Boilermaker youngsters coming up big for Purdue during NCAA run
LOUISVILLE — Purdue had just beaten Illinois in Mackey Arena, carried by its starters out of necessity more than anything, when Matt Painter gathered his four freshmen for a post-practice pow-wow.
The four first-year players hadn't been particularly good against the Illini, accounting for six fouls and four turnovers in their 25 combined minutes. Game-flow metrics were an eyesore, with Aaron Wheeler and Trevion Williams registering minus-11s in the plus/minus, Eric Hunter minus-10, and Sasha Stefanovic only minus-four.
In a game Purdue won by 17, in which all of the Boilermaker starters were at least plus-17, that told the story.
So Painter had a message for Wheeler, Williams, Hunter and Stefanovic.
"Just be ready to play," Painter remembers telling the freshmen. "They play a tough role, because they could all come back to me with, 'Hey, keep me in the game longer. I'd play better if you keep me in the game longer.' That's not what is always going to happen, but for them to play 8-15 minutes, their value to the team is very important, but yet you don't always feel that way because you don't play as much."
That was the crux of Purdue's coach's message: You're important, and we need you.
Things haven't been a straight line upward for the bench since then — they struggled so badly at Minnesota, Painter said afterward, "I couldn't put them in the game" — but whatever Painter wanted to bring out of them then, it's certainly come out at the right time now.
Saturday night, Purdue will face South Region No. 1 seed Virginia in its first Elite Eight game since around the turn of the century.
While the Boilermaker veterans have carried more than their share, Purdue may not be in this long-awaited position, 40 minutes away from the Final Four, without the kids.
"No drop-off," is how Nojel Eastern put it, talking about the bench, following Purdue's weathering of debilitating foul problems in Thursday night's OT win over Tennessee.
At the very least, all four freshmen contributed positively to one of the biggest wins of the Matt Painter Era at Purdue, none more so than Wheeler, who for the third time in as many NCAA Tournament games, impacted the game significantly in the first half. He's now 4-of-5 from three-point range during the Tournament, with seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals in 32 minutes.
Wheeler remembers that spiel from Painter following the Illinois game, and says he took it to heart.
"It was just him telling us that for us to be successful, he needed us to step up," Wheeler said, "just challenging us to bring more energy."
Williams checked into the Tennessee game in the first half and literally grabbed every offensive rebound that came anywhere near him for a stretch, and Stefanovic, who's taken one shot in the NCAA Tournament and made it, was mentioned afterwards for playing reliable defense against a physical and athletic team.
Then, there's Hunter, whose christening in the NCAA Tournament was the most unique of any young player in the event.
It was the freshman guard who was slotted into the starting five — his first career start coming in his first NCAA Tournament game — literally moments before the Old Dominion game following Eastern's fluke pre-game injury, then responded with an "unbelievable floor game," per Painter, and solid defense against ODU standout Ahmad Caver, the guy Eastern would have been guarding.
That experience matters for Hunter now, the chance to play extended minutes while being absolutely counted on.
He said after the game that he "didn't have time to get nervous."
If he had ...
“I probably would have ended up playing as well," Hunter said, "but it might have taken me a little while longer to get comfortable.”
Now, Hunter seems more comfortable, as all of Purdue's young reserves do.
Painter's message seems to have resonated, but so did the struggles in Minneapolis in the loss that cost Purdue a chance to win the Big Ten outright.
"That was a huge game and there was a lot at stake, and I think we felt, or at least for me, we let the team down by not bringing the sort of energy we needed," Stefanovic said. "I think from then on, we knew that your time might be limited so you just have to go in and do what you can do, whatever it is."
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