What Matt Painter Said Following No. 6 Purdue's Loss to No. 15 Marquette
Purdue suffered its first nonconference loss since the 2020-21 season on Tuesday night, falling 76-58 to Marquette. The Boilermakers struggled with turnovers, shooting and keeping the Golden Eagles out of the paint.
Following the contest, coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the outcome. Here's everything he had to say Tuesday night.
On Marquette's stingy defensive effort ...
Painter: "You have to give them credit. I thought they were great at swarming the basketball and anytime it got loose, they did a much better job of getting to those 50/50 balls. They have good team quickness, they have experience, they have guys who are adjusting a little bit to their roles, but they've played the same system, so it's fine.
"I just thought they were the tougher team. Anytime you're going to be quicker to the basketball — like they were when the ball got loose. We had to make some shots tonight, at the end of the day, they didn't turn the ball over and we did. That's probably the difference.
"It got pushed out to 20 (points) there at the end, but I thought their ability to play without turning it over. Give them credit. We had three turnovers the other night against Alabama, but you're doing it in your own arena and you're doing it with your fans. It's different when you go on the road. You have to have a little bit more mental toughness and we didn't show that."
On if Ben Gold's shot-making changed how Purdue defended Kam Jones ...
Painter: "No, not at all. We're going to live with some of that. He's shooting 20% from three, he shot 35% from last year. Kam didn't really get there as much throughout the course of the game until the end, and then he made us pay. He had his way the last five minutes of the game."
On how disruptive Stevie Mitchell was defending Braden Smith ...
Painter: "Yeah, he's a good defensive player. Obviously, he's guarded Braden a few times before. Braden had success at our place and he had some success when we played them in Hawaii, also. But he's a good defensive player. He was very active. I thought he did a good job.
"They switch some things, they do different things, so it was really all of them. You look at Chase Ross, Kam and him and (David) Joplin, it gets interchangeable. I think that's what makes them tough at times. There's no weakness out there defensively. They make it really hard for you to maneuver.
"Braden's a good player. He didn't play well tonight and he's got to be a little bit more aggressive shooting the basketball and he's got to do a better job setting the tone for us."
On Marquette's defense on Trey Kaufman-Renn ...
Painter: "It was two-fault. We missed him a couple times to start with and then he's got to continue to do a good job of continuing to work down there and then just be a good passer when they take him away with a double-team or bring somebody ball side. It took us a long time before we really got him into scoring positions.
"I think more than the guy passing it and the guy receiving it, as a coaching staff, we've got to be able to get the ball to him and be able to cause them to make a decision. If they never have to make a decision and we don't get people in rotations, we're abusing a weapon we have in him. You see when we get him those pocket passes and get him on the move, he's got a good intermediate game.
"We never made it to where they were in danger. Hats off to them, they did a good job defending him, especially in the first half."
In the difference he saw from Kam Jones ...
Painter: "His usage is higher, right? (Tyler) Kolek was so good, but he had the ball in his hands and rightfully so. So, he has it more. I thought he was a seasoned veteran tonight. He didn't kill us until he had to. You know what I mean? He just didn't come out and shoot pull-up 30-footers or take bad shots .
"We did a good job, we gave him a lot of attention and when the game just went its way, then all of the sudden, he just picked his spots at the right time. And he dominated the game in other areas. He got 13 rebounds as a point guard. He got 10 assists. When he came here, he wasn't that. He came here as a shooter and now he's a player. He's really helping his cause. Hats off to him, that's what it's about.
"They've got a good program and I think it's a good lesson for a lot players out there, to look at what Marquette's done and look at there guys. All the guys I've mentioned from Joplin to Stevie Mitchell to Chase Ross to Kam. They have a program, even if you're not the one or two options, stay at a program even if you don't start. Look at that crowd you play in front of. Look at the atmosphere you have. Look at the atmosphere you have. You get a great education at Marquette. But you stay and battle through adversity, and you're a team. That's cool, right? That's what it's about. Marquette's got something special.
"Now, (Jones) has got to go do something different for this team. That's what Tyler did. He's got to shoulder that responsibility. Sometimes you need 30 from him, sometimes he's got to playmake and sometimes he gets to do it all like he did tonight. That's what it's about. If you stay and fight through things — I'm a little biased — I think at the end of the day you're going to be a better player, but you're also going to learn a lot through adversity that's going to help you down the road, not just in basketball."
