What Matt Painter Told Bruce Pearl After Auburn Pummeled Purdue Last Season
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There was a lot to be frustrated about when Purdue walked off the floor at Legacy Arena in Birmingham last season. An 87-69 loss to Auburn was a difficult pill to swallow, but Matt Painter used that game as a way to motivate his team for the rest of the season.
When the final buzzer sounded, Painter also had an interesting message to then-Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. He wasn't exactly grateful for the clobbering the Boilers took on that afternoon, but he said the experience would be useful down the road.
As sixth-ranked Purdue prepares to play No. 21 Auburn on Saturday in the Indy Classic, Pearl joined Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich and explained what Painter said following last year's loss.
"We b****-slapped Purdue last year in Birmingham," Pearl said. "Matt couldn't have been more gracious. First of all, setting the game up with Auburn, I was so grateful; they were coming off a Final Four. He didn't have to do that.
"He's such a consummate pro. He said, 'BP, we needed that. My guys need to see, right now in December, what a Final Four team looks like. Now we know what we have to do.' He was such a professional ... I have great respect for Matt."
That loss was Purdue's third in a four-game stretch. While it wasn't a fun lesson to learn, the message was received. After that, the Boilermakers went on a tear. The Boilermakers won their next seven straight games and 10-of-11, getting back into the top 10 of the Associated Press poll.
More importantly, Purdue used that experience to prepare itself for the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers made another run to the Sweet 16 and faced No. 1 seed Houston with a trip to the Elite Eight hanging in the balance. Although Painter's squad fell short in that game, it was much more competitive than what the Boilers showed three months earlier in Birmingham.
Painter had similar message after Iowa State loss
Just two weeks ago, Purdue endured a similar experience to last year's game against Auburn. This time, the Boilermakers suffered an 81-58 loss to Iowa State in Mackey Arena, the type of result rarely seen in West Lafayette.
Understandably, there was a lot of disappointment in Purdue's locker room after suffering a blowout loss in front of a home crowd. But Painter reflected on last year's Auburn loss to help motivate his team after the Iowa State game.
"We were overwhelmed against Auburn. We were overwhelmed [by Iowa State]," Painter said in the postgame press conference. "I just said that we're going to get a chance to play somebody of that caliber in the NCAA Tournament, and then we got Houston. I thought we were ready for that. Game plan was great, guys were ready, and we made some shots."
Since that loss to the Cyclones, the Boilermakers have won back-to-back games against Minnesota and Marquette. How will they perform against a much better Auburn team on Saturday? It's the last major test of the non-conference schedule before jumping into Big Ten play in January.
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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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