Purdue Coach Matt Painter Previews Indiana Game

The fifth-ranked Purdue Boilermakers host No. 17 Indiana in a rivalry game on Saturday at Mackey Arena. Purdue coach Matt Painter met with the media on Friday, and here's what he said about the matchup.

No. 5 Purdue looks to claim a share of its 25th Big Ten regular season title on Saturday against No. 17 Indiana.

The Hoosiers defeated Purdue 79-74 in the seasons's first matchup on Feb. 4 at Assembly Hall, but the rivalry series shifts to Mackey Arena this time around. 

Purdue coach Matt Painter met with the media on Friday to preview the game.

On cleaning up turnover problems from first game against Indiana...

Painter: I don't think it's that simple. You're going to have some similarities in a game played the first time, and you're going to have some differences, too. You're not always going to have the same game. I think in the previous game, if you didn't turn the ball over and you made your free throws, you'd have put yourself in a much better position. So anytime we have to live in defensive transition and it's a high volume of possessions, we've been in trouble. It just hasn't happened a lot, but when it's happened, we've been able to recover in some halves going into the next half or vice versa and kind of hold on. But in this scenario, it wasn't. We actually got back into their lead pretty quickly if you rewatch the game, and you see we just never could get it to where we got the lead. We got it back to one and two possessions, and that was at the 11-minute mark. We put ourselves in a good spot at the time, but it took a lot for us to get back in there. So if the game unfolds the same way, making our free throws and taking care of the basketball is going to be huge. Taking care of the basketball and making your free throws is huge in any game, but especially in that game they just did such a good job of taking our turnovers and turning them into points.

On the possibility of Caleb Furst guarding Trayce Jackson-Davis...

Painter: Yeah, sure. I mean like, everyone will guard him the way they do things and the way he runs out on the break so well. He's so fast that you've got to pick him up and not let him get that runout dunk or layup at that time. So I think everyone will have a chance at him and be able to guard him, but that's a team deal. When you have a player as great as Trayce Jackson-Davis, that's your whole team approach, being able to stop him but not at the expense of other people just getting wide open looks. If you overdo it, he'll make you pay with his passing. If you don't do enough, he'll steamroll you like he did in the first half against us.

On the importance of a fast start...

Painter: Yeah, just taking care of the basketball. I think that was, for us, really the start, and that's happened the previous year, too, in that first half. It was Groundhog's Day, and the same thing happened. They were able to come out and do the same thing. We really worked toward that at their place, and obviously it's a different atmosphere but it's still basketball. It's still 10 guys. When you're out on the court, you've got to be ready to not necessarily, you can't talk your way into making shots, but you can talk your way into execution and your understanding what's going on. We have to know what's going on at all times, defensively, and then we have to be able to handle their pressure and execute.

On appreciating the greatness of Zach Edey and Trayce Jackson-Davis...

Painter: No question. One of them's in their fourth year of college, the other one's in their third year of college. So you just don't see the dominant guys stay in college as long as they have, but I think it's great for the game. I think it's great for our conference. Zach has just enormous size, and where he's improved is just as a basketball player, being able to pass, being able to play post D, being able to play ball-screen defense. But you also have to understand he's in his sixth year of organized basketball, so he's really on the come up when it comes to things of that nature. He's really made some real strides in that area. Trayce has had to play for two different coaches, two different systems, so you're learning. Everybody learns when they come to college, and then when you have a coaching change sometimes it take a little time there, but they've done a really good job in the last two years of getting him the basketball. His numbers speak for themselves. We just don't face somebody with that kind of size, that kind of skill and that kind of quickness. You're not supposed to – when you're Zach's size – you're not supposed to do some of the things that he does. When you're Trayce Jackson-Davis' size, you're not supposed to be able to do some of the things he does. They're different skillsets and different athleticism and different in overall size, but it really puts the defense in a bind. That's why I said to Mike earlier, like, we don't have a matchup here where it's one guy on Trayce Jackson-Davis, and they don't have a matchup where it's one guy on Zach Edey. That's not the way this game's going to unfold. It's going to be Indiana's defense trying to stop Purdue's offense and vice versa. It's not just us trying to stop Trayce Jackson-Davis. It's our team trying to stop Trayce Jackson-Davis. If you do it, there's been a couple people in our league that have tried to do it by themselves, and that did not work. No, it did not work, and it won't work. So you've got to throw different things at him, and you've got to mix things up. And he's still going to get some things, you just don't want him to get 35 and 20.

On what Purdue accomplished with time off from Sunday to Saturday...

Painter: Yeah, just more of a focus on ourselves and a focus on Indiana. Probably a 50-50 split there. I think you want to get a lot of shooting in. We took two of those days off, tried to get your legs under you. It's hard for everybody this time of year because everybody it just depends on the grind of your schedule. This is where we've gotten a little bit of a break, but it doesn't mean anything unless you play well at 7:30 on Saturday. But just having a focus on the mistakes we've made. There's some plays Indiana made at their place where we just had a total breakdown. Then there were some times where we were doing what we were supposed to be doing, their offense was just better than our defense.

On production from David Jenkins Jr., Brandon Newman and other bench players...

Painter: Well I think it's also opportunistic. They got opportunities because they're doubling, and we made good passes and moved the ball. One of David's threes was like a clinic on how to handle it, and it was also a clinic from Indiana's defense. They made about four or five plays where we just kept making them make the next play, and David ended up being open at the very end. I think he fed the post twice on the same play, and it was at the end of it. So just trying to get in there and do your job more than anything on the defensive end. And then when you do that and you rebound and you defend, you just kind of organically do good things offensively. When you're not ready and you're not hooked up, now it's going to affect the other end of the court. Just do your job, be ready to roll and just take what the defense gives you. It's not really, the onus really isn't on them coming off the bench as much as it's the team doing the right things and they're going to get more opportunities. Things always look better when the ball goes in.

On adjusting to Jalen Hood-Schifino's midrange shooting...

Painter: Yeah, anytime you get a guy like that – he's a shotmaker, he can distribute, got a really good pull-up game – you just try to be into them and not let them get to their sweet spots as much as possible. I think that's easier said than done with really good players. But he's a good talent, he's done some really good things his first year. He's a real tough cover."

Related stories on Indiana basketball

• TJD VS. EDEY: Purdue's Zach Edey and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis, arguably the best players in all of college basketball, match up for a second time this season when the Hoosiers travel to Mackey Arena on Saturday. CLICK HERE
• XAVIER JOHNSON PODCAST: Indiana point guard Xavier Johnson is close to returning to the floor for the Hoosiers. He broke down the timeline with HoosiersNow.com publisher Tom Brew in this edition of the ''Hoosier Roundtable.'' Trey Galloway and Trayce Jackson-Davis interviews, too. CLICK HERE
• INDIANA'S ROAD STRUGGLES: Indiana's numbers at home versus on the road are staggering, said Mike Woodson on Thursday, and its next game is a trip to Mackey Arena against Purdue, which could be the Hoosiers' toughest challenge yet. CLICK HERE
• JACKSON-DAVIS' FINAL SEASON: Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is having an All-American-caliber senior season, and he confirmed Thursday that it will be his last year of college basketball. CLICK HERE