Purdue Basketball Coach Matt Painter Previews Game at Wisconsin
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — No. 5 Purdue basketball is looking to break away from a rough stretch with a tough road matchup on Thursday night at Wisconsin. The Boilermakers have lost four of their last six, including three straight in games away from Mackey Arena.
The Badgers, who are looking for a strong push to end the regular season to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive, are coming off a heartbreaking 87-79 overtime loss against Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"You always say you're going to get everybody's best shot," Purdue coach Matt Painter said on Wednesday. "Well, they should get our best shot too. That's really been the focus of what we've talked to our guys about.
"It's not that we're not playing hard, we just have to find it to play a little bit harder and really dive into that piece of it. Dive into the defense, dive into the rebounding."
On the defensive end of the court, Purdue will look to slow down Wisconsin sophomore guard Chucky Hepburn, who is one of four players averaging double figures for the Badgers this season.
Hepburn registered just four points on 2-of-6 shooting while adding four assists and three rebounds against the Wolverines before leaving the game due to an injury. His status is uncertain entering the matchup.
With Hepburn's absence, freshman guard Conner Essegian scored a season-high 24 points. Backup sophomore guard Kamari McGee played 25 minutes off the bench, finishing with six points, three rebounds and one steal without turning the ball over. Forwards Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl put up 14 and 10 points, respectively.
"He's a big piece to them," Painter said of Hepburn. "But they showed the other night, Klesmit and Essegian, both of those guys really got cooking. Wahl and Crowl are good players, but I thought McGee did a really good job for them."
Thursday's matchup at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.