What Matt Painter Said After Purdue's Win Over N.C. State in Rady Children's Invite
Purdue picked up a 71-61 win over North Carolina State in the first round of the Rady Children's Invitational on Thursday, getting a lot of contributions from a number of different players. It was a big win for the Boilermakers, who are trying to bring another Feast Week title back to West Lafayette.
Trey Kaufman-Renn led the way with 22 points and eight rebounds and Cam Heide scored 15 points and collected six boards. Braden Smith added 11 points and six assists and Gicarri Harris came off the bench to give the Boilers eight points, four rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.
With the win, Purdue improved to 6-1 on the year and advanced to play Ole Miss in the Rady Children's Invitational Championship Game.
After the game, coach Matt Painter met with reporters to talk about the win. Here's what he had to say.
On Purdue's overall effort on the glass, chasing down loose balls ...
Painter: "I thought in a couple of our games so far, we've just not been around the basketball — you've got to be around the basketball. Sometimes, we'll worry about them in transition so we'll get more than one guy back, but I thought our guys were quicker to the basketball today. I thought we did some good things. We took care of the basketball, we rebounded the basketball, gave a good effort.
"In the first half, we got the ball where we wanted to get it, we just didn't finish very well. Squandered some deep post-ups, squandered some layups around the rim, a little careless with the basketball. We thought we needed to keep executing, keep getting the ball where we needed to get it and good things would happen."
On how Purdue turned good defense into solid offensive possessions ...
Painter: "We talked about, handling when they did decide to press, handling their press and then going to try to score. We had a couple of opportunities that we got right at the rim and one time we didn't shoot it, the other time we just missed it. We got a three out of one, a dunk out of another one. That's what we wanted to be able to do.
"We're not a team that's going to force a lot of turnovers, but when we do, we've got to capitalize."
On the stretch from Trey Kaufman-Renn early in the second half ...
Painter: "Just getting him the ball in the low post, but also I thought Braden did an excellent job of getting him the ball in that sweet spot on those pocket passes. It kind of took away Braden from getting as many assists as he normally does, but it was setting them up and getting us in position to get two-on-one or three-on-two and Trey just had to make a good decision — score it or make the extra pass."
On if Purdue plans to run more sets for Cam Heide ...
Painter: "You can get him behind the action. They switched and did some different things where, sometimes, that's not going to work. They either tried to keep a two-on-two game in ball-screen or they switched out of it, so you're not going to be able to play behind some of those things. But we knew if we could put him away from the action and get Trey that basketball, now Trey is in that two-on-one situation for a brief moment, now you're able to get some of those shots.
"We ran a couple ATOs for him, then if he doesn't get it, it's always good when that four (position) can be ball-side, then that other guy is used to messing with the post and you can get the ball inside from there, give them a different look and make them play out of it.
"(Cam) is definitely a weapon in us going smaller. Now it gives us spacing. If you go small, you've got to have everybody being able to shoot the basketball and he really helps us in that regard. Sometimes he doesn't get looks, but he's allowing Braden to manipulate the defense because of his spacing."
On the play of freshman Gicarri Harris ...
Painter: "Don't be hesitant, be aggressive. When he had his drives — that's what I talked to our whole team about, you can't dribble against a team like this. You have to drive the basketball. You've got to go and create and score the basketball for yourself or get two on the basketball and get them moving.
"I thought he did some really good things. Obviously, he missed the two threes on the possession and then he ends up getting a put-back layup, which was great. He just stayed with the play. But both shots he missed were really good shots for him. But he got the and-1 in the first half driving the basketball. And then, he just made good plays. He had a couple breakdowns defensively — just the details of things, he just had to be a little better — but then right as it happened, he didn't let it happen again.
"As a whole, if we just didn't allow them to score on out-of-bounds plays, we had some guys just fall asleep on out-of-bounds plays. I think they might've scored eight points, maybe even more. We've got to do a better job in that area."
On Purdue's use of rotations ...
Painter: "They got off to a 7-2 start and then we got it to where it was 9-9. The thing we tried to get to, more than anything, is you can't look at the score and the runs, you've just got to look at the quality of the possessions. Try to get them to where they don't get upset with making a good decision and just missing (a shot). Stay process-based. Take good shots, make good passes and most of the time, good things will happen.
"Sometimes, it's not going to happen, sometimes the ball doesn't go in. But don't get worked up. Don't act like that's not working for us. That is working for us. I thought our guys did a good job of that, staying with it. I thought Braden did a really good job of staying with it and trusting what we were doing."
On what Purdue's identity is going forward ...
Painter: "We've always been able to try and shift. Through competition, you're going to shift in how you do things. If you can stay the same and play the same way, that's a beautiful thing, because you just plug guys in. Sometimes, you can't plug guys in.
"Right now, for us, we've played bigger with this group, and now we've went to a smaller lineup and I think, with that adjustment, we've got to be scrappy like we were today. If you take that away from us, I don't know if we win the game. Adjusting from (Zach Edey), probably the (biggest thing), obviously the ball went to him a lot, but the difference is we could miss block-out responsibilities and still get rebounds because he would clean things up. He didn't get credit for how dominant of a defensive player he was. His last couple of years, he was a really good defensive player. He didn't foul, he stayed big, he changed shots, he blocked shots, he rebounded the basketball. His piece defensively is missed just like offensively.
"That's been our adjustment, trying to adjust to that. But also, getting those guys to feel like they don't have to be him, because they can't be him. He's a once-in-a-generation player. We just have to play to Trey Kaufman-Renn's strengths and Cam Heide's strengths and anybody else who fills those gaps on our frontcourt."
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