What Matt Painter Said Following Purdue's 88-82 Loss to Illinois

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue dropped another heartbreaker on Saturday. Just a few days after losing a 69-67 game to UCLA, the Boilermakers fell to Illinois 88-82 inside Mackey Arena, falling to 7-2 in the Big Ten standings.

Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler was the story of the day, scoring 46 points on just 17 shots, the best opposing performance in Mackey Arena by an opposing player. The Illini ended the game shooting 18-of-38 from three-point range and dominated the glass 33-19.

Braden Smith had a great day for the Boilermakers, scoring 27 points and dishing out 12 assists. But, in the end, Purdue didn't make enough plays to get the win.

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

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter yells during the first half. | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

On the defensive strategy for Wagler

"First off, just an impressive performance. I thought he was fabulous. He has the ability with his step-backs, even in switches, to take you. Pull back, get himself into a great rhythm. That's something we talked about. Do we play out of a drop and veer back to it and then he's going to dribble back and play one-on-one basketball? Or do we hedge it, get the ball out of his hands, and now we're in rotations?

"What you saw at the end of the game, is what we adjusted and did, and then you see we're obviously in scramble mode. Now you're in those rotations.

"He hit a lot of tough shots over us, obviously. Hats off to him, that's probably the most impressive performance we've had in Mackey Arena from an opponent."

On Purdue's effort on the glass

"To me, even though [Wagler] gets 46 points, that's the game. If you look at our stats, you shoot 57% from the field, you shoot 37% from three, you shoot 82% from the line, you turn the ball over three times, that's a win. But then, all of a sudden, you go and say you got outrebounded by 14, and there lies the difference.

"I still believe their ability to rebound was the difference in the game. ... If we handle a couple of those free-throw box outs, we even that up, there's no doubt we win this game. But we didn't. Give them credit, they're great at offensive rebounding."

On why Illinois was more successful on the glass

"That's what they do. I think their seventh in the country in offensive rebounding, they're first in our league. They have guys that are committed that go. Whether they're guards, whether they're bigs, because [Wagler] gets offensive rebounds, too. He didn't today, but just across the board they're a good offensive rebounding team.

"You have to be able to rebound at the rim, you have to be able to rebound away from the rim. You have to be able to step to your man, get him on your backside and then go get the basketball. They did a better job than we did."

On they way Illinois made a run

"The thing that didn't happen in the first half, nobody else got good shots, right? He had the one-on-one play. We're up 11 points with seven minutes to go, and we're in a good spot. They did a way better job than we did finishing the first half and they did a way better job of starting the second half. That's always a very important sequence in the game.

"With [Wagler], we knew he could make one-on-one plays. It wasn't something where we were like, 'Hey, this is going to be the end-all, be-all.' It was the lesser of two evils. Let's swarm the basketball, let's stay up on it so he can't get into that rhythm. Obviously, that didn't work.

"Give them credit, they're very good offensively. They're the No. 1 offense in the country for a reason. That doesn't start with elite talent as much as it starts with elite decision-making. They have very good decision-making, they have very good coaches in terms of their offensive schemes and what they do. They got the best of us today."

On how Purdue's experience can help it bounce back vs. Indiana

"Anytime you have two losses in this league, especially when you start off 7-0, right? You start 7-0, then you have two tough losses like this, no matter who you're playing, you want this taste out of your mouth. Losing stinks.

"We have to go on the road and play a good basketball team. The thing with it is, these guys were 18-of-38 from three today. Indiana, that's their strength, shooting the basketball. You jump right back into that beehive. Now you have to go guard and rebound. It's the same thing. You want to answer the bell, right? You want to answer the bell and compete, but it's going to be tough. They have a good team."

On Omer Mayer's increased minutes

"He made some shots for us and we stuck with him. It's one of those things where, as the game unfolds, obviously [Trey Kaufman-Renn] got into some foul trouble. He and [Jack Benter] were going back and forth with that. But yeah, we stayed with him, he made some shots, made some plays. I thought he played well."

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