What Purdue Coach Matt Painter Said Following Road Victory Against Michigan State

Purdue coach Matt Painter met with the media following the team's 64-63 win on the road against Michigan State at the Breslin Center. Here's everything he had to say, including postgame video.

D.J. Fezler | Jan 17, 2023

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Purdue Boilermakers

EAST LANSING, Mich. — No. 3 Purdue basketball defeated Michigan State 64-63 on Monday at the Breslin Center. The Boilermakers improved to 17-1 on the season, including a 6-1 mark in Big Ten play.

Here's the complete transcript of coach Matt Painter's postgame press conference, including the full video attached to this article:

On what he wanted on the last play of the game

Painter: Yeah, just something we've run through the years. Just something simple. You know, you’re in a tough spot with 10 seconds, Michigan State did a good job. If you can go really fast in that and try to get a shot, you would like to be able to still be in the game if you have to foul at that point if it’s at three, four, five, six seconds.

They came up to get us, and so that was not going to be the case. And so, we were going to go to [Zach Edey], obviously. They've stayed one-on-one, and they were very physical with him and just made it hard. But for us, it's really not a decision. If you're going to allow him to get it, then we're going to go to him. He missed a lot of shots today that he normally makes, but obviously, he's still a tough cover.

On Zach Edey's performance

Painter: Yeah, he is a good player, man. He has worked really hard, obviously. He's very unique with all the cargo and size, just a big dude. He's just worked on his game and done a lot for us. But you know, to be able to play those kinds of minutes and get 17 rebounds is pretty impressive. Pretty impressive for him. But he's someone who has always had good cardiovascular, and he has always been able to play. We just had Trevion Williams before, so they split time, so it was easier to kind of run those guys in and kind of see who's playing well in the game.

With [Edey], you know, Trey [Kaufman-Renn] has had his struggles, and so it’s given him a little bit more responsibility minute-wise. And we got to get Trey going because he's a really good weapon, but he has struggled when he's subbed in here the last couple games. But Zach's been great. Zach is a good leader, he works hard. I'm just happy for him and all the success he's had.

On if he planned to call timeout after Tyson Walker's basket to put Michigan State ahead 63-62

Painter: No, I was calling a timeout. But [Tom Izzo] called it first. So, I was going to bring it to half court.

On the chess match with Tom Izzo in the closing seconds of the game

Painter: Yeah, you know, I have gotten beat every which way. We go in transition right there and he doesn't call it and we play on, now you beat yourself up on that one, right?

Now he calls it, and what a lot of people do not understand is there's the flip of it, and I’ve struggled both ways. So he wanted to set his defense, which is understandable. Now they can go to the assistants and find out what are the plays we run that are better late-clock type or late-game type plays. So the back and forth of timeouts was just trying to see their alignment and just see if we kind of knew what they were going.

Obviously, we felt they would go to Tyson. But you know, with Joey Hauser, with [A.J.] Hoggard, you have more than one option. But when it gets late clock or at 1.8, which it was, you know it’s going to be a catch-and-shoot, so you felt more like it was Tyson Walker. And we didn’t do that good of a job. We took Edey off. They went small, so I wanted to keep Edey at the rim, just in case something got — you know, a slip play, a lob play, and now all of a sudden, you got a 7'4" guy that’s not there to help you.

And so, they went small, and he really didn’t have anybody to cover. So obviously, with a low clock, we put him on the basketball trying to make it hard. They still got a good shot. That’s still a pretty damn good shot, especially with a low clock right there. We didn’t do a very good job. I didn’t think we did a very good job of guarding their guards. I thought their guards really got too deep on us and then we just let Tyson get — we didn’t let him, obviously, he’s a good player. But he just got into such a rhythm on his catch-and-shoots and his dribble pull-ups. And then he got mismatches and made some tough shots, the one over Zach when we had to switch right there.

But yeah, that was all it was right there. I was going to call it though, but we were going to dribble it and bring it to the side. [Edey] is so damn big that if you can get it in there to the side, you sometimes can go directly to him from the side, which you wouldn’t think like you’re going to get a post-up there. But you can get that with him sometimes. Then if they take it away, you can get it the other way and he can pin them, and then it’s really hard. It’s really hard. I'm glad we got him.

On Fletcher Loyer's performance in the second half

Painter: Yeah, Fletcher is obviously a good player. And anytime he struggles in the first half this year, he plays great in the second half. And he really didn’t struggle in the first half, he just got into foul trouble, so he didn’t play as much. But he’s very aggressive, very sure of himself. Can catch-and-shoot threes, can shoot off the dribble, and can get to the basket. He’s very deceiving when he handles the basketball, but he does a good job of getting angles and being aggressive. He’s not scared of the moment.

