What Purdue Coach Matt Painter Said Following Road Victory Over Michigan

No. 1 Purdue basketball defeated Michigan on Thursday night at the Crisler Center to move to 20-1 on the season and 9-1 in Big Ten play. Here's the complete transcript of coach Matt Painter's postgame press conference.

D.J. Fezler | Jan 27, 2023

In this story:

Purdue Boilermakers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter addressed the media following the team's 75-70 road win against Michigan on Thursday night. Here's everything he had to say, with the complete transcript of his postgame interview at the Crisler Center.

On production from bench players

Painter: Braden [Smith] got in foul trouble, and I thought David [Jenkins] did a really good job coming in and just making plays, being solid, knocking down some shots. He made his free throws, hit both of his threes.

Brandon Newman made those two free throws at the end. We subbed him in to switch five ways but also have a better free-throw shooter in the game. Trey Kaufman-Renn going 4-for-4 and really being able to score on that low block, giving us a threat when Zach [Edey] was out.

And then Mason [Gillis] had the best plus-minus. I thought he did a lot of little things. We rewarded him and started him in the second half. I was worried they weren't able to go big because [Tarris] Reed got in foul trouble in that first half.

I was worried about starting Caleb [Furst] and then bringing Caleb out when Reed was coming in and then we were smaller. I liked it offensively, I didn't like it defensively. So we started trying to kind of match Caleb with Tarris Reed and then we could put Caleb on Hunter [Dickinson] and then put Zach on Tarris Reed when he came in.

It worked, Mason hit that big three, but he did a lot of little things for us. Our bench was great.

On Trey Kaufman-Renn building off his performance

Painter: You hope so. To his defense, he doesn't play a lot of minutes. So you're asking for production in short minutes, and I don't think that's fair. I think it's really good for his sanity because he's a good player. He just happens to play behind someone who's having a fabulous year.

We matchup a lot of times and we don't see that big lineup like they had. We see more of a face-up four with the teams that we play. Not always, but most of the time.

On David Jenkins Jr. being comfortable at point guard

Painter: Everybody's more comfortable when they get extended minutes, but they only give you 200 minutes. It's hard, right? You play well, and then you still don't play as much. Then in the second half, we go back with Braden there, so that's a difficult chore when you're a player, especially when you play well and do that.

He did a really good job. His impact on the game was very similar to Ohio State's. You get into a close game, and the things that he did — he went 3-for-3 from three. You can look at it as the difference.

He goes 2-for-2 tonight, but he did a lot of little things to help us. I'm happy for him.

On Braden Smith getting to the basket in the second half

Painter: The thing that they have to kind of understand is those guys will play ball screen defense no different than us. We don't like getting detached from Hunter Dickinson. We want to stay with him but we have to stop the ball.

They have to stop the ball, but they want to stay with Zach. Now they stop the ball, and Zach's diving and getting lobs or getting those little short roll passes, and so it's hard. So now you have to keep attacking because you don't know when they're going to fake or bluff and go back.

You have to go get your layups. You have to hold them accountable there. If you hold them accountable and they stop you, now that opens up a lot. A lot of help getting pulled in, you can get those kick-out threes, you can get those dives. So it was great to see him attack the rim as the game progressed.

On doubling Hunter Dickinson in the post

Painter: We made mistakes last year staying with the double and just stayed with it too long. So when he was going to dribble out, we were going to try to bounce off and then get back. He can still dribble down at that point, which he did a little bit, not a lot.

I thought he played a pretty good game. Obviously, half of his shot were from the three, so it's a little different because now we're full rotating, we're trying to go get him, we're getting back to our man sometimes.

We just didn't want it to consume us. You have to know that it's there, but his meat and potatoes are on that block, so we wanted to throw some different looks at him and make it hard.

It's kind of easy for him, he had the one turnover that was unlike him. But for the most part, he knows what the heck is going on out there. He can wheel and deal. He's a really good player.

