Here's What Purdue Coach Matt Painter Said After Win Over Rutgers on Friday
CHICAGO — Purdue has struggled to beat Rutgers lately, losing five of the last six meetings prior to Friday afternoon's quarterfinal game in the Big Ten Tournament.
But the top-seeded Boilermakers got the job done, beating Rutgers 70-65 to advance to Saturday's semifinals. Coach Matt Painter met with the media afterward. Here is the transcript of his press conference.
MATT PAINTER: I'm proud of our guys for hanging in there. Obviously, we had some Keystone Cops moments in the last three minutes, but I thought our effort was really good. I thought we embraced the physicality. Rutgers had beaten us five out of our last six games, and most of them have been really close games. I just thought they had a little bit more edge than we've had here the past three, four years in the games, and just thought they were a little bit tougher than we were. Not to say we were tougher than them tonight, but we were much better than we've been. We just had to be a little grimy. These guys right here (Mason Gillis and David Jenkins Jr.) stepped up and made big shots. David made three threes. Mason had a huge game. That's what you've got to be able to do. We have put together a team that has elite size, but then we have a lot of skill around it. That's something for me that we've just got to stay with, but then we've got to be grimy and tough on the defensive end. So, a huge win for us. We've got all the respect for Coach (Steve Pikiell) and what he's done at Rutgers. Really amazing what he's done at Rutgers. They're obviously an NCAA Tournament team, and I think they could do some real damage. Just proud of our guys for hanging in there and making plays and competing today.
QUESTION: Matt, you guys took notice of the fact that you only had one player on the All-Big Ten Team. What does a game like this tell people about your team? Because usually it's Zach (Edey) and usually Braden (Smith) up here talking to us.
PAINTER: I just think we have good balance. I always talk about how everybody's going to have to sacrifice to be able to win big, and then if you win big collectively, you get individual honors, where obviously that goes against my theory for a couple of our guys. It's a collection of votes. It isn't one person voting. So it's a little bit different. It's a lot of people's opinion in there. And then with the coaches, you've got biased opinions. Like I'm a biased voter toward my guys, right? And rightfully so. Guys sacrifice for you. Guys play for you. But when you win a championship by three games, I would hope people can kind of open their eyes to it. I'm not asking you guys to open your eyes to it because you've never been in my position, but the people that have been in my position, they would like to be a Big Ten champion, and some of them have and some of them haven't. So when you kind of look at it that way, that to me kind of takes a step back because like that's how I vote at the end.I think I got to seven or eight people that I thought automatically are the top seven or eight, and then when I went from eight to 15, a big part of what I think is who wins and who doesn't win. You can average 18, 19 points, and if you're not going to any postseason, I just can't vote for you. That doesn't mean you're not a good player, but that's the way I'm wired.
Q: That in-game situation with the technical foul on Zach, what explanation did you get? Is that what you want your guys to do?
PAINTER: They went to the monitor and said he hit him in the head. If they go to the monitor, he obviously must have. I don't see them making it up. Can I take that back? (Laughter). What does a judge say? Can you please retract that? No, you've got to trust them when they go to the monitor to be able to get that right. But it's on the other end, so it's hard for me to see.
Q: You have two very talented freshmen guards (in Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer). They've had some good games, had some not so good games. Today it was veteran guards, Ethan (Morton) and David (Jenkins), doing a lot of good things. How important is it when you get to this point of the season that you have veterans who have done this before?
PAINTER: No question. David gave us a spark. He's done that three games, where he's been 3-for-3 from three. That's huge at the end of those shot clocks being able to make those tough threes. Ethan has been great for our program. Obviously we took him out of the starting lineup, and he's played really well since then. He has the same attitude, the same approach defensively. He hits two big threes at Wisconsin for us. He hits two big threes today. It's great to see him step up and knock those shots down. Both of those guys have been great. That's what having a great team does. It's frustrating when you don't get the minutes and you're capable. A lot of times people that are frustrated with things, normally they're just not quite ready. On a deep team, you're going to have people — I've got guys playing under 10 minutes that are really good players, but when Mason plays that way, it's going to shorten some people's minutes. And obviously, Zach always shortens people's minutes.
Q: What was the problem with your guys' start tonight, and how did you kind of get your footing?
PAINTER: I thought we had some pretty good looks. We were a little careless on a couple of turnovers, but I thought we had some pretty good looks. So kind of just hanging in there. We had a couple of defensive breakdowns.But it's part of a game. Sometimes you get off to those starts, and it's the worst thing you could possibly do, but who wouldn't want to be up 12-4? You always want to be the team that's up 12-4. You have to stay in it, stay process based in that situation.I don't think it's anything they were doing. They have really struggled offensively, so we really wanted to get them off the arc and make it difficult for them and get them in the tough twos and keep them out of the paint. When they get the ball in the paint, they have more success, like everybody does.
Q: Going into the next game (Saturday), what are the big key takeaways from this game that you want to work on for the semis?
PAINTER: Obviously, just at the end and taking care of the basketball. I thought, if we could take care of the basketball and pass and catch and handle their pressure, we did some good things getting it. Like we make one shovel pass and don't see that somebody's behind them, we make another pass where a guy doesn't come to the ball, make another pass, dribble it up the court across our body. So just be fundamentally sound. You sound like you're 80 years old when you're telling them to jump-stop and be fundamentally sound, but it's careless passing, and you have to be better with it. No matter what style we'll see tomorrow and what they will do, you've got to take care of the basketball. So I think that's first and foremost.But just building on it. We had some guys that had good games, build on it. We had a couple other guys that didn't have the best game, it's all right. It's all right when you still advance. So just learn from it and get better and be ready to play. Everybody that played today will play tomorrow.
