What Matt Painter Said After Purdue's Thrilling 80-77 OT Win Over Nebraska

Purdue entered Lincoln needing a big-time win on Tuesday night and it made just enough plays to do it. The 13th-ranked Boilermakers defeated No. 7 Nebraska 80-77 in overtime, one of the most thrilling games of the season.

Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn were huge in the game, with Cluff scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Kaufman-Renn had 19 rebounds and six points. Fletcher Loyer led the way with 18 points and Braden Smith finished with 13 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Boilermakers also got 11 points from CJ Cox, seven points and four rebounds from Jack Benter and seven points from Gicarri Harris.

After the game, coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the victory. Here's everything he had to say.

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter instructs his team. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

On what got Purdue the win in a tough situation ...

Painter: "I thought our effort was great. I thought we did a pretty good job executing. We had a lot of really good looks that didn't go down, especially in that second half. Our guys kept playing hard. [Nebraska] got it going. Rienk Mast going out of the game, you obviously benefit from that, the way they stretch us out. He's obviously a great player, just look at his stat line."

"Our guys played hard, they hung in there, kept getting rebounds. Trey and Oscar had more rebounds than them in the first half. They ended up with 33 rebounds and Nebraska has 37. When you have that many more possessions that somebody else, the odds are it's going to help you. Obviously, we almost got beat because we can't make a free throw. But, I thought the decisions and the effort was great."

On the decision to go with Trey Kaufman-Renn at the five ...

Painter: "We were trying to match up defensively. We were really worried about Rienk Mast, but when they went smaller, if you look at Frager's line, he was plus-13 in the game. They were much better with Frager in the game. We wanted to match to that to the best of our ability. Now, if you want to look at [Jack Benter's], it's the opposite of that. But that was the best for us.

"We also felt like if we could get into that short roll, now having more people that can make shots and spread the defense, we thought he gave us that.

"It's good when you have quality players. Whether I played him or played somebody else, they're both quality players. We just thought that was our best crack at it at that time. But we knew we were taking a lot of rebounds off the board, and you see what Oscar was able to do at the end, being able to get on the glass."

On the poise Fletcher Loyer had to pass to Oscar Cluff on the final play ...

Painter: "He got stuck. The ball got reversed to him, he drove and he didn't have a shot. He couldn't get to his pull-up or get to the rim. But he played on two feet and he's under control. Oscar got the post-up, he got the ball to him and obviously got fouled."

On Purdue's hot start in the first half ...

Painter: "That's where a lot of our makes came from if you look at our numbers. Our numbers in the second half are very similar to their numbers in the first half. Just getting off to a good start and getting them on their heels a little bit. We knew they would make a run and get going.

"But yeah, that was good to see on the road. When you get into an environment like this against a top-10 team in the country, you let them get their heads up, it can be a blowout."

On Nebraska's big run starting with live-ball turnovers ...

Painter: "It's especially [frustrating] when you run out of timeouts, right? I hate that challenge rule. I think it's stupid. I know it's stopping play and you guys don't like that, but it's so hard to know what's what. But yeah, when we turn those balls over and they got in transition, they were able to steal some points.

"Give them credit, they did a good job of getting some steals and going in transition. That was a frustrating stretch for us."

On Gicarri Harris's poise to knock down late free throws ...

Painter: "That was big. The three opportunities we had there at the end of the half, those are the three guys we would have put there: Fletcher Loyer, Braden Smith and CJ Cox. We had a chance to get six points and we come away with one point. That's what opened it up. Obviously, they made plays, but if we make our free throws we win the game in regulation.

"You never want that as a coach, especially when you led for the whole game, but when you get there, the resiliency that we showed to be able to find a way to win. It wasn't pretty at times."

On blowing a big lead but making winning plays in overtime ...

Painter: "You say blow a big lead, but you have 11 turnovers and we played 45 minutes. Sure, we had some turnovers and had some things happen, but I think when you play a defense as good as they are and a coach as good as Fred is and you have 11 turnovers, you're going to live with that.

"It's part of it. We had a lot of looks that we would like to have every single game that didn't go down. And then those free throws. But that's part of the game. You have to make them."

On the rebounding effort from Oscar Cluff and Trey Kaufman-Renn ...

Painter: "Oh it was huge. It was huge. We had 21 offensive rebounds, they had six. It's a big difference in the game. When you have 20 more possessions than them, it's kind of amazing that it's a possession game. The way they got going there, made some shots.

"It's just different, right? 78 threes taken. That's a lot of threes taken in a game. You're gonna have a lot of long rebounds, you're going to have a lot of opportunities there. Neither team shot poorly from three, but they didn't shoot great. You just have to be able to make the next play and I thought our guys were on it.

"To have 10 offensive rebounds from one guys and 16 defensive rebounds from another guy, that's pretty impressive."

On the performance from Trey Kaufman-Renn ...

Painter: "When you get older and become a senior, the only thing that matters is winning. You don't worry about anything else. You don't worry about averaging 20 [points per game]. He showed NBA scouts, he showed people he can score. He averaged 20 points per game, he was a third-team All-American last year. Now, we've added some pieces to make us a better team so hopefully we can more.

"Now he's showing them how could he can be when he rebounds when he puts his mind to it. Trey is a winner. He's very selfless, he's a good dude. He just wants to see Purdue win."

On how Purdue kept its poise when the crowd came alive ...

Painter: "I have no idea. We didn't make a lot of the first play. We made a lot of the second play by getting on the glass. A couple of them was our guards. Braden got one, CJ Cox got one, Jack Benter got a couple, both Oscar and Trey got a couple, so that effort right there, I don't know if it was poise as much as it was just having the will to go get the basketball and understanding how important that was.

"We were just one possession better than them. I said we had 20 more possessions than them, and we needed all of them. Proud of them. It wasn't easy."

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