Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter Previews The Sweet 16
The Purdue Boilermakers have a tough test ahead of them Friday night inside Lucas Oil Stadium, where they will face the top-seeded Houston Cougars in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Boilermakers should have a home court advantage but will still go into the game as an underdog, with Houston currently sitting as 7.5 favorite. Purdue has yet to play a team seeded higher than 12th, with their first two games coming against High Point and McNeese. Both games ended in double-digit wins for the Boilers, but Houston figures to be a much stiffer contest.
That being said, one can never count out a team coached by Matt Painter. The longtime Purdue coach has been here before many times, and knows what it takes to have his team ready to play in big moments. During the Wednesday edition of The Ride With JMV, Coach Painter joined the show and spoke about what type of challenge awaits them on Friday night against the Cougars.
“Well, more than anything their balanced. They have a very efficient offense, they have the best defense in the country, they’re the number one ranked three-point field goal percentage team in the country, so I think that’s where you kind of see the difference. Their big guys can go make plays, their guards can go make plays, they make three’s, they kill you on the glass, they are superior defensively, so that’s a good recipe for success right there. When you can be efficient from an offensive standpoint, and be dominant defensively, and so like if one thing is struggling, they can dominate in the other area, but if both areas are dominating, that’s where they steamroll people.”
Coach Painter then spoke on what his team has to do well for them to have a chance at an upset.
“I get this way no matter who we play; you’ve got to be able to play without turning the ball over against their pressure, and then you’ve got to be able to get a rebound. If you can’t score on the glass against them, and you can’t score in transition, and you’ve got to do everything in the half court, it’s just too hard. It’s simply too hard, and so that’s going to be an important piece for us, is to be able to run offense and get a quality shot without turning the ball over, so you don’t let them get in transition, and then being able to keep them off the glass, but that’s easier said than done. They are very, very good in both those areas.”
Listen to JMV’s full conversation with Purdue head coach Matt Painter down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!
