Everything Coach Matt Painter Said After Purdue's 94-84 Loss to Wisconsin
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue suffered a second straight loss to Saturday, falling 94-84 to Wisconsin at Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers dropped to 19-7 on the season and 11-4 in the Big Ten.
The Badgers torched the Boilers in the second half, shooting 72% from the floor. John Tonje finished with a game-high 32 points and Max Klesmit added 17. Five Badgers ended the contest in double figures.
Purdue was led by Trey Kaufman-Renn, who scored 30 points. Fletcher Loyer scored 15 and CJ Cox pitched in 13. But the Boilers' defense struggled to stop Wisconsin, resulting in the loss.
After the game, coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the outcome. Here's everything he said.
On what has been missing defensively the last two games ...
Painter: "I think when you look at it, we've been able to force turnovers. When you can get turnovers and get into transition and turn those into points — and then when you can't, now you've got to play the whole possession out and get a stop.
"I (liked) Wisconsin's resolve and their toughness and their decision-making. Their ability to break us down off the dribble and take us, I thought was really hard for us. We had to do a better job guarding the basketball and we just didn't. And when you're living in help (defense), now you're really — if you don't get them bottled up, that ball's going to move quick. When you're dealing with one of the best shooting teams in the country, they're going to make you pay and they made us pay."
On where Purdue stands in the Big Ten after a second home loss ...
Painter: "You just move to the next game, whether you win or you lose. Obviously, you want to take care of your home court and we didn't do that today. We've had a couple losses at home now. You have to regroup, you've got to be better. A lot of times, what it gets to is just being better at what you do.
"When you outrebound somebody and have 21 assists to four turnovers, you're putting yourself in a pretty good spot. When you don't turn the other team over at all and you only outrebound them by two, you're even. So, who's going to shoot the basketball better?
"You're dealing with the best free throw shooting team in the country, one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country — when you get behind plays and you don't contain the dribble, you're stuck.
"The stat that jumps out, which is just an unbelievable stat, is they're 20-for-22 from two. At halftime, they were like ... 4-for-21 in possessions. Now, you can get a couple of possessions within the same one. So, they were 4-for-21 when the ball didn't go in the paint. They were 12-of-13 in positive plays.
"So, if you go into the paint and you get fouled, that's a positive play, you're 1-for-1. You get in the paint and you spray out and you shoot it, that's another 1-for-1. If you get in the paint and you get fouled and it gets taken out, you got 1-for-1. You score off of that out-of-bounds play, that's another 1-for-1. That's how we kind of score it.
"We have to live in the paint and we have to keep them out of the paint. When we kept them out of the paint, good things happened in the first half. I haven't seen the numbers from the second half, but when we didn't, it was automatic. When you look at that stat, that's something we talked about at halftime.
"We had a couple breakdowns in terms of how we were guarding things on particular stuff and we didn't stay detailed with it. But we said none of it matters if you can't keep the ball in front of you. Like, none of it matters. And if you do, you can't get beat to the middle of the floor. They were living in the middle of the floor.
"So, the guy on the ball has to do a better job across the ball. Then our team defense had to be better when we came to help to square the ball. We kept helping and giving them angles.
"Tonje is a tough guard. He does a good job of knifing in there and long-stepping and doing stuff. But they had a lot of drives by other people that we didn't get stopped. And you've got to be able to, because they play behind the ball with big guys and now when you jump stop you've got to be able to push off, switch that and read that. We had multiple breakdowns there in terms of how we wanted to guard it.
"To start the game, we did it four or five times exactly the way we worked on. Our concentration just wasn't very good. I think great teams make you look that way. I think they have a special team.
"I told our guys, they gave you a lesson in maturity. I thought they were mentally and physically tougher. That's something I write on the board every game. You have to be mentally and physically tougher than your opponent, and they were better than us in those two areas."
On if Purdue shoots for a percentage on those "positive plays" ...
Painter: "No, not really. I shoot for the number. So like, when you're 4-for-21 and 12-for-13, normally that's a negative right? Because that's how often the ball is getting in there. But you still had 21 times you kept it out vs. 13. So, when you get that way, it's normally like 6-for-13 or 8-for-13. But you still have 5-to-7 possessions in there where it got in there and still had success.
"Every time it got in there, we didn't (have success). I think that's evident by the field goals. I mean, think about how many games you guys have covered — have you ever covered a game where the twos were 20-for-22? They did a good job, they were well prepared."
On what John Tonje did that gave Purdue trouble ...
Painter: "He's a great scorer. Obviously he's older, he's been around a long time and this is his third school. But he can really score. You saw that 41-point game he had against Arizona where he got to the free throw line 20 times. He's just great at driving the basketball.
