What Purdue Coach Matt Painter Said Following Win Against Michigan State

Purdue coach Matt Painter addressed the media after the team's 77-61 rout against Michigan State on Sunday at Mackey Arena. Here's the complete transcript and full video from the postgame press conference.

D.J. Fezler | Jan 30, 2023

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Purdue Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue coach Matt Painter spoke to the media following the team's dominant 77-61 win over Michigan State on Sunday at Mackey Arena.

Junior center Zach Edey scored a career-high 38 points to lead the No. 1-ranked Boilermakers, which improved to 21-1 and 10-1 in Big Ten play. Senior guard David Jenkins Jr. added 11 points off the bench, including three 3-pointers.

The Spartans were paced by junior guard AJ Hoggard, who scored 20 points in the game. But even after cutting their deficit to 10 points in the second half, they never got to within single digits for the rest of the matchup.

Here's everything Painter had to say, including the complete video of his postgame press conference:

On creating a positive environment that encourages players to uplift one another

Painter: I think we play a part in trying to recruit guys that fit at Purdue. If you can have those common values in terms of wanting to get your education, wanting to play to get a championship and compete for a championship. I think when you do that and your passion is basketball, I think those things kind of organically just happen. It doesn’t mean you can’t have different likes, but your passion has got to be basketball, and you got to understand the big picture at Purdue. So, I think that just kind of makes it easy then.

On how far this team has come this season at getting Zach Edey the ball

Painter: You know, every game is different. When people play more one-on-one, he’s going to get more attempts. When they double him more, he’s going to get less attempts. The thing that he’s been able to do is when they take things away, he can still get on the glass. So he’s creating opportunities for himself with his effort and his ability to rebound. But you would like to have more of a balance at times. But when you get against really good teams, if you find something that works now while you’re trying to balance things out, why go away from it?

We’ve always kind of been that way once something works. You know, he’s so unselfish. He plays the game, and maybe the best stat is the zero turnovers. You know, the ability to throw him the ball and his ability to make a good decision. And when you deal with great players, they should have the right of first refusal. It doesn’t mean they have to shoot the basketball, but they need to touch the basketball. And now, everybody is on alert and that helps your spacing, it helps them get into rotations at times when they overdo it. Then obviously, you’re going to get them into foul trouble and get to the free-throw line.

On what what it's like to see Tom Izzo still coaching at the highest level and what he means to college basketball

Painter: Well, he means a lot to the game. We haven’t accomplished what they’ve accomplished. Like, don’t get confused. Like, even though we might win this game or win that game, we haven’t won the Big Ten championships, we haven’t been to a Final Four. So he sets the bar for our league, and that competition has really improved our program. Thirty years ago, I think you would say the same thing about Indiana’s program with Bob Knight, and Purdue’s program with Gene Keady, and Michigan State’s program with Jud Heathcote, and a lot of the programs — Lou Henson at Illinois.

That competition made everybody better, and that’s what Michigan State and Tom Izzo have done for us. They’ve made us better. You know, their level of toughness, their togetherness. You just don’t slip on a banana peel and end up in eight Final Fours. You just don’t. And they’ve been absolutely fabulous on a conference level, but they’ve also been fabulous at a national level, and that’s what we would like to try to do. But it’s easier said than done. We’ve got to keep working.

On what David Jenkins Jr. has done differently in the last two games

Painter: He’s gotten more opportunities. He’s made his shots. It’s really hard for him to adjust to this role since he’s never played this role. And like a lot of our guys off the bench, we’ve seen some ups and downs and my statement to that is you’re never going to have consistent play with inconsistent minutes. You know, it’s really hard. Like tonight, when you get 18, 19 minutes, that’s a lot of minutes compared to getting five to 12. And he’s stepped up and knocked down shots. He can really — when he gets it going, man, he can really make plays right there.

When [Brandon] Newman makes shots and Mason [Gillis] can come off the bench and make shots, and he can make shots, the issue is they just don’t get a lot of opportunities. What we don’t want is to force, right? You know, just let your offense run organically, move the basketball. If it comes your way, great because you have him in there. You know, if they’re not taking that away, there’s no sense in rushing things. You know, be able to get some of those step-in shots, and he was able to make a couple of those tonight.

On Zach Edey passing out of double teams, and if that speaks volumes to his development as a player

Painter: Yeah, no question. He got Brandon Newman for one in the first half and we missed it. You know, Ethan [Morton] made a good dive, he got him for that one. Just taking what they give you. He split a couple double teams and scored, he split a couple double teams and didn’t score. And sometimes those splits, as long as he’s going to his strong hand, can be OK. The other way is a little bit harder for him. But just opening up, especially on the right side, and seeing everything. It’s easier, on that left block if you’re looking at it from the top of the key, for a right-handed guy to go over his left shoulder and make those passes. But when you’re on the other block, going the other way making those passes, you gotta open up so you see everything, and that makes it much easier.

