WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — The Purdue University men’s basketball team is hoping to get back to the Final Four for the second straight year.

That journey “officially” began on Monday when the Boilermakers had their first official practice for the upcoming season.

“Obviously you guys like the first day of practice, but for us, we’ve been going,” Purdue junior guard Fletcher Loyer said. “We’ve been getting ready to go. Just getting back out here with the guys, it’s another good day.”

Loyer, who started all 39 games for the Boilers last season, spoke with News 8 Sports’ Andrew Chernoff live on News 8 Monday at 5 p.m. after the team concluded practice.

Chernoff and Loyer discussed a variety of topics, including how the team plans to fill the void left by players like Zach Edey, who was picked by the Memphis Grizzlies in this June’s NBA Draft, Lance Jones and Mason Gillis.

“You got to fill in those pieces,” Loyer said. “And we got other guys that really stepped up for us and played huge roles.”

Edey will go down as one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. He’s the two-time defending National Player of the Year. Last season, he averaged 25.2 points and 12.2 rebounds per game.

His departure means that the current roster will need to learn how to play with Edey no longer on the same court.

“We’re going to have to play a lot harder,” Loyer said. “Obviously, we don’t have (a) 30-and-10 (points-and-rebounds) guy (Edey) every, single night. So, we’re going to figure out how we’re going to make up for those points and rebounds, figuring out how we’re going to to make up for his energy he brought each and every night.”

That energy helped the Boilermakers advance to the 2024 Final Four in Glendale, Ariz. It was Purdue’s third trip to the Final Four in program history.

Loyer told Chernoff that the experience this past April proved to him just how hard teams have to work throughout the entire year.

“We know what it takes to get there,” Loyer said. “Obviously my freshman year, we fell short of our goal, and we worked a lot harder in the offseason. Last year we made it where we wanted to make it, but we didn’t finish the job.”

Purdue begins the regular season on Nov. 4 against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi inside Mackey Arena.