Key Quotes From Matt Painter Ahead of Purdue’s Opener vs. No. 15 Gonzaga

The exhibition season is in the books and now Purdue turns its attention to its first game of the season. On Monday, the Boilermakers will play No. 15 Gonzaga in the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas. It’s an opportunity for this year’s team to open a new season with a marquee victory.

On Thursday, just two days after Purdue suffered a 76-53 exhibition loss to No. 4 UConn, head coach Matt Painter spoke with reporters about the start of the regular season. He recapped the performance against the Huskies and looked ahead to Monday’s contest against Gonzaga.

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Let’s look at some of the key quotes from Painter’s first regular-season press conference of the year.

Purdue Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter talks to the media. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

What was exposed in the UConn game

UConn gave Purdue plenty of problems on Tuesday night. The Boilermakers connected on just two of their 25 attempts from three-point range, lost the rebounding battle 40-34, and had two more turnovers than the Huskies.

Painter could have pointed to a number of things that went wrong for his team in that final exhibition game. However, a handful of things stood out from the game.

“We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding, do a better job of embracing the physicality of the game. And then, just executing and understanding that we have to get into what we’re doing earlier,” Painter said. “If you’re going to play at the end of the shot clock, the ball has to be in the hands of someone who can go make plays. That’s how we have to be able to orchestrate, running good offense and getting a quality shot, because if you play to the end of the shot clock against some really good teams, you’re going to have some really poor possessions.”

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Although Purdue returns plenty of experience from last year’s team, this is a younger team in which several players are learning new roles. Executing on both ends of the floor is an area where the Boilers need to improve moving forward.