What Matt Painter Said After No. 7 Purdue's 90-72 Win Over USC
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue added another big win to its resume on Friday night, defeating USC 90-72 to improve to 11-2 in Big Ten play and keep its spot atop the Big Ten standings.
Trey Kaufman-Renn led the Boilermakers with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Fletcher Loyer scored 14 points, Braden Smith had nine points to go along with 13 assists and Caleb Furst had nine points and 10 rebounds.
After the game, coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the win. here's everything he had to say.
On what Caleb Furst means to Purdue ...
Painter: "He was around the basketball, obviously having 10 rebounds, he was one short of having 10 the other night at Iowa. He had a tough time in the first half handling the basketball, he had those three turnovers. But, you know, going 4-for-4 from the field, getting us 10 rebounds and just being around the basketball — like, that's what we need on offense and defense, for him to crash the glass.
"When Trey (Kaufman-Renn) is there, Trey gets a lot of attention. So, just trying to slip your way to the rim and find those opportunities where you can help us. He's given us a lot of energy, he's played really well.
"It's just an unbelievable accomplishment, we've got seven games remaining and he becomes the all-time winningest player in school history. It's one hell of an accomplishment."
On if the gameplan changed because Desmond Claude was out ...
Painter: "No, we prepared for Claude. I think anytime that situation presents itself, you always prepare for people to play. Obviously, I don't think it looked that way with the way (Wesley) Yates (III) played. He was fabulous, had a great first half.
"We got off to a good start, shot the ball well. I thought we took really good shots. I thought we were really efficient, we just missed some wide-open threes. It was just one of those games where you're getting good looks — I think you saw some frustration kind of mount with our guys. It mounts with Braden (Smith) because he wants more assists.
"They zoned, which they don't normally do. They'll do some run-and-jump stuff to get the ball out of (Braden's) hands and other guys have to make plays. I thought we were really efficient, especially when we got the ball to Trey right there at the free throw line where he could operate and make plays."
On Purdue's offensive philosophy ...
Painter: "If they were going to double the ball, we wanted to get it centered, whether directly or we do it off one more pass. So, sometimes when they run at the ball, they can take away the middle. But when they do that, you're going to have a wing that's going to be open. Or they take away your wings and they keep people at home by the rim, now the center of the floor is going to be open.
"When you get into those situations, a 3-on-2, a 4-on-3, everybody is spread. Anytime you center the basketball after you put two on it, the defense is normally pretty vulnerable. You just have to have the right person getting it. When (Trey's) getting it right there, now we have Caleb right at the rim and two shooters away. You just have to make the right read; whether to attack and score or make that pass."
On why Trey Kaufman-Renn was omitted from the awards list ...
Painter: "It's like anything, if you're an English professor, you should be good at English. Right? So, if you're selecting these teams — best power forward, best center. Last year, Braden didn't make the top-10 point guards in the country, but yet he made the top-five. So, there's an opportunity when they make mistakes like they've made here. I don't know whether they're putting him on the Karl Malone or the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter, because they proved last year when they made that mistake with Braden, they can put him on that top-five.
"You would think after they talked about the Karl Malone that happened two days ago, they would kind of reconvene and kind of go through it.
"There were two different point guard camps where they invited 15, 16 point guards in the country coming into college, being in college. I couldn't get Braden Smith into either one of those. And I'm saying, 'I'm not saying he's a top-15 point guard in the country, I'm saying he's the best point guard in the country.' You're leaving the best point guard in the country out. It's like having the NBA All-Star Game and saying, 'Hey, you know what, the two top guys who are MVPs, you're not All-Stars.'
"It makes no sense. But you have non-basketball people making basketball decisions and they look at it differently. Then they stereotypically look at somebody who is 5-foot-11 like he's not a player. He's real. He's one of the best passers ever, he could end up being the best passer ever in terms of what he does and how he's accumulated assists throughout his career.
"The same kind of holds true for Trey. What's he supposed to do? He's the fifth- or sixth-most efficient player in college basketball right now. You can't make up the numbers that he has. But the thing I don't grab is, whether it's him or whether it's Braden, how they can't acknowledge it when you win big. Like, if you have big-time numbers and your team stinks, I got it. Or, your team wins all the time and your numbers are very modest.
"They both have big-time numbers. Obviously, Braden is not in that sphere anymore. (Trey) is. I just don't understand when you win at a very, very high level and you have those numbers and you're productive and you're the fourth-, fifth-, sixth-most efficient player in the country — whatever that damn stat is. But, to each their own. That's on them, really it's on them. They're showing that they don't understand the game and what matters."
On if the win over USC felt like the most complete ...
Painter: "Yeah, obviously a lot of people got to play. Like I said earlier, as a team we rebounded pretty well, even though we had that one stretch where we struggled. I never would have thought we'd outrebounded them by 17 after the way you feel during the game, giving up some of those offensive rebounds.