On Zach Edey taking over the game down the stretch

Edey: We try not to go in with predetermined thoughts because everybody defends him differently. Sometimes the lobs are there, sometimes they're not there at all. Sometimes you can duck in and get the ball in the post, sometimes they just full front and don't let you have it. Sometimes they double, so we just tried to kind of go off of what we're seeing and just try to talk our guys through it, especially when we come out of ATOs — just after timeouts — and running stuff.

Guys normally that size rebound their area. He's really done a good job of being able to go and get basketballs out of his area. And then his dives are better. They're not elite or anything, but he just pulls so many people in. And if you don't, you have those lobs. Now, when you pull him in, you have those cross-court passes or you got the guy behind you, and it just opens things up. And now you've got guards in closeouts so you can get your shot but then you can also get your drives. He opens up a lot for us.

On keeping the game close despite not hitting shots in the second half

Painter: Yeah, I thought we had some stops in that moment that were huge. You know, I also thought Caleb Furst — they went up four, and Caleb Furst hit that three. That was a big shot for us. It's a really big shot.

So, just trying not to get frustrated when you take good shots and you miss them. I get frustrated with turnovers. End of the first half, they get back in the game because we turn it over three times in the last four, five minutes. Like, you can't help them.

But I thought in that second half, we just kind of hung in there and Fletch made some nice plays and nice drives. Zach makes some nice plays, Caleb hitting that shot. I'm probably missing something, but you just have to stay with it. If you're doing good things, and the ball's just not going in, you can't get frustrated by it. You just have to hang in there.

On if switching Edey onto Tyson Walker was an intentional decision

Painter: Yes, that was intentional. They went on a snake, so we downed the ball screen on the wing, and then when they snake and they get to the rim right there, they have a lot of success with his pull-up right there. And they have a lot of success with that lob on that.

So, they didn't go back to it. We were actually going to trap it because Zach gets there, the problem with Zach is he can handle that, and he can be there even though he hit a tough three right on him. He's OK right there. But now when the guy gives the ball up and he moves, he's not. And that's where just the off-ball stuff for him, he just gets away to the corner, and they make a great read, and that's tough for him.

The one thing is when you make a decision to do some of those things, because of the strengths of Michigan State, now you're going to get some unintended consequences. Now, it's not going to be the direct action.

You're like, OK, we've stopped this, now they move the basketball, they drive the ball, they make the next pass. Now, that's where your problems are going to exist when he's out there like a fish on a bank trying to guard him and move his feet.

On using Zach Edey as a safety net on the road and in Big Ten play

Painter: I think it's for our players, too. Anytime guys — you got a place to go with the ball. Coaches don't just have an abundance of guys that they can go with and say hey, we'll just give the ball to him, we're on the road. You just don't.

And tonight, Fletcher Loyer wanted the basketball and Zach Edey wanted the basketball. And you get some dudes that want the basketball but I don't know if it's the best decision in the world. But they really wanted it, and they were going to do something constructive with it.

I love playing inside out. I love those big dudes. A lot of people will look at our plays and say, man, you guys do a great job. If you don't have the horses right there, those plays never work. It's a player-driven deal, and Zach can get that deep position. He's definitely a safety net for all of us, especially in late-game situations.

On Zach Edey's conditioning level

Painter: Yeah, he’s always been that way. Like, his wind has always been pretty good, and he just hasn’t been able to play. When he first got here, he couldn’t pass and he couldn’t play without elbowing people in their head and getting offensive fouls. Just being honest. And you know, it was kind of a unique thing – like, I got COVID at the end of September and October, so I wasn’t there for the lovely 17 days, which was pretty cool. I watched a lot of Netflix. And I came back, and I was amazed how much better he was in 17 days.

Like, when you take somebody like that, you’re just like, I really think he is going to be good, but like, when is he going to be good? You know, he couldn’t pass the ball, he's elbowing people in the head. Then all of a sudden, we start the games and, as the guys who cover us will tell you, like, he went the first five or six games where he would play 15 minutes, get 13 points, get seven rebounds, have five turnovers, go to the monitor twice. It was just like the same recipe.

Then all of a sudden, after five or six games, just watching tape, it just kind of stopped. Even though he still has a moment or two. Like tonight, he has a turnover, and I don’t think it was his turnover. The over-and-back call, they gave it to him and I don’t think that was his. So, he just played all that really without turning the basketball over. And so, he’s gotten really good at passing. He’s gotten really good at taking his time.

We spend a lot of time doubling him. We spend a lot of time coming ball side, coming weak side, coming with size, rotating differently, and just make him gauge it and don’t tell him what’s happening. And then he’s really gotten good at that.

He’s not perfect. But no, to be able to play minutes like that, it wears on those guys. You know, it wears on your opponent when you got someone that kind of size that can stay in the game the whole time and still play physical basketball.