What Matt Painter Said After No. 10 Purdue's Thrilling 81-76 Win Over Indiana

Purdue escaped Friday night with an 81-76 win over rival Indiana. Here's everything Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said after the win over the Hoosiers.

Dustin Schutte | Feb 1, 2025

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter gestures to his team / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

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Purdue Boilermakers

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It didn't come easy, but No. 10 Purdue pulled out a big win over rival Indiana on Friday night at Mackey Arena. Despite trailing late, junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn hit a shot with 11 seconds to go, which propelled the Boilermakers to an 81-76 victory over the Hoosiers.

Kaufman-Renn ended the night with 23 points and four rebounds for the Boilers. Braden Smith also had a big night, scoring 24 points, dished out seven assists and recording six steals. Gicarri Harris had nine points and three rebounds.

Indiana got major production from Mackenzie Mgbako, who scored 25 points. Trey Galloway had 15 and Luke Goode added 13 off the bench.

After the game, Purdue coach Matt Painter talked about his team's performance and plenty more. Here's what he had to say.

On getting a win over rival Indiana ...

Painter: "It's big for both teams. You're trying to position yourself as you get to that midway point, are you going to be in position to try and win a Big Ten title? Where are you going to be from an NCAA standpoint. We already lost a home game and you just have to be able to hold serve at home and win.

"It's a huge game for both teams. The rivalry is big. But, more than anything, just trying to get another win in the Big Ten and keep our positioning where it is. Obviously, we have nine more games to play, but this was a huge win for us. We're very fortunate, because the other team deserved to win, too."

On his message to the team at halftime ...

Painter: "I thought they manhandled us a couple times at the rim, I thought they were quicker to the ball than we were. That was first and foremost. I thought Luke Goode had a big hand in the first half — he got away from us a couple times. At least one of them, maybe two of them, were sprayouts off of offensive rebounds. I thought he was a big player in that first half.

"(Mackenzie) Mgbako has a huge game and Trey Galloway was really good in the second half. But that was it. Trey hadn't really gotten to where he was working us downhill with his right hand like he did in the second half. That adjustment wasn't in play, even though we understand that's where he wants to get. We did a poor job with it, I did a poor job with it. We should have been more prepared in that area.

"When you have a huge big guy like (Oumar Ballo) rolling to the basket and you stick shooters behind you on the outside — we made a living off of that, right? That's what they did. They found Mgbako late for that three, which was a big shot. Trey kept driving and getting fouled, getting the ball and dumping it down to Ballo.

"They really had something and Mike (Woodson) did a good job of just staying with it. They really just had something that was working right there. We were just fortunate there at the end that Trey Galloway doesn't have the ball in his hands at the end. Let's just be frank about it, because he was making plays. Now, he doesn't have the ball at the end and we're able to get a stop right there and that was huge."

On the play design of Trey Kaufman-Renn's game winner ...

Painter: "That wasn't clean. We came off of it and they stick us and they play good defense right there. We wanted to go back, have a throw in and have a deep post-up and that wasn't (there). We were very fortunate there. Trey makes a great play, but give Indiana credit, they pushed him out and made him make a tough 15-foot jump hook.

"He's a good player. Trey's a good player. He needs to come set on a screen so we can play him the whole game. Look at the box (score), he's a plus-21 in 26 minutes. He doesn't have those two fouls, we don't take him out, how does that adjust the game when we have a place to go with the basketball?

"The one thing you want is you want to play off of Braden Smith and you want to play off of Trey Kaufman-Renn. Now, it really brings value to other players who can shoot the basketball. When you're just playing off of Braden and you don't have a post-up guy, that makes it a lot harder on us."

On if Painter knew Gicarri Harris was clutch in late-game moments ...

Painter: "Yeah, he's always made plays at the end of games, whether it was AAU or Grayson, his high school team, he's always a guy who wanted the basketball and made plays. You can see how he's starting to get more comfortable out there on both ends of the court. I thought he was really good tonight."

On what he thought about Purdue's effort ...

Painter: "I think we hung in there. I think our biggest strength was being able to force them into 20 turnovers, I think that's what they have to look at and want back. Like, if they just have 15 turnovers, they have five more possessions, the game changes.

"We're looking at it from a rebounding standpoint. I think we outrebounded them by one in the second half, but they had us by seven in the first half. I normally go to the possession piece of it.