"I thought we had good balance. They took Braden out a little bit, he missed a couple of threes he normally makes. But they took him out and tried to get the ball out of his hands.
"You just have to keep making the right play. I think he had a little frustration there that guys were missing shots, but nobody's trying to miss shots, right? We've got to keep making the right decision, and I thought, for the most part, we did."
On the success of baseline inbounds plays ...
Painter: "Sasha Stefanovic does our out-of-bounds plays, side out-of-bounds plays and it allows him to just focus in in terms of running it. He really just breaks down how someone defends it, and then takes from what we do and either tweaks it or just runs what we do. And then he'll add some stuff from time to time when people are different in how they defend it. Some people switch things out, some people don't. Some people zone off, some people don't.
"So, you've got to — are they angling it with the inbounder? Are they on top of the inbounder? Are they turning around and face-guarding the other four offensive players? A lot of when you run something is how are you affecting and disrupting the basketball or are you at all?
"We take the cutters, right? They try to back-cut us a couple times, but we take the cutters because it seemed like we led the country in giving up 3-pointers on that outer third. A couple of years ago, we just adjusted to certain teams to do that. Now we do it for most teams. It's not fool proof. We've given up a layup here and there, we've given up some guys cutting for layups, but we don't give up those threes anymore on that outer third. That's why we did it there.
"Sasha's done a great job getting everybody on the same page. We had a couple of mess-ups today where guys didn't run it the way they're supposed to. We always talk about it — you're not allowed to mess up a play when it's for you. I call your number — you don't get your number called very much and you know you go back to your apartment and complain about it. Then we run a play for you and you don't run it right. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
On the key to transition offense ...
Painter: "Obviously if they take bad shots or turn it over, it's going to put you in a better position — you're going to have numbers, you're going to have angles. We're really trying to push the ball after regular misses and run the court.
"We're not really worried about the two other guards — don't outlet to anybody besides Braden and let's try to get up the court and be able to attack them before they're set or get some quick ball movement. If you can't rebound or you can't force turnovers, you can't get on the break. I thought our guys have done a good job. I think you'd see more fastbreak points if we had a better shooting night."
On keeping guys confident during shooting slumps ...
Painter: "I think to win big and win when it matters, you have to build confidence when some things don't quite go your way. I'm not encouraging people who miss shots that can't make them. In my opinion, they can make them. So, when they do miss them, I think being positive and encouraging them really helps.
"Nobody goes through a season or maybe even a month without having a little bit of a slump. Even the greatest player in the world has self-doubt. Just getting them to understand about being process-based, take good shots. Now, if they take a bad one — the problem in coaching is when they take a bad one and make it, because they think it's OK. But 15% ... you're going to kick one in every now and then.
"Getting them to understand the numbers, just don't look at somebody's field goal percentage. Break their field goal percentage down. When you go left, you shoot this. When you go right, you shoot this. When you shoot a pull-up, you shoot this. When you shoot a three that's contested vs. a three that's not contested. What do you do in low clock? There's so many variables that go in there.
"People say, 'I shoot 46%, I'm alright.' There's about 20 to 30 shots in there you absolutely shouldn't take over the course of the season. You've got to allow a little bit of that with special players, you don't have to allow a little bit of that with all players.
"So, getting them to understand that. A lot of times, people when they're upset or frustrated, they're upset about personal things. You have to get them to understand they have to take the best shot for you, but you also have to take the best shot for us."
On playing teams near the top of the Big Ten standings soon ...
Painter: "I told our guys we have seven games, we have to have great energy in every game. But the focus of our season is winning the next game and playing well. Like, we can play better than we did tonight. We definitely defend better than we did tonight, in my opinion.
"But what you have to understand is each style will bring up issues. It's not like 'Your defense is really good,' our defense might have been really good against certain styles. Now you're getting against different people and you play them at home and you feel good about it. You go on the road and it's like you're playing a different team, right? You see that in the contrast between road and home.
"That's what we want to grow. We have to fix some things here while we're winning a couple games. There's some shortcomings that we have to clean up and be better. We have to be around the ball more, have to defend better, contain better, be in gaps better, have better man awareness.
"If you have a team that's mature, they understand that. Hopefully, we get that response and understand we have to be better if we're going to win our next game on the road."
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KAUFMAN-RENN HAS BIG NIGHT VS USC: Purdue forward Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Purdue's 90-72 win over USC on Friday night, showing why he's one of the country's top big men. CLICK HERE
SMITH DEFENDS KAUFMAN-RENN: Purdue guard Braden Smith was quick to defend teammate Trey Kaufman-Renn after he was omitted from the list of 10 finalists for the Karl Malone Award. CLICK HERE
