Here's how Evan Boudreaux approaches basketball:
"It's such a sport that's mano y mano. (Opponents are) going to try to push you around and punk you and you can't take (it) from anybody. If they're going to push you, you've got to push them back twice as hard. That's kind of the way I grew up playing and I don't see that changing."
That long-held M.O. has shaped the new Boilermaker forward into the classic agitator, a basketball troll of sorts, that relentless, physical and über-competitive player Purdue fans are likely to love and 13 other Big Ten fanbases are more likely to loathe.
Make no mistake here: Boudreaux isn't defined as a basketball player solely by such things. But they have been a central piece of his on-court identity.
With that, though, came an interesting dynamic when the former All-Ivy League player at Dartmouth transferred in this summer.
Any player acclimating to a new team wants to be liked.
But Boudreaux, as a player, can be such an unlikable adversary.
"It's difficult, but I think on the floor, what happens between the lines is separate from (relationships) off the court," Boudreaux said. "You can be that annoying player on the floor, then step off the floor and it can be an entirely different situation. We might get in little fights in practice, but once the whistle blows, that's the end of it. The way I play, I anticipate myself getting into a couple — not fights, but just getting into it a little — but once practice is over, that kind of ends."
So, Boudreaux says, he's been himself, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.
"I don't know about to a full extent," he laughed, "but I think we're getting closer."
As the season draws closer, so too does the point in the new Boilermaker's career where any inhibitions he may have can be released on somebody else. In a situation reminiscent of Matt Haarms' last season, Boudreaux hasn't played in a formal game in more than a year, most recently March 4 of 2017.
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The 6-foot-8, 220-pounder will not just be playing. He'll be playing, expected to take over the power forward spot that's been such a key position for Purdue not just recently, but throughout Matt Painter's tenure with the program.
But he is also, right now, the Boilermakers' backup center, where his perimeter shooting ability could weaponize the position for Purdue as his energy and ruggedness potentially offset whatever size would be given up with him playing the 5.
Regardless of the position, Boudreaux, at his core, will play the same.
It's what he's always done, though maybe not to that "full extent" the past few months.
"It's hard when you come into a new team," said assistant coach Greg Gary, who recruited Boudreaux, more than once actually. "He's such an unbelievable kid that he wants to fit in. You can fit in, but once you set foot on the court you've got to be competitive and have that fire, and he's bringing that fire.
"Initially, early, I think he was figuring things out."
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