'We Got What We Came For': Matt Painter Reacts to Big Ten Coach of the Year, All-Conference Voting
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue basketball finished the 2022-23 regular season with a 26-5 overall record and a 15-5 mark in Big Ten play, winning the conference title by three games.
Despite the team's success, junior center Zach Edey was the only player for the Boilermakers who made an All-Conference team. He was voted first-team All-Big Ten and the league's Player of the Year while freshman guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer were both honorable mentions.
"We got what we came for," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "So that's fine. If they want to vote that way, they can vote that way. But everybody in our league and every player would trade positions to be where we are."
Head coach Matt Painter took Purdue from unranked at the beginning of the year to the top-ranked team in the country, closing the season ranked inside the top five for 15 consecutive weeks en route to the program's 25th Big Ten championship.
However, Northwestern coach Chris Collins was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year for guiding the Wildcats to 21-10 and 12-8 in the conference. The Boilermakers lost the head-to-head matchup in Evanston, Ill., 64-58 on Feb. 12.
"That wasn't our goal," Painter said. "Our goal this year wasn't to be All-Conference or Coach of the Year. It was to win the Big Ten, and we did it. And we did it by three games. If people out there that vote don't value winning, it just shows you they don't know much about basketball."
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