Everything Coach Matt Painter Said Following Purdue's Fan Day Scrimmage
A week prior to a charity exhibition game against Creighton, the Purdue men's basketball team held a Fan Day scrimmage inside Mackey Arena. It was a great opportunity for Boilermaker faithful to catch their first glimpse of the 2024-25 squad in a live setting.
Following the scrimmages on Saturday, coach Matt Painter met with reporters to talk about the afternoon on the court. Here's everything he had to say.
On if anything stood out during the scrimmages ...
Painter: "Just the discipline of the game and the things that we're emphasizing. Obviously, you can answer questions a lot better after you've watched the film, but I thought we didn't shoot the basketball well, we don't embrace the physicality of the game like we need to and we've got to do a better job with that.
"We have to clean some things up from a defensive standpoint. We've got to clean up taking care of the basketball. We had some costly turnovers out there that we've got to do a better job of. Obviously, you have two teams that are out there playing instead of one team and you've been practicing against yourself for four months, so I think it gets a little stale.
"I think you see the improvements from the guys that played before and I think you have a lot of excitement from the young guys. We have some young guys that can make shots — not all of them made shots today but they have the ability to make shots and they bring a lot to us. So, I really like our freshman class, they've all had their moments, they've all played well. Just trying to mix things together for us.
"We have some tough decisions. We haven't had a great deal of separation in some different spots. Braden (Smith), somebody that separates himself with his playmaking ability. Obviously, he's the preseason Player of the Year in our league. Fletcher (Loyer's) experiences in the last two years — his competitive nature, his shot-making abilities, understanding on the game. The way we handle some things. We don't let Trey Kaufman-(Renn) just post up and play one-on-one basketball. I think there will be a lot of people this year that will let him play one-on-one basketball. I think that's to our advantage. I don't think everybody will do that, but I think that will open up some things for him that don't when he goes against us.
"I think you have a first scrimmage to get through it. To have more things on tape so you can try to fix some things, to be better at things and be more efficient. More than anything, just clean some stuff up."
On how the play of CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris open things up ...
Painter: "Well, I think the one thing a lot of people just give the statement that what Lance Jones did for us — Lance Jones helped us because he gave us another ball-handler. If you pressed us, you zoned us, you did different things, before, people looked at it like it was a schematic issue. It wasn't a schematic issue, it was a personnel issue. And Lance Jones fixed that personnel issue, because he has quickness, he can go and pick up the ball, he can guard the basketball, which helps Braden not have as much of a workload.
"It helped Fletcher. It allowed Fletcher to stay really as that third guard and not have somebody with as much quickness on him and being in a role where he can maneuver and get by people, take his shots when they come.
"CJ and Gicarri definitely fit that better of helping in all those areas. The other guys there — Cam (Heide), Myles (Colvin) — we have a lot of guys there. But CJ and Gicarri give us another ball-handler, they give us another defender. Lance really helped in that area and both of those guys give us more of that."
On how Trey Kaufman-Renn's versatility helps Purdue's offense ...
Painter: "His versatility, his ability to pass — he's passed really well. He's been at the top of our assists in competitive drills and competition along with Braden. Just trying to utilize him to the best of our ability.
"We'll play smaller with him at times. More than anything, he'll play a lot at the four. He's done some really good things. But, like I've said, some of his looks were taken away because of how we play defensively."
On how Trey Kaufman-Renn has developed as a player ...
Painter: "Just his maturity. He's very locked into the game, he's a maniacal worker, he puts in a lot of time. He's working on free throws, working on threes, working on his post moves, playing face-up, playing with his back to the basket.
"Obviously, when you look at the greatness of Zach Edey, it takes away from others. It just does. And that's what sacrifices are all about. Trey's really sacrificed for us, Caleb Furst has sacrificed for us. But now it's his time. And that's what you want to work towards. You want to be ready and he's more than ready."
On if Raleigh Burgess' energy can help Purdue this season ...