On Zach Edey having two deflections on defense that forced Michigan State away from trying to isolate Joey Hauser

Painter: Yeah, he came on that double and Hauser is good at that dribble down. And so, when he got into that, he wanted to come on that double, but making sure everybody else is alert. It’s not just the double. You know, you gotta be good in your rotation, and he got both of those deflections that led to steals out of that double. And that’s pretty impressive for a 7'4" guy to come into that double, and one of them was low, so you know, you go high with your hands and then they move the ball to pass and he moved his hand to follow and got that deflection.

So, yeah, he’s really improved on the defensive end. I think any time people stereotypically evaluate him, they’re like, ‘Well, he stinks in ball screen defense.’ And he used to stink in ball screen defense. He doesn’t anymore. But he still has trouble out in space a little bit with those quick guys right there, but that’s more of a team thing. You know, we gotta be able to crowd some space and help him a little bit so those guys can’t work him downhill.

On if it possible to get acclimated to the role of being ranked No. 1 and if that's happening at Purdue

Painter: I don’t know if it’s happening. I hope it’s happening. You have to show some discipline and not listen to what people say because success messes with you more than failure. Failure always just corrects you. You realize that you lost by a basket, now everything you did wrong gets magnified. You win by a basket, you don’t magnify those things. And that’s why coaches do.

That’s why people think coaches are crazy because now you’ve won a game and you’ve made mistakes and you’re on them about stuff. Because you know one more of those mistakes could have led to that loss. But you don’t digest it that way, and fans don’t digest it that way. We can do everything the same and be one possession less, then all of the sudden they’ll ask you, ‘What’s your problem?’ If you can take that noise and take that rhetoric out of your thinking and just worry about what people say in your locker room, you’re going to be more successful, you’re going to have that good headspace, and you’re going to have more fun.

If you’re always trying to please people that really don’t exist and you don’t know, like that gets to be really hard. The last thing I wrote on the board was give the fans something to cheer about, but have fun with it. Like, have fun. And the more you can do your job, the more you can have fun. Sometimes people think having fun is acting crazy and taking bad shots and just doing whatever you want. That’s a losing mentality. It’s not about that. You know, it’s about doing the right things, sticking together, but also embracing the moment. That’s a fun environment there, but you gotta play well.

On taking Zach Edey out of the game and later putting him back in, and if there was a push to get him to 40 points

Painter: No, there wasn’t. I was taking him out because I thought they went small, which I did earlier in the game with Malik [Hall] and Joey Hauser as their four and five. That’s what I was doing there. And then I made a mistake and [Carson] Cooper stayed in. And so, then I put him back in there.

On Purdue shooting nearly 40% from the 3-point line over the last eight games

Painter: I think water finding its level and just the opportunities. You know, you’re getting certain opportunities versus certain teams depending on whether they double or they don’t. Because I think we have a very unselfish team. But, you know, you’re going to go play certain teams and they’re just going to take away your threes, then you’re going to play the next team and they’re just going to double him every time and take him away. You know, it just depends on what comes. But no matter what they do, you can still have good ball control and take good shots.

On having 21 assists and what he saw from his team in terms of sharing the ball

Painter: Yeah, just making the simple plays. That’s what you want. Like, don’t reinvent what we’re trying to do here. Just make easy plays, pass the ball, share the basketball. You get two people on you to get them in rotations and you get that basketball moving. And I think our guys have done a good job with that. And the guy who’s gotten the ball the most — you know, Braden has the ball probably the second-most as our point guard — you know, he has one [turnover] tonight and Zach has zero. So just, it sets the table. You can’t beat yourself. And our guys have done a really good job with that.

On Trey Kaufman-Renn being more aggressive on offense

Painter: Yeah, just trying to get him the ball in the low post. And it’s hard because sometimes, a lot of times, I’m not taking him out, I’m putting Zach back in. You know, you don’t look at it when you’re the one being taken out, right? But he’s kept a great attitude. He understands. I tried to get him to go in there at the end and he was the one that said, no, let’s get him to get 40 points. And I was like, no, you have to go in. The day is over. The day is over.

On playing Michigan State for the second time in a short period of time, and how he felt the team took points of emphasis after the first meeting

Painter: Well, you know, they’re a tough team. And I thought our ability to rebound was huge. I thought even at their place, you know, they had some careless turnovers to start the game, and they did again. And so like that’s something when you get on the road, you know, setting the tone, you have to take care of the basketball. And I thought our guys did a good job of having active hands.

You look at things in different perspective. He would look at differently than I would look at it. I’m giving credit to our defense where he’s thinking they’re being careless, which we all do it that way. So, I think that’s the key. You know, we make a play at the end of the game, so I guess we’re better than them there, right? You know, and it could have went the other way very easily. So, like tonight, we were able to get that lead and keep that lead, and even though they come back and they cut it to 10 I think one time, it takes a lot of energy to come back.

They were very good in the second half in transition. You know, you see how talented Hoggard is when he gets a head of steam and starts wheeling and dealing. Got to the free throw line, broke us down, and that’s what we wanted to stop. But we really did the same thing. We did a little bit different in ball-screen defense. We switched some of those snakes the first time, and Tyson Walker made us pay. And then we didn’t switch them this time unless they got deep with it, so that was really about our only adjustment. We just wanted to be able to outrebound them and have fewer turnovers, and we did.

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