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Published Feb 8, 2024
Afternoon scrum: Matt Painter talks IU-Purdue part 2
Casey Bartley  •  BoilerUpload
Basketball Columnist
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@CBartleyRivals

Indiana comes to Mackey Arena for the second game between the in-state rivals. Purdue won the first matchup of the season in convincing fashion, 87-66.

That means media got Matt Painter on Thursday ahead of the game to talk a little bit of Wisconsin, a whole lot of the rematch, and a bit on Purdue's confidence this season and what they're doing to other team by making shots.

I'll break down a few of the interesting quotes down below, but here is the video in full. Make sure to subscribe to the Boiler Upload YouTube page to get the latest videos and news of all things Purdue sports.

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Matt Painter was pleased with the way his team took on Indiana in Assembly Hall earlier in the year. It was a dominant performance in a place where the rivalry hasn't been the kindest to Purdue. It was a historic margin of victory for Purdue. Painter assessed his teams shooting in Bloomington. Purdue was 7 of 19 at Indiana, a hair below their 40% average on the season, but Painter was pleased with the shot selection, something he's mindful of.

I would say from our standpoint offensively, I thought we got good shots… I’m always very encouraging when we get quality shots and we miss them. I think that’s the one thing where coaches can get in trouble with that.
Matt Painter
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Indiana didn't look to be in the same league as Purdue in the first matchup. It might be even tougher for Indiana on the second go around. Not only is IU traveling to West Lafayette, it'll be without one of its most experienced guards even if Xavier Johnson has struggled this season when he's been available for the Hoosiers.

Obviously they took a hit when Xavier Johnson went down. Especially from an experience and a depth standpoint. A guy that can play make and can also defend - any time you lose someone with that kind of experience. That’s what you need. You can’t have enough experience on your team.
Matt Painter

For Indiana, a lot has been made about the former Indiana Mr. Basketball, Anthony Leal who is no longer injured and in Mike Woodson's rotation. Leal has returned to action and has played in the last four games for IU, getting in at least 14 minutes in each game including scoring 13 points in a win at Iowa and playing 26 minutes in IU's win over Ohio State on the road. For Painter, Purdue's defense needs to contain the ball, keep it out of the paint, and stay out of help rotations to make sure IU's role players don't get too involved in the game.

If the ball just gets into the paint from post ups and from drives, now guys like Anthony Leal come into play more. Transition threes, Penetrate and pitch threes, inside outside threes, so if you don’t do a good job initially with your defense of building walls in transition or keeping the ball out of the posts, now you’re gonna over do that. Who you gonna stop? You’re gonna stop their leading scorers. Then that’s how his value raises. So we’ve gotta do a good job keeping the ball in front of us and not living in help. Sometimes we worry so much about our help defense - i’ts gotta be there, you’ve gotta be ready to help - but you can’t help all the time. If you’re just constantly helping, now you’re gonna be in rotation, now their skill players are gonna have more of a role in the game.
Matt Painter

Purdue is in the midst of its last break of the season. Purdue will have had six days off by the time it plays IU and it will be its only game in ten days. Painter's seen rest both help his team and cause a little rust.

“Anytime you have a tough gauntlet of games, any time you can have some rest for players, it helps… sometimes those six days off really can really help you , but then you’re a little rusty.”
Matt Painter

I asked Matt Painter about how this team was able to win without its jump shot at Wisconsin and if the team's confidence overall is different this year. Last year, Purdue struggled shooting, and Painter has mentioned them losing their confidence towards the end of last season. That same struggle hasn't been prevalent so far this season.

He then provides another Painterism to hang on the wall.

“You can’t just live and die by every shot, right? You just gotta take good shots. Don’t have a parade when you make them, don’t have a funeral when you miss them.”
Matt Painter

Painter goes a little more into his team's offense and its shooting. Purdue has the #1 offense in the country according to Kenpom including shooting better than 40% from three. It's put other team's into a bind. As he'll go on to describe, the choice of how to defend Purdue isn't simple anymore. Teams can't rely on just trying to deny Edey and letting Painter's perimeter players to shoot.

It creates more space to run things. They have a decision to make. Where last year as the season progressed, the decision was made for them. This is what we’re gonna live with. If these guys make shots, then we’ll just lose. But this gives us the best chance. And now people realize that,if we’re gonna get 12, 13, 14 to go along with Zach, we’re probably gonna win the game, right? So they have to think about what can we take away? And if they really stay with us, and they stay one on one there, doesn’t mean that can’t work - it hasn’t worked a lot - we’re normally gonna get him to the free throw line. We’re normally gonna get a lot of lay ups and dunks.
Matt Painter
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