Island Bird Distracts Purdue Coach Matt Painter in Funny Postgame Presser Moment
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Some wildlife occupying The Bahamas got a bird's eye view of Matt Painter's postgame press conference following Purdue's 80-71 win over Memphis on Thursday. One of the island's winged creatures took flight through the media area, distracting the Boilermakers' head coach for a few moments.
After Purdue posted a win over Memphis on the first day of the Baha Mar Championship, Painter made his way to the media area to talk about the game. That's when a bird passed through, capturing the head coach's attention and distracting him for a few moments.
"That was a bird," Painter said, interrupting a question. "How about that? Expect the unexpected. If one of you guys would have caught that, that would have been pretty cool."
The island fowl must have passed through pretty quickly, as Painter couldn't tell what type of bird it was. He could tell you what type of bird it wasn't, though.
"I don't know ... it was not a flamingo, I know that. And it wasn't Tweety Bird," Painter said.
Jason Munz of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis captured the full interaction and posted it to social media. It was an entertaining moment during the postgame presser, and Painter decided to have fun with it.
— Jason Munz (@munzly) November 21, 2025
After watching the bird fly through the presser, though, Painter wondered about the value of answering questions. He might have been ready to get back to his hotel room and start watching film and preparing for Texas Tech.
"Are these questions even that important? We've got birds flying, I mean, come on," Painter said, laughing the whole time.
These multi-team events often provide fans with some great non-conference matchups we may not otherwise witness. It can also give us some hilarious moments in the postgame interviews.
With Thursday's win over Memphis, Purdue advanced to the championship game of the Baha Mar Championship. The top-ranked Boilers will play No. 15 Texas Tech, with tipoff set for 9:30 p.m. ET.
Everyone will want to tune in to see two high-caliber teams on the court. But stick around for postgame interviews, too. Who knows, we might capture more wildlife trying to steal the spotlight.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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