On the impact of Michigan's technical foul in the first half

Painter: It's one of those things, from an emotional standpoint, you can show emotion but you can't show emotion toward people. Because you know you're going to have your players do the same thing. It's an emotional game, it's a competitive game. But that's what they're calling.

Right away, I went to our guys and said hey, if you even come close to it, they'll even that out real quick. So don't show emotion towards anybody. Just kind of stay reserved and stay grounded and keep playing.

On Fletcher Loyer's steady play as a freshman

Painter: It's really rare, especially to have two guys like that. To have those guys that they're not scared of the moment. Fletch is someone that's played better in second halves, and he's played better on the road.

He scored 27 at home in a game, he's played well at home too, but he's really stepped up on the road and had some really good games for us. He made his free throws today. We're very, very fortunate to have him. Both of those guys have a lot of winning qualities.

On Zach Edey's quiet second half

Painter: I think they got him out a little bit more. They got him bottled up, kind of dribbling, you saw he had about three different possessions where it's like a pinball alley. The ball was just flying, he's trying to collect it and then he throws the one away.

I thought they did a better job of getting him out. Hunter and Tarris Reed have the physical ability. We go against a lot of people who don't have the physical ability to do it so they just foul us. I thought tonight, they did a pretty good job on him.

They worked him, but Hunter is a mountain of a man. So he's able to do the same thing. The thing that's different is Hunter Dickinson is going to stay in the game, whereas Hunter and Zach face a lot of people that just foul them because they're dispensable. And now, they're the backup or they're the next guy.

But those starters don't do that, but if they can't handle them physically, they're stuck right there. I thought it was a good game for both of those guys, because Zach wants to stay in obviously, and we wanted him to stay in. And they want to keep Hunter in the game.

On Zach Edey handling Michigan's defense

Painter: I thought he did a great job in the first half. Just establishing himself to start the game going to his right shoulder and using his left hand. I thought that was great, those moves there.

He's got a nice little spin where he can turn there and be able to make that play with his left hand. He made I think four baskets with his left hand tonight, which is huge. Because now when you got to scout him, if you just want to play that left shoulder, he's able to go the other way and make that.

But I thought they did a good job in the second half. You get those post ups and then you get the repost, and that's awfully hard on the repost — if you can get back in there — to keep him from getting deep right there. The same with Hunter, when Hunter gets bottled up and he throws it back out, now when they dig back in, that's a really hard cover.

On recognizing how teams are going to defend Zach Edey

Painter: No question, and it's also what we do, who we dive, who we cut through, who we hold. So we try to do different things out of different plays just to mix up so the rotation guys are different. I think that's the one thing that causes us problems.

So anything that causes you problems, you try to flip it and do the same thing on the other end of the court. So that's all we try to do, try to get him into a rythym, get him to establish his pivot foot. Sometimes it's deep enough, sometimes he has to dribble into it, so you have to be able to pick up the basketball and make plays.

And if they convert and they come after you, you have to be able to pick up the basket and make a simple play. In the second half, I thought they did a good job. He's got to be careful when he's up the lane. Hunter has that Sikma, where he opens up and shoot the basketball from like 10 to 15 feet in there. And for a lot of people, that's not a good shot. That's a good shot for Hunter.

He doesn't have that, so now he gets into that, and when people come right there we really try to dive and get something out of that and he becomes a passer. Which I'm not giving away any secrets, it's pretty obvious what we do.

On holding a lead in the second half on the road

Painter: We just didn't turn the ball over as much. We didn't allow Michigan the fastbreak points. We gave a handful of baskets to Maryland — shouldn't say gave because they were playing defense and getting steals — but we turned the basketball over too much.

Even though 12 is not a great number, it's much better than 15. Those plays when they got in there and were able to get those steals, that really gave Maryland momentum. Just passing and catching, being simple. I talked to them before the game about hitting singles. Hit singles, quit trying to always hit home runs. Take what the defense gives you.

I thought that was the difference in the game against Maryland and how it became so close, it was our ability to pass and catch and do simple things.

-----