Painter: "Yeah. It just depends on the minutes. We've got to make a decision and if that's the case. I think a lot of people would like to have all of that, and then you've got to logically be able to look at it and say, 'Does that make a lot of sense for us? Does that make a lot of sense for him?' Both of those questions are important.
"You can see he's a good player. His shooting has improved, he's got a good frame, he moves well, he can pass the basketball. He's a very functional player."
On if Raleigh Burgess has looked more energetic since arriving on campus ...
Painter: "Sure. I think the time off when you finish your high school season, you get some time off before you get here in the summer. We've been aware of that. Not to say he's been limited by any stretch of the imagination, because he hasn't, but we're still aware of what he's went through and coming back from that broken leg. That's a long time ago, but yet, sometimes that's what it takes. Just to be really cautious with things.
"Cam was in that position, even though he didn't have the severity of the injury, he still had a pretty serious injury that held him out his whole senior year, except a couple games. Now he gets that redshirt year, you're coming back 100% healthy. I think he's in a good place.
"I really like our front line, I think we have a lot of pieces. I think we're going to have some guys on our front line, we may not always need them. But we're going to need them at times. And that stinks, right? You always want to be needed every single day. Just like Trey and Caleb have really sacrificed for us in the past, we're going to have some guys that are going to have to play roles and sacrifice.
"It just depends. You see some good things that Will (Berg) does. He embraces the physicality of the game. You saw Daniel (Jacobsen) have a couple really nice blocks. He's got more to him than that, but he's got to get himself in those positions — he's got to get some offensive rebounds, he's got to get some runouts, he's just got to get a part of the game. Sometimes that's difficult for a big. We talked about Trey, we talked about Raleigh and obviously Caleb."
On what he'd like to see from Myles Colvin ...
Painter: "We were talking about some different things defensively and a different play on offense. Just being part of the game. Today was a great example — we had some perimeter guys not shoot well. So, if that's what it's going to be like in a real game, you don't shoot well but you do those other things, you should stay in the game. If you're a good defender, a good rebounder and take care of the basketball, bring energy and you know what you're doing, now you can have an off shooting night and still have a good game. If you're just a shooter and those other things you're a novice at, you're not bring a whole lot to the table.
"I always say, who are you when the ball doesn't go in? That's something for Myles and all those guys. Be able to rebound, be able to defend, be able to have that collective intelligence to where we all know what we're doing and we're all on the same page.
"We want him to look for his shot. I thought his first couple shots were pretty tough. Sometimes when you take some tough ones it's a little bit harder to get going. Even when you miss, you feel good about — 'I was supposed to take this. I missed it.' You take your next one and you miss it again, it's frustrating, but you still know deep down that's what they want. They want me taking these shots.
"Guys like him, we want him taking good, clean looks. He drifted a few times on his pull-up, but he does have a good pull-up. The more he can get to that pull-up and catch-and-shoots while he's in rhythm, that's what we want."
On if Purdue will dictate 'small ball' or if it's the opponents ...
Painter: "Yeah, that's a really good question. I think both. I think we have to figure that out. We're not there yet. Do we have a group that's our best lineup no matter who we play against? You'd like to think you can get there, but sometimes you can't. That's kind of the statement I made earlier, there's some guys on our team that we're going need on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, but we may not need them Saturday or Sunday. I think that's hard for a player, because you don't get those consistent reps, but then, if you need to be bigger to offset somebody's size, or you need to be smaller to manipulate that size — there's two different ways to look at it — then you have the ability to do that.
"That's what I feel good about. We have 13 guys on scholarship, we have no transfers on our team. We have guys that are young, that are trying to blend in, but we've got sophomores, juniors and seniors that have been here. That overall understanding of what we want is most important. I don't think we're short-handed either way. I think we have a lot of depth and we've got to be able to utilize that depth. With that, I've said, you're not going to be consistent always when you get inconsistent minutes. That's what's tough for a competitive guy — to feel good about himself when he didn't play on Sunday, but here I am playing 20 minutes."
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