What Matt Painter Said After Purdue's Blowout Win Over Indiana

Purdue had no trouble with Indiana on Friday night, defeating the Hoosiers 93-64. Here's everything coach Matt Painter said after the game.

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter reacts to a call. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue certainly got revenge on Indiana on Friday night. The seventh-ranked Boilermakers had no trouble with the Hoosiers in the second meeting of the season, winning 93-64 to improve to 22-5 on the year.

Purdue's senior trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn were outstanding. Kaufman-Renn led the way with 20 points and six rebounds, Smith had 15 points and eight assists and Loyer finished with 18 points and was 5-of-5 from the floor.

Additionally, Omer Mayer came off the bench to score 18 for the Boilermakers. Purdue shot better than 65% from the floor and 56% from three-point range in the win.

Here's everything head coach Matt Painter had to say following the game.

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter reacts to a play. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

On Purdue's focus for a full 40 minutes ...

Painter: "I thought in our previous game Michigan really set the tone against us. In our previous two road games, we were able to set the tone from a rebounding standpoint. Obviously, tonight, I thought our guys did a good job.

"I just feel that the game gets too hard if you can't get offensive rebounds and generate points or get in transition and generate points.

"I thought our guys were ready to play. I thought defensively we had some breakdowns, but we were pretty consistent across the board."

On how Purdue slowed down Lamar Wilkerson in the first half ...

Painter: "Well, obviously we didn't stop him in the second half. But, just not letting him shoot the basketball. I think as you go back and watch film, the actions that you get to.

"[Tucker] DeVries is a tough matchup for us and then Dorn being a big part of the game last time and now not even being a part of the game in terms of shooting thhe basketball. We wanted to make sure with that.

"We knew Wilkerson and how talented he was, but it'll be interesting watching the tape. He only got three shot attempts in the first half, then played well in the second. He's a good player. Very few people come into our league and score the basketball the way he has. He's had some big-time games. Very impressive player."

On the matchup between Trey Kaufman-Renn and Tucker DeVries ...

Painter: "I think it's a tough matchup for both of them to guard each other. Trey is a physical post. The thing, when Tucker guards him down low, he's so good with his hands. He's good at getting his hands in there, getting steals, getting deflections, so you have to be careful. You can get him in some tough spots and he'll come away with a steal. That's something we talked with Trey about.

"But we wanted to establish [Trey]. We wanted to get the ball to Trey there, but we also wanted to be able to stay with Tucker on the other end and not let him get loose. After the first couple of minutes when he hit those two threes, you didn't think that was going to be the case."

On Purdue's ability to get to the free throw line ...

Painter: "We had a game where we shot 40 threes a couple of games ago. You're not going to get to the free throw line shooting a lot of jump shots. Just driving the basketball, trying to post up, getting on the offensive glass, all of those things are going to lead to more fouls.

"They were aggressive. I thought when we played them down there they did a good job of disrupting us. Obviously, they tried to be physical and got some calls against them and got into some foul trouble.

"We were trying to establish our low-post guys more than anything. We really established TKR, and then if they wanted to double, just getting them in rotations and trying to attack those rotations."

On Purdue's effort throughout the game ...

Painter: "Some things obviously went our way. We made some shots, shot a very high percentage. Anytime you do that, it's going to look better than it actually is. But I was just pleased from a rebound standpoint. Anytime you get 19 more possessions than somebody and you're playing at home, you're going to have success.

"Taking care of the ball and rebounding the ball are the most important things."

On Braden Smith denying screens ...

Painter: "That's just him making that read. What we were trying to get was some of those transition ball screens on the wing. Coming down to get a good angle, so if they're going to fight that, unless they've established a low man, which they don't have one at times, it makes that guy run into help. If you can break down that.

"Anytime you turn down or reject a ball screen, a lot of times defensively, you don't want that. You want to push it to the ball screen so you're pushing it into your help."

On the importance of hitting shots from the perimeter ...

Painter: "They were getting it out of there. Obviously, they respect [Trey's] ability to score down there. They're doubling, and they do it a couple of different ways, so now if we throw it out and get good shots and miss them, they're going to live with that.

"The one thing about dealing with a post-up guy is that you can put the other guys where you want. They can't control that. If we want to cut through we can cut through, if we want to stay ball side, we can stay ball side, if we want to get post splits, we can get post splits ... That changes rotations. If you just run one thing and do the same thing every single time ... now they can get set on their double and they can get set on their rotations.

"You can control a lot of things on defense, but you can't control where the offense puts their players."

On what he sees from Omer Mayer ...

Painter: "He was great tonight. You see that we have more than five starters. I think that's been the statement, and that's some of what we told him in recruiting. This will be a tougher year, where things will open up more for him his sophomore year in terms of an opportunity.

"He's been great. He's worked hard, he's putting in time, but it's just a trickle-down from our seniors. Our seniors are that way and so it really, really helps his growth and development. But he can go. He's a good player. Nobody on our team is surprised about the way he's played. He's really given us a punch off the bench."

On how a dominating win helps Purdue moving forward ...

Painter: "Things look better when you make shots. You can get a little carried away with how good you think you are, because if you don't make all those shots, it just looks like you're not doing well, but you're executing well.

"We missed a lot of shots against Nebraska, but I thought our guys really executed. The shots didn't go in so it didn't look [good]. So when they make their run, people are like 'What's the problem?' Well, you don't understand basketball. We're getting good shots, we're just missing them.

"Just trying to build on things. We play to win the Big Ten championship and have success in the NCAA Tournament and hopefully go to Final Fours, just like everybody else in the country. But not being able to win a Big Ten championship is tough. That's tough. But we're the ones that lost the games. So we've got to try to get better, try to improve. I thought this was a great bounce-back for our guys, because it's hard to take. It's really hard to take when you have lofty goals and one of them is out the window."

On the progress of Omer Mayer as a catch-and-shoot guy ...

Painter: "Yeah, he's been a ball-dominant guy as a player, at least the stuff that I've watched in FIBA. He's been a ball-dominant guy, he's had the ball in his hands a lot. Now, playing off the ball more, he's gotten comfortable doing it.

"He's been able to shoot before he got here, right? He's a good player. I think it's really helped him grow having to play off the ball. He'll have the ball in his hands a lot going forward next year.

"He's really done well. The thing I'm impressed with is with all of our bench guys, just the maturity. Not every night is going to be their night. When you play 10 minutes or 15 minutes or 17 minutes or whatever, it's hard. Sometimes you do play well and you don't play more. That's difficult."

On the difficulty of pulling off a lopsided win against a rival ...

Painter: "Our ability to make shots. Fletcher Loyer has a perfect game. Doesn't miss. Omer Mayer comes off the bench and has a career high. Rivalries are great in college basketball, they really are. It's great for the fans, great for the players.

"In our league, it's so big it's like a corporation, more people can do that if they want. For us, that's a good thing. If Indiana goes to the NCAA Tournament, I think all of our two-plays — I think we're the only team where all three of our two-plays are NCAA Tournament teams. You want to play better teams. Indiana has been so good through the years, we want to play them. It helps us, it helps us get better.

"And, we haven't had a lot of success in the last four years, to be honest with you. I think we're 4-4. Trying to be more consistent, but I think you learn a lot through that competition."

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