Q: We saw a lot of different combinations on the perimeter for you guys, probably more than what we've seen all year. What were you searching for, and which combination did you eventually like today?
PAINTER: Just trying to more or less in our backcourt find people that can guard and then make an open shot. They have really good size with (Caleb) McConnell, (Cam) Spencer, and (Paul) Mulcahy. Sometimes we have smaller guards, and they get on them, it causes some issues with them. But I thought our guys did a pretty good job. They didn't get us in those dribble down post-ups as much as they've gotten us in the past. But, yeah, just trying to find guys that were stingy on defense and felt good about themselves on offense. So just trying to kind of keep going. If you were going to make a shot or make more than one shot, I was probably going to stay with you. I like seeing it go in.
Q: Coach, what can you say about Rutgers' play on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball today?
PAINTER: They're very hard to go against, just for their ability to try to take passes away. We alleviate some of that pressure because they have to help so much with Zach. So they do a good job once he gets it, but they also don't want him to get it. So it's that in between right there, like as Rutgers is trying to play post defense or hold the guy in there, well, if they're holding the guy in there, then the ball should be able to be moved at that time. So they can't do both, and that's what we try to tell our guys. When we had good ball movement and we shared it and reversed it, we have a better chance to score, and we have a better chance to get it to him. When we didn't and we got stagnant and stood or over dribbled, I think that played right into Rutgers' hands. I think they would rather see that. The more you're dribbling, from our perspective, you've got to be constructive in what you're doing. So if you're throwing the ball back, you're throwing the ball back in to take an open shot or throw the ball inside because we play inside-outside basketball a lot. So they realize that, but fatigue goes on, not everybody is as clued in as Caleb McConnell and Paul Mulcahy. So trying to figure out the other guys and are they actually paying attention? Because those two dudes are always paying attention. That's how we try to navigate and run stuff. Especially Caleb McConnell, get him over in the corner, eat a nacho, and we can play four-on-four because he is so good on the ball, man. He is so good. A lot of times it's not us running stuff to certain people as much as we're running stuff away from him. Like he's really become a good player. Anytime you have that and that kind of size, you've got a chance to really play beyond college now with that emphasis on defense. Then offensively, just not letting Cliff (Omoruyi) have any easy ones, even though he got some put-backs and he had some things around the rim. And then Spencer, like really trying to stay with Spencer as much as we can. We knew they put Derek Simpson in there and they knew they were really encouraging him to be more aggressive.They bogged down here the last month offensively and they haven't played as well as they did the previous month offensively, and I think Derek really gives them that guy that can break people down, get to his pull-up. But we would rather Derek get to his pull-up and contest it than getting in the paint. So that was one of our main focuses with those guys. Mulcahy hits those two threes early, and that was kind of a tough break. We also just let him have one of them. More than anything, we were trying to keep the ball out of the paint as much as we could and keep them in front of us, but get them out of rhythm so they're not making any threes. But also know that Cam Spencer can't be the guy getting those good looks.If a couple of those other guys get good looks, we can live with that. It might end up cooking our goose, but like we're just playing the percentages.
Q: How does a grind-it-out game like this against Rutgers prepare you for whoever your next opponent is going to be tomorrow?
PAINTER: I think any time you can just move on and just kind of survive, you've been out there. You know, Rutgers has been out there, right? We hadn't. Even though we'd rather be in our position with the No. 1 seed and the double bye and more rest, I do think it kind of leads to the question that was asked to me earlier, we've had the double bye ever since we went to the double bye. So we're the only team in our league to do that. So we've always been in this position. We know of no other position. We've had different seeds, but we've always been there. That (12-4) start a little bit has been tough for us. Not always, but you just have a little bit of a feel. Now both of these teams will have a feel too. I don't think it's an advantage going forward, but I do think it's an advantage in the Friday quarters to start. As long as you settle in, that's what we had to do. We had to settle into the game, and when those guys made some of those shots, that really helped us.
Q: Are you starting to find some of the things that maybe went a little off script here in the middle of the season, late in the season? Are you starting to find some things that you like about this team?
PAINTER: We're a better defensive team than we were last year. We're not like an elite defensive team or nothing. We're better than we were. We could win some games and grind it out, and we've proven that. But just make shots. Like I'm kind of floored that we haven't made more shots, and that's what makes it exciting for me because I know we have that ability to. So I know people that are watching us will overdo Zach, and you've got to step in there.We're not missing a lot of contested shots. We're missing open shots. The guys that are missing them, I believe in them. I think they're going to make their next one. So I think that's always a positive and good, collective thought as a staff is always support your guys that you know that can knock those shots down even when they're struggling.
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- WHAT PLAYERS SAID: Purdue finally found a way to beat Rutgers on Friday, winning 70-65 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center. Boilermakers standouts Mason Gillis and David Jenkins Jr. met with the media afterward. Here is the full video and transcript. CLICK HERE
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- BIG TEN ROUNDUP (March 9): It was another day of upsets on Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament, with Rutgers, Ohio State and Penn State all winning as lower seeds. Maryland became the first higher seed to win in the last game, and gets Indiana next. CLICK HERE
