Purdue Basketball Coach Matt Painter Previews Home Matchup Against Maryland

Head coach Matt Painter met with the media ahead of Purdue basketball's home game against Maryland on Sunday. Here's the complete transcript of what he had to say heading into the matchup at Mackey Arena.

D.J. Fezler | Jan 21, 2023

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Purdue Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Ahead of Purdue basketball's game against Maryland on Sunday, coach Matt Painter met with the media to break down the matchup as the No. 3-ranked Boilermakers get set to play inside Mackey Arena.

Here's the complete transcript of everything he had to say before game day, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET and will be televised on FS1:

On what Maryland will bring to Mackey Arena

Painter: Well, first of all, they have a lot of interchangeable pieces. So their ability to change defenses, switch a lot, just use their overall athleticism, I think that's more than anything. Obviously, we're more familiar with the guys that have been there before. You know, Donta Scott, Hakim Hart, Julian Reese.

But they have a good team, Jahmir Young was a great addition for them. He's really made them go. He can break you down off the dribble, he can make plays for himself, can make plays for others. I think that's going to be an important thing because they'll come and get you some, they'll jump you some, they'll zone you some, they'll mix in their man, they'll switch.

They'll do different things to get you to freeze, to get you to kind of think and go slow. You have to keep playing. You have to keep moving the basketball, you have to keep playing, you have to keep executing. If you're constantly sitting around wondering what they're doing, they've accomplished what they wanted. They want you to get there and just kind of be hesitant in what you're doing.

[Kevin Willard] is a really good coach from the success he's had before, and he's done a really good job with this team.

On the challenges of defending Jahmir Young

Painter: Just quick, he knows how to play through angles, kind of a stop-and-go guy. He can hesitate, cross you up, get by you. And it's easier said than done, but you have to try your best not to give him angles.

When he breaks you down, he's great at getting to the basket and making plays for himself or making plays for other guys. He's a really good player.

On if the team's play at Minnesota brought about consistency

Painter: It gave me a good feeling during the Minnesota game. Every day is a new day. Things can change. Things can change in guys' personal lives, things can change in the league, guys can get in foul trouble. Whatever it might be, there are a lot of factors that go into that.

That's what you're always leery of as a coach, is just keeping everybody on the same page, making sure everybody is competing because everyone came here to start and play 30 minutes. Never lose sight of that, but the guys that are not in those roles, now they're very important to your team.

So keeping everybody on the same page, and understanding how valuable they are to us, I think that's the important piece as a coach. Just keep working that angle, keep talking to those guys because it's hard. It's hard. Guys have put in an extreme amount of time and sometimes it's like, oh, I'm playing 10 minutes or I'm playing 20 minutes. And that's not what they signed up for.

But when you're on a good team, the guys that make sacrifices — everybody makes sacrifices, but the guys that really make sacrifices and come off the bench — that can be the difference. That can be the difference in winning and losing.

On Braden Smith's aggressiveness in the pick-and-roll

Painter: And that's what he has to be able to do, he has to take what the defenses give him. Sometimes the cross-court pass is open, sometimes the lob is open, sometimes he can get more layups. The other night it was a little bit of everything, and then they just went under twice.

So they would go under the first one and then go under the second one and just dared him. He probably should have taken four or five more [3-pointers]. But I thought he did a good job of just picking his spots and stepping up and shooting it.

But we play Penn State, and the lob was open a lot. The game before that, a lot of cross-court passes were open. Then you play the next one and you get layups, so you just don't have a predetermined thought, just read the defense and trust your instincts.

On Zach Edey being more dynamic in Purdue's offense

Painter: Just so he stops his ball screen and doesn't overrun it. Sometimes he'll overrun the defender. Just stop it low and make that guard use that ball screen.

But no, he moves well for somebody his size. I think when people say he moves well, it's just not a general statement, it's for somebody that's that big. But he's always been a guy that can move like that, he's always been able to do that. Now it's just the discipline and the understanding of getting the right angle so now they have to do something defending the ball screen that they don't want to do.

A lot of big guys don't like to get detached from him, so you have to force his man to help a lot. When you force his man to help a lot and there are shots, he gets those tip dunks. When they help a lot and they get away, now he gets good post position.

So bringing him out actually helps him when he goes back in, that's why we set that ball screen so much in transition. Because now they set it, they have to stop the ball. If they don't, Braden goes to the rim. Well now when [Edey] dives, they've gotten off of him. Now when they come back to him, it opens up gaps to drive, it opens up gaps to cut, but it also lets him establish a deeper position and that guy is behind him.

On the effectiveness of the pick-and-roll between Zach Edey and Braden Smith

Painter: We initiate a lot, especially in transition with that. Now, when people take things away or they overdo things, if we're making shots, we stay with it. And now it gives us something to go to if we're not making shots. We've been able to generate good shots at times and then miss them. That's basketball, especially when you shoot from a distance. That's why people pack the lane. But now it allows us to go to something where it might not be Braden's layup or Zach's lob, it's other people's shots and just the mix of it has really helped us.