What Ethan Morton, Zach Edey, Braden Smith Said After Purdue's Win Over Maryland

Purdue basketball players Ethan Morton, Zach Edey and Braden Smith spoke to the media after the team's 58-55 win against Maryland on Sunday at Mackey Arena. Here's the complete transcript and full video from the postgame press conference.

D.J. Fezler | Jan 22, 2023

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Purdue Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue players Ethan Morton, Zach Edey and Braden Smith addressed the media following a 58-55 victory over Maryland on Sunday at Mackey Arena.

Here's everything they had to say, with the complete transcript and full video of their postgame interview attached to this article.

On getting to the free-throw line when shots weren't falling

Smith: People just putting trust with the ball in my hand. Obviously, I made a couple turnovers here and there. But still, just the coaches trusting me with the ball in my hand and just trying to make plays for people. So that's just what happened, I wasn't able to get a shot to fall so you just kind of live with it.

On Purdue's defense in the final minutes

Edey: They ran that Spain action, we had to get adjusted to it. We maybe messed it up a few times, we scouted it but it was just a few defensive lapses. It's the end of our four-game stretch, guys get really tired, maybe that affects the mental a little bit. But we just have to be better in the end there.

On making stops down the stretch

Morton: I was with [Jahmir] Young a lot of the game, obviously a great player. He was able to get away from us a few times in the second half, but between him and [Donta] Scott, [Hakim] Hart and even [Julian] Reese, we knew we weren't going to hold them down forever. Just some lapses on our part in the second half.

But I think we showed good fight, just every time they scored or went on a run, getting a stop or getting an easy bucket to stop the bleeding. But like they hit on, definitely a lot of things to clean up for us. That was important because that's a team, just watching them, they can sort of heat up all at once with the different guys that can score and the way they space the floor.

So to get some key stops and break that up was definitely big for us in the second half.

On playing against a zone defense

Morton: It was definitely a combination of both. I think they did a good job of having that token pressure to kind of have us start our plays later. And they did a good job of sort of — they were in that zone and then they matched up out of it at about 10, 15 seconds on the shot clock.

So I think that more than just the zone itself gave us problems. The ability for them to switch defenses on the fly was tough. But it just sort of got us out of rhythm I think. I was telling Zach walking here, I think we just never really found our footing offensively in the second half. It was sort of stagnant, and part of that was just not getting as many stops and just some live-ball turnovers where they seemed to get some open layups.

Definitely, like I said, some stuff we can clean up and continue to work on and get better at. Because we're going to see them again next month.

On getting a hand on Maryland's final inbounds pass

Morton: I should have just caught it with two hands and ended the game. But I was at least able to get a hand on it. Young sort of ends up in the right place at the right time, and they get a good shot.

So just trying to go and get that ball with two hands. We can't really foul at that point, it's low clock. There's not much time to get all that done. Definitely just get it with two hands and end the game there.

On defending Jahmir Young

Morton: Like I said, he's a great player. Really good at getting downhill. I gave him some looks that he probably should have made that I shouldn't have given him. But luckily I was able to kind of keep him on his toes, and obviously, that goes back to the scouting report from the coaches and having the big fellow behind me and everybody else in help. It makes my job a little bit easier.

On being 19-1 but still having room for improvement

Edey: For sure. We're still a young team. Everyone has room for improvement defensively, offensively. We're never a finished product. Something coach [Matt] Painter really says is you'll have a really good game, for example, we outrebounded them today by a lot, it doesn't mean we're satisfied with how we're rebounding. It doesn't mean we could have been better on the glass.

There's still a lot of room for improvement in every facet of our game. Offensively, defensively, rebounding, turnovers, we're never going to be satisfied with where we are.

On playing against zone defense in the post

Edey: It's just different, obviously, when you get into zone versus man, you'll have different looks. You'll catch the ball in different ways, so kind of getting used to that. We haven't seen much zone this year in general, but teams might start doing that against us, and I've got to be ready for whatever looks I might get.

On the importance of winning close games in the Big Ten

Morton: Super important, obviously. Like I said, any time you can get a win in this league, no matter what, you take it. So we're happy with that, but definitely a long way to go like they were saying. Like Zach said, we're never a finished product.

Hopefully, we can continue learning from these wins instead of learning from a loss. I think that's an important thing for us. But I definitely agree, last year — it's actually funny — I think we kind of got into a similar game with Maryland last year here. It was low-scoring, kind of a rock fight at the end. And that's a game that I think we struggled with last year a lot.

Luckily for us, not by any fault of our own, the way we shot the ball at the beginning of the year, we sort of put ourselves in a lot of those games to begin with. So we've been there a lot and had experience winning these low-scoring games just trying to win with our defense. It's always good to have in your back pocket and we'll continue to work and make adjustments on both sides of the ball.

Just continue to get better. But just like you said, it's good for us to win a game like this and keep it going.

On blocked shot in transition with under five minutes to play

Morton: Really just lucky that I ended up there. It was a different game plan for us this game because I was jamming the ball instead of Braden. So I wasn't getting back, but on that play, they sort of leaked out and I think it was [Fletcher Loyer] that was back. He did a good job of at least not giving him a free layup.

He made him get to that euro step and change directions, and that gave me time to get back and get a piece of it. So really, the play should go to him. That was a big-time play because I don't know if we end up scoring that next possession, but that's at least a four-point swing for us there at a crucial point in the game.

On handling the press

Smith: Definitely we had to adjust to a couple different things, man, zone. So just trying to adjust and figure it out from there. I think just me, personally, just limiting the turnovers. It's my job, first of all. And second of all, I should be better than that. I think just from that aspect, just limiting those turnovers and just kind of going with it and getting in our offense.

Morton: You can add me to that list of turnovers.

Edey: Me too.