GoldandBlack.com's Purdue Roundball Roundball is a periodic notebook to be published throughout the season, or at least until we start forgetting to do it.

Following Purdue's second-half Implosion at Miami, Matt Painter's words were sharp and pointed directly at his team's upperclassmen, the four junior in which the bulk of the Boilermakers' collective experience is concentrated.

Painter's team had just "lost our minds" — as at least one player put it — and blown a big lead against a Hurricanes team playing without its best player.

Purdue crumbled at both ends of the floor that night.

"We need some discipline and some mental toughness from people who've played on our team before," Painter said, "and we just got zero."

Those were biting words from a coach known for calling it as he sees it, and that was in front of the camera. One probably can figure out the sorts of things that may have been said away from the public eye, as Painter poked his veterans, desperately needing the leadership Purdue so clearly lacked a season ago.

Next game, two of those veterans — Trevion Williams and Aaron Wheeler — departed the starting five after opening every game prior. It was the second straight year (at least) that Painter pulled a preseason All-Big Ten player from his starting lineup mid-non-conference season.

It's hard to know for sure whether Painter's bold words and bold action were the impetus or not, but since that very moment, Purdue's four-man junior class has responded ideally, the driving force behind the Boilermakers' current three-game winning streak.