha Stefanovic 55 Guard

6’5 200 lbs

• Throughout high school, Sasha, played on the Eric Gorden All-Stars in AAU competition.
• He was named an Indiana All-Star following his senior campaign and was a Supreme 15 All-State honoree, as well as AP third-team All-State, the Post-Tribune and Northwest Indiana Times Player of the Year, the conference MVP and team MVP.
• Sasha was also a four-year letter-winner at Crown Point High School.
• He was also a member of National Honor Society.
• As a freshman, Sasha red shirted.
• As a sophomore, he appeared in all 36 games, averaging 2.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.
• He shot 25-of-61 from 3-point range which was the fourth-best 3-point percentage by a freshman in Purdue history.
• Sasha stared 22 games his sophomore season, averaging 9.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game.
• He appeared in 30 of 31 games. He made 64 of 167 shots from long range, and was fifth in the Big Ten and fourth in 3-point percentage.
• Sasha connected on a game-winning 3-pointer with just over 3 seconds to play in a 61-58 win over Northwestern.
• As a junior, Sasha appeared in 25 games with 21 starts. Sadly he missed three games in late January, early February due to sickness.
• Sasha once again connected on a huge 3-pointer with under a minute to play in a 67-65 win over No. 15 Ohio State on the road. That tied the game at 64, setting up Jaden Ivey’s heroics.
• They were named to the Big Ten’s All-Academic Team.

Outlook

This year we should see Sasha come out strong this year. We are likely to see him take off with 3-pointers and dominate. He is a very import part of this team.

Interesting Info

Sasha was born to the parents of Lou and Helen Stefanovic. He was born on November 29, 1998. Sasha is majoring in finance, he enjoys golf and ping pong.

Jared Wulburn 14 Guard

5’10 170 lbs.

• In high school, Jared was a two time varsity letterwinner for the Vikings basketball program and was named second team all-conference.
• He served as the team captain and is the all-time leader in charges taken. Jared led his team to go back to back state championship final fours trips.
• Jared graduated Palo Alto High School in 2018.
• As a freshman in college, Jared played in all 25 games with 23 starts at Cal Lutheran as a freshman.
• Averaging 27.3 minutes per game, 6.6 points while shooting 37.9 percent from the field.
• Jared also connected on 43 3-pointers while also shooting 35.8-percent from beyond the arc.
• He shot 80.8 percent from the free throw line (21 of 26) and also averaged 1.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. 
• Now his sophomore year wasn’t as exciting. Jared only appeared in nine games, averaging 0.3 points and 0.2 assists per game.
• He made his line basket of the year with a 3-pointer.
• As for his junior year, Jared only appeared in two games, playing a total of five minutes.
• The team was named to the Big Ten’s All Academic Team.

Outlook

This year, Jared should play in lots more games and score lots of points.

Interesting Info

Jared was born on December 24, 1999 to the parents of Jennie and Jeff Wulburn. He is majoring in organizational leadership. Jeff, his father, was named the men’s basketball head coach at the University of Denver in March 2021.