Matt Painter Evaluates Purdue's Status at Midway Point of Season
Remember that bumpy road Purdue was driving down in December? All those potholes and speedbumps appear to be in the rearview mirror for the Boilermakers, who have been playing their best basketball of the season lately, owning an 8-2 record in Big Ten play and ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press poll.
The Boilermakers have won eight of their last nine games and are firmly in the race for a Big Ten title race. They're currently situated in second place, behind only Michigan State (8-0).
During this week's edition of Purdue Basketball Live, coach Matt Painter evaluated his team's situation through the first 10 games of the Big Ten schedule. After losing the conference opener to Penn State back in December, he says he's pretty pleased with how his team has performed.
"When you're 8-2 when you lose your first game, it's a little different, right? You lose your first one and would you like to be 8-2? Well, hell yeah," Painter said. "But you don't want to lose games when you were up 16 points (against Ohio State). In hindsight, when you put yourself in that position but you don't reward yourself, you have buyer's remorse. Like, man, we should be 9-1.
"When you look at the schedule — we've played two more games than everybody else — we had five straight games where we had two days of prep. We played six games in 16 days. When you look at that and go 5-1, you would take that. Still, you're greedy. You want to win them all."
Purdue's one blemish since the restart of Big Ten play came last Tuesday, dropping a 73-70 decision to the Buckeyes. The Boilermakers owned a 16-point lead in the first half and led Ohio State by 13 at the break. But a cold spell to start the second half and Micah Parrish's hot shooting sunk Purdue on its home court, resulting in the team's first loss at Mackey Arena in the previous 26 games.
Still, Painter's team has found ways to win games in various ways. The Boilers have relied heavily on their effort on the defensive end, especially when shots weren't falling. It's how they pulled out wins against Rutgers, Washington and Oregon while away from West Lafayette.
Painter believes that's been a bit of a learning lesson for his team during this month.
"The three things that travel are defense, rebounding and fundamentals. They're always packed. You're jumper sometimes isn't packed," he said. "But if you can take care of the basketball and you can be fundamentally sound and you can rebound and defend, you're going to give yourself a chance against elite people, even if it doesn't quite go your way."
It's a good reminder, especially as Purdue still has some tough road games ahead on the schedule. Before the year is over, the Boilermakers will make trips to Michigan (Feb. 11), No. 7 Michigan State (Feb. 18), Indiana (Feb. 23) and No. 18 Illinois (March 7).
Winning in those environments won't be easy. But if Purdue continues to defend, rebound the basketball and take care of the basketball, it'll have a chance in a lot of important games down the stretch.
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