On the play of Purdue's freshmen in their first road game ...
Painter: "We stuck CJ (Cox) a couple of times at the end of the clock. He had to be able to drive that basketball and create for other people and he didn't, he just kind of dribbled in circles and took tough ones. He got a couple good looks and just missed them.
"Gicarri (Harris) had a couple good looks to start the game and they just didn't go down. It's part of it. It's part of the learning process. There's other parts of the game, too.
"I told our guys the shots that we missed that were open, you've got to be able to hit a good percentage of those. When you don't, you've got to be able to grind them out and you've got to be better on the defensive end. You've got to be better taking care of the basketball. So, when you don't shoot well, now you're not as good defensively, especially down the stretch ... you're not going to win that game. You're just not. We had to have our turnovers equal to have a crack at it.
"I thought they did some good things. It's good to get out there and compete. Sometimes through success you can grow and sometimes through failure you have to grow."
On how playing a tough schedule prepares Purdue for the Big Ten season ...
Painter: "For us, it's wanting to be prepared for (early Big Ten games in December). Don't let those two games be your first crack at it. We played at Creighton in an exhibition and they had a sellout. We went to Arkansas the year before. I don't want this to be my first road game — I know it looked like it, but it wasn't.
"It just helps. We had won 39 straight nonconference games, pretty impressive. But we also had the best player in college basketball for two years, so that helps also.
"When you look at your schedule and what you're doing, you've got to get to that fight. Today, they really highlighted some of our shortcomings. You can look at that like it's a bad thing, but it's also a good thing. Drumming somebody by 30 at your place doesn't bring that out. So, now, when we look at these games, don't say, 'Let's get ready for Texas A&M, let's get ready for Auburn.' No, let's get ready for Marshall in our next game.
"Our first three games, we weren't lights out. We played really well vs. Alabama. We weren't great before that. So, we're trying find ourselves, trying to find some consistency. But this is what you want. Because we throw into that mix at Penn State and Maryland in December. You want to be able to get off to a good start in the league, that's a little easier said than done. I just believe if you've got a good enough team, you need to go out and get challenged, even if you've got to take a couple on the chin. That way, when you get into the NCAA Tournament, you've done everything in your power as a coach to help you.
"We haven't been on the bubble in a while, but if we do get on the bubble, I want to be in the good graces of the people making the selection. I want to be in there. And the people that don't get in there at the end of the year, most of them ... high-major people can go get high-major people. It's hard, but you can do it. I want to make sure we keep doing that to help us grow, but also help us with the committee."
On how Purdue needs to grow from this performance ...
Painter: "Start by taking care of the basketball. One of the things that probably jumps out for us is I don't think we're as good as Marquette defensively. So, in practice, we don't see that. Doesn't mean we don't have athletic players, doesn't mean we don't have good players. But they have a more experienced defensive group. So, we've got to grow at taking care of the basketball.
"We've proven that we can do it. Tonight wasn't one of those nights, but we haven't proven that we can do it on the road. I think that's goal for us, make sure we take care of the basketball. I think that's what jumps out.
"The other thing that jumps out on the stat sheet is the fastbreak points they got and we didn't. You've got to steal points somewhere. They didn't get offensive rebounds, we didn't get offensive rebounds. They get out into transition, they get 15 more points right there. When you see the difference in the game is around 20. They're stealing points and we're not, but they're also turning us over.
"You can look at it two-fold, right? It's our fault we turned it over or they had good defense. Probably a little of both."
On if there was a matchup they thought they could exploit ...
Painter: "We just didn't get Trey Kaufman-Renn involved in the first half. Give them credit for knocking him out of the post, not letting him get it. We missed him a couple times, but we didn't miss him a bunch in the first half. We just had to do a better job with it.
"We really wanted to get him established. We thought if we could get him established and really get him going ... we could open up some step-in threes. That's what we were really looking for.
"I thought they did a good job in their ball-screen defense. Braden had some decisions that he'd like to have back, there wasn't a lot of them. But, they forced him to get the ball out of his hands. With that, they're trying to force other guys to make plays instead of him making plays.
"Give them credit, but we've got to be able to make that adjustment and hopefully do a better job of establishing him going forward."
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