"Hats off to them, they deserved to win. They did. Both teams deserved to win. We were very, very fortunate to win the game. You have to look at wins sometimes like losses. You feel good about it — one possession and they win, you feel awful about it.

"We have to do a better job rebounding. When we get into rotations and we have to rebound, that gets a little bit hard for us. But, I didn't think we were quick to the ball, I didn't think we had enough jumpers. You have to jump, you have to go get it. We had guys looking. Sometimes, people that are mammoth like that, they're space-eaters, they'll get you to freeze with their contact. They'll get you to nail your feet to the ground.

"But like, that wasn't always happening. You're just dealing with one guy. There's four guys out there. We didn't have enough guys flying in there. I thought it was better in the second half, but it still has to be more consistent."

On Raleigh Burgess' technical foul ...

Painter: "I still don't know what happened. They said he just kept talking. I said, 'Oh, he's one of the nicest kids I've ever coached.' It doesn't mean nice people (don't) say things that are inappropriate during a game, but they said he just kept staying with it.

"You have to trust their judgment, which, we all struggle with."

On Purdue having to play through foul trouble ...

Painter: "Both the fouls on the screens by Trey Kaufman were good calls. Like, you can't move there at the end. They got Indiana on an open court one, they got Indiana on another one. They were very consistent with that. But both of his fouls were good calls, he just missed it.

"It's one of those things if you win the game, you like the experience that you had, but then if it would have cost you. Because you would just go back and look at Trey Kaufman's minutes and how good we were with him on the floor. We're a plus-21 with him on the floor and we win by five. If you just look at those other minutes, we really struggled.

"I think the experience they get — I thought Cam Heide did some good things for us. The thing about having guys in the game, like, can they function and can they take care of the basketball? Can they guard and know what they're doing? We're getting better at that across the board. Just our functionality is better. Today wasn't our best day, but I think Indiana had a lot to do with that."

On how Trey Kaufman-Renn handled the emotion of the moment ...

Painter: "He's worked really hard, he's put in a lot of time. I build confidence in guys through just watching them and seeing how productive they are in workouts and practices, things of that nature. He's always been making those improvements.

"Now, he has to be more accountable. Like, he can't leave the game right there. Sometimes, you get to where you compete and you go get a ball, someone slides under you and you go over their back, but you didn't intend to do that. When you set a screen, you're intending to set a screen. Like, be legal. We spend a lot of time on screens, it's very important for how we play. You have to be legal. That accountability is where he has to grow, because we need him to stay in the game.

"He doesn't like the shuffling back and forth, well, what the hell are you supposed to do? You have to protect someone who means so much to you. If we don't get him back in there, we're not winning that game.

"He's worked really hard and he's done a great job. He's one of the best bigs in our league, he's very consistent. In the games that he struggles, you're like, 'Man, he's got to be better.' Then you look at the box score and he's got 17 (points) and eight (rebounds). He's really been consistent for us."

On defending Indiana's last defensive possession ...

Painter: "(Myles Rice) limits himself by coming up the side of the court, so you can load up a little bit. He didn't get deep enough with that drive. You're on the move, so you've got to be able to guard him and load up right there.

"Our concern in that situation would have been Trey Galloway. He was torching us. He was getting to the rim, he was making plays, he was the guy who was feeling it, and Mgbako was just steady. He was steady the whole game. He ends up having 25, but he was consistent, had a good first half, had a good second half. He really got us.

"The guys who were getting us don't have the ball in their hands. Now, we want to keep that and you're up against the clock. We were very fortunate."

On the improvement of Gicarri Harris and CJ Cox ...

Painter: "Being solid and it's really hard — CJ starts and plays 17 minutes. I had him out way too much in the second half. I've done that a couple of times. But, it's hard because you're playing other guys. You're trying to give guys who are playing well that rhythm and I get him out of rhythm.

They've both improved defensively, their ball pressure has really helped us. We lead the Big Ten in forced turnovers and I think anybody that covers us would have laughed at that six or seven weeks ago, me included. They've kept getting better. They've kept improving. Now, they give us something we didn't have earlier in the year, but they're also learning to be consistent with inconsistent minutes.

"They both play 17 to 21 minutes and Myles (Colvin) plays 10 minutes. That's hard, man. When you play 35 minutes, you get a feel for what's going on out there. They've really given us a punch and they've done a lot of little things for us. CJ has zero turnovers and G has zero turnovers. Being able to play the game, not turn the ball over and do a good job defensively really helps us."