What Matt Painter Said After No. 20 Purdue Defeats Minnesota 81-61
Purdue earned an important win over Minnesota on Thursday night, defeating the Golden Gophers 81-61 at Williams Arena. It was the first road victory of the season for the Boilermakers, who improved to 10-4 and 2-1 in Big Ten play.
The Boilers were led by Fletcher Loyer, who scored 24 points and made eight-of-10 shots from the floor. Braden Smith had a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists and Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 17 points. Caleb Furst, making his first start in two seasons, ended with 11 points and six boards.
After the game, coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the victory. Here's what he had to say.
On what opened the game up in the second half ...
Painter: "Obviously we got some good looks and executed, knocked down some shots. I thought, before that, at the start of the second half, we had three or four good looks that just didn't go down from three. And then, obviously, we got some stops.
"(Dawson) Garcia is a player that just finds his way to 20 points and I thought a key for us was (Mike) Mitchell didn't get going. I thought CJ Cox, Myles Colvin and Gicarri Harris did a really good job guarding him. He did get a couple good looks there at the end, but this was after. He didn't get his head up during the course of the game. I thought that was a big part of the game.
"Probably comes down to our ability to take care of the basketball. Sometimes you're not getting the best shot in the world — even though in the second half, I thought we got really good shots — but you're still getting shots. You're giving yourself a chance to set your defense, you're giving yourself a chance for the ball to go in, giving yourself a chance to offensive rebound. When you're turning it over and you're playing transition defense and you're against it, you just make the game so hard for yourself.
"Tonight, with zero turnovers in the second half, that was huge."
On Braden's Smith getting another double-double ...
Painter: "He has the ball in his hands a lot. We need the balance of that. We need him to score the basketball, we need him to play-make for our team to be successful. It was great to see him close it out. I thought Fletch had a great game and made the shots the defense gave to him.
"But yeah, kind of a monumental game for Braden, to go over 1,000 points, he's over 500 assists and 400 rebounds, it's pretty cool company to be in, especially when you're only a junior."
On Caleb Furst's contributions vs. Minnesota ...
Painter: "We just felt like, the other night he really played well. We were a better team with him in the game. Then I thought it was the perfect matchup for us with him and Garcia and try to make it as hard as we can. With Garcia at 6-foot-9 and his size, we thought it made a whole lot of sense for (Furst) to be out there matching up with him."
On why the pick-and-roll opened up in the second half ...
Painter: "I think just different defenders. I think when Fox is there they had a quicker guy there, when Mitchell is there, he really works hard to get there but we were able to get a little space there. Sometimes they stayed flat and extended, sometimes they come out a little bit more. We were just able to drag it and see what opens up. If we have to throw it behind us or we can get a short roll there. A couple times, we dove all the way to the basket and got those layups.
"Just letting Braden read it and see how they were going to handle everything."
On getting the first road win of the season ...
Painter: "You play at Marquette, you play at Penn State, you have some tough neutral games, just to be able to build that confidence for our next road game after this, because we go into another hornet's nest when we go to Rutgers."
On his thoughts after the first half ...
Painter: "We were getting shots and we only turned the ball over three times in the first half, and that was something we had talked about when we struggled. When we struggle, we normally turn the ball over. So, we had struggles, but that was what we kept saying to them. Like, hey, we're getting some pretty good shots, we messed up some things around the rim. More than anything, just keep doing it.
"We gave up seven layups in the first half. Some of it was dribble penetration, some of it was simple breakdowns off of action that they did. We just had to try to clean things up. Two different times we didn't do what we were supposed to do on out of bounds plays. We just gave up wide open layup. So, those are just things we've got to clean up and do a better job with it.
"I thought the second half we did."
On the decision to start CJ Cox ...
Painter: "Just trying to get guys going. Whether it's getting him going or getting Myles going or getting Gicarri going, whoever it might be. I didn't think we played with enough purpose and toughness the other day against Toledo. Sometimes, when you play great teams like we've played in nonconference, sometimes those teams will steal your spirit. You know what I mean?
"You've got to be able to keep competing, keep fighting and I just didn't think we had that. And that has nothing to do with the two guys who didn't start or the two guys that got the start. ... That was just it. It was nothing more than that.
"Like, we have to be able to go out there no matter who we start and compete and start games and sub in and be able to play with grit and be able to play with toughness. I thought that was better tonight.
"I think sometimes for guys, when the ball is not going in for them, it's tough to do other things. But, I thought tonight those guys did other things. I thought CJ's defense was great, I though Myles' defense was great. (Gicarri) knocked down that three, that has to be great for his confidence, and he didn't play as much as those other two.
"Just trying to build in the best way we can."
On if Purdue wanted to make this a low-possession game ...
Painter: "No. We were trying to push it as much as we could, we just didn't. We just weren't able to put ourselves in positions where we could push the basketball and disrupt and be able to get some advantages in transition. That's us. I think that's a lot of people. It gets so hard to play in the half court, that if you don't get some stuff somewhere — off the glass or in transition — you make it hard on yourself.
Related stories on Purdue basketball
LOYER MAKES RIDICULOUS 3-POINTER: Purdue junior guard Fletcher Loyer banked in a desperation 3-point attempt late in Thursday night's win over Minnesota. He was all smiles after the bucket. CLICK HERE
PURDUE GETS FIRST ROAD WIN: Purdue outscored Minnesota by 19 points in the second half and picked up an 81-61 win at Williams Arena. It was the first road win of the year for the Boilers. CLICK HERE
SMITH JOINS ELITE PURDUE COMPANY: Thursday night, Braden Smith became just the second player in Purdue history (Bruce Parkinson) to account for 1,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds in his career. CLICK HERE
