Myles Colvin was supposed to talk to media Monday. Then a scrimmage play gone wrong got in the way.

Purdue was playing a variant of five-on-five near the end of its first practice of the season, and Colvin's team was up by about a dozen points in the eight-minute game. With time almost up, a defender swiped the ball from Colvin, and after the play the sophomore wing smacked the Mackey Arena wall, his face scrunched up.

He beelined for the trainer's room minutes later, holding his battered hand in the palm of his other and leaving only his teammates to put that level of competitiveness into words.

"(Head coach Matt Painter) wants people that are going to fight for their spot, not be entitled, dive after loose balls," redshirt junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn said. "When you have a whole team of that, practices really get competitive."

Painter said he encourages competition in practice, even though the players who come out on the wrong end of it can have their playing time choked to a trickle – forwards Ethan Morton and Caleb Furst barely factored into Purdue's Final Four run last year despite being stalwarts at points in their careers. Morton transferred in the spring, when Purdue ran out of scholarship spots for him. Furst has stuck around to his senior year to compete yet again for scarce minutes.

Painter has now collected players willing to endure the crucible of fighting every practice for a chance that may never come.

"We're successful because the people we've signed weren't scared of that," Painter said. "They're like, 'I'll compete.' That's what championship level teams have."

Kaufman-Renn is one who's paid his dues. Painter said he'd be shocked if the redshirt junior isn't among the best players in the Big Ten this year. He likely could have gotten there sooner if not for the waiting.

A four-star recruit out of high school, his first wall was a redshirt year in 2021. In the subsequent two years, Kaufman-Renn had to split post scoring opportunities with college basketball legend Zach Edey. It now appears the chance is there if he can take it.

"I've waited so long for this," Kaufman-Renn said. "I don't want to waste it."

He leads a frontcourt thrust into the vacuum of Edey's departure. Furst will try to reclaim a prominent lineup spot. Redshirt sophomore center Will Berg posted ridiculous per-minute numbers in sparse playing time last year, and hopes to transfer it to a larger role this season.

Berg, in particular, has borne the toll of the competition that defines Purdue behind the curtain. Painter said the Swedish giant often focuses on the negative; he has difficulty leaving a bad play behind him after two years spent practicing against Edey.

"I started to lose myself," Berg said of that period.

Now, Berg gets the reps Edey used to, and others have filled the role of practice dummy and punching bag.

On Monday it was Sam King, a walk-on forward. He was given heavy black pads in one drill to encase his arms and allow him to compete with Berg's size.

Berg's objective was to wrangle a rebound and jumpstart a fast break with a pass, and then to dart over to the paint and score on King in the post.

"Who's gonna get it? Who's gonna get it?" assistant coach Brandon Brantley shouted to Berg as he leapt for the ball. He pulled it down – his teammates say he's the best rebounder on the team – and made his pass to a guard and backed down King.

Berg pivoted once, then dribbled and pivoted once more, spinning to float a shot up.

King's elongated arm, just a soft plastic club really, skimmed the ball as it went up, and it fell harmlessly to the floor.

King slapped a teammate's hand, smiling. Brantley pointed to him with a grin.

It was the second time King had bested Berg; he made a jumper against Berg's textbook defense minutes earlier.

Berg, shuffling back in line, said something, too. But he wasn't laughing.

"We have a bunch of guys that love basketball and want to win." junior guard Braden Smith said. "I mean, we'll butt heads here and there, but at the same time, once we all fight together towards one goal, it'll be pretty tough to beat us."

It is unlikely that Painter, directing traffic on the other side of the court, saw the friendly competition between Berg and King.

Be sure of this, though: That's exactly how he wants it.