"He hit a couple step-backs. He hit a step-back three in the corner down at their end to start the second half. That was big time. Then he hits another and then we foul him. So right there, in a row, he gets some quick points for them. And we're scoring, right? We start the second half and we're scoring. But they're 4-for-5. It seemed like — I remember looking up and seeing we can't make a run.
"We always talk about five, six, seven kills — a kill is three stops in a row. If you can get to five, you're normally going to be alright. If you can get to six, you're probably going to win. By seven, you're probably going to dominate somebody. Those kills allow you to go on runs.
"When you score 47 points in the second half and you're up one at half, you think, 'Hey, that's a win.' But you don't realize you just gave up 58 points. We had zero kills tonight. In the first half, we got our kills to two shutouts four different times, we could never get to three in a row, and that's where you see the lack of separation. We should have separated at that time, but in their defense, they didn't allow that. They did a good job of continuing to score and they were better than us."
On the struggles at the end of the first half ...
Painter: "I don't have that in my head right now, I'll watch and kind of see the shot efficiency for us. But if you look at our numbers from an offensive standpoint, in terms of shooting the basketball and taking care of the basketball, I don't think that was the issue, even though we got that lead right there. And, once again, that happens again. So, you've got to go back.
"When I went back and watched it against Michigan, I was happy with those shots. We'll see it when we go back, I just don't have a recollection of it right now."
On Myles Colvin hitting some big shots in the second half ...
Painter: "We need some guys that are going to consistently shoot the basketball and when you don't play as much, it's hard. It's been my line, right? It's hard to be consistent as a shooter when you get inconsistent minutes. So, you have to do everything in your power to get yourself there.
"I thought it was good to see him make some shots. He goes games where he gets a shot or two and it's really hard. Today, he got more opportunities and he was able to knock some down. Hopefully that can build some confidence.
"When you shoot the ball and you make some plays and make some shots, it helps everybody. But it really helps yourself, it helps you in other areas. Those guys who come off the bench, you've got to be able to bring something to the game, you have to be able to rebound, you have to be able to defend, you have to be able to make some shots. So, that was a good sign for him to be able to knock those three threes down."
On Trey Kaufman-Renn's growth in recent weeks ...
Painter: "He's been very consistent. I thought he had a great game and anytime you get that kind of a game (scoring 30 points), that should lead to a victory. He's pretty good, man. Like, those guys aren't small people down there on the front line at Wisconsin.
"When we got him the ball in position to score, whether it was at the nail or whether it was down there, he was getting to where he wanted. He's gotten so good and efficient offensively. He went 12-for-16 and you wonder why he missed the four shots. Think about all four of his shots that he missed — he didn't take a bad shot. Most people that take 16 shots, you're going to have a couple in there that you'd like to have back.
"He's missing every now and then some good shots. But, most of the time, he's going to make 60 to 70 percent of those. He's just developed, gotten better, kept working. PJ (Thompson) has done a good job in terms of running stuff and putting him in position. He needs space. Sometimes when they overdo that short roll, he found (teammates) and we got good looks. We missed a couple, but that's what he has to keep doing.
"We have to tell Braden the same thing — just keep trusting your teammates. Keep making the right play, making the right decisions.
"But he's been great. He was fabulous tonight. I thought he did a lot of good things for us and kept us in the game."
On Purdue's frustration throughout the game ...
Painter: "That's a good way of putting it. You're just getting into February, you're competing, you're trying to jockey to get yourself in the best position of the tournament, you're trying to win a Big Ten championship, it gets hard. But it's hard for everybody. It's hard for everybody.
"You have to have a resolve about you when you miss shots. You have to have a resolve about you and a mental toughness about you when you don't get the calls that you like. Whatever the adversity might be, you've got to push through that adversity and fight and then encourage other people.
"I talked afterwards, I just said, 'You have to quit talking to officials, you have to quit showing body language, you have to quit being emotional.' There ain't nothing wrong with being passionate, but don't be emotional. Stay with it, keep fighting, stick to our rules. We just didn't have the same discipline that they had. You can go back and say they made more shots, whatever, but I liked their resolve. It was better than ours.
"That being said, I have to do a better job of getting them ready. I have to do a better job of getting them mentally and physically hooked up to play better. So, that's what you do, you go back to the drawing board. You lose at Michigan, you lose this game — doesn't matter if you would have won them, you still go back and look at things and be honest about things.
"I like our guys. I think we have a good team, but we collectively just have to be better, and that includes me."
On Purdue not getting into transition ...
Painter: "Not forcing turnovers, that's the main thing. That's what we've improved on the most, is that we have forced more turnovers. We were being active with things. We were getting into doubles on drives, doubles on post-ups. They just kept us spread and did a good job of using their dribble.
"Now, when you over-help there on drives, it gets you into a little different rotation on things. We just have to be better on the ball."
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