What’s up, Purdue?
“I have ultimate confidence in my teammates. Always have. Always will.”
Zach Edey Purdue center
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Matt Painter, Zach Edey and the Purdue Boilermakers are sticking to their strategy. What they’re doing works. There’s simply too much evidence to suggest otherwise.
Purdue isn’t going to let a small sample size – namely four losses in six games – dictate how it goes about business.
“I have ultimate confidence in my teammates. Always have. Always will,” Purdue center Zach Edey said Feb. 25 after the Boilermakers lost to Indiana 79-71 in Mackey Arena. “It doesn’t matter if we win or lose. It doesn’t matter if shots go in or shots don’t. It’s a great group of guys I am surrounded with and we’re just going to figure it out.”
Basically, that’s where Purdue’s struggles lie.
Everything Painter wanted to see offensively came to fruition.
Except one.
“A majority of our shots were pretty good shots,” Painter said. “If you’re just going to take (Edey) out of the equation and double him, then you’re going to get wide-open shots and you’ve got to step up and make them. Tonight we didn’t make them.”
This roster is constructed to feature a center and surround him with solid shooting.
Against the Hoosiers, Purdue was 5 of 23 from 3-point range and two of those 3s came in the waning moments of the game. That’s a combined 18 of 76 from 3 in losses to Indiana (twice), Maryland and Northwestern in February.
The starting freshman guard duo of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, who received nothing but praise for three months, are suddenly showing signs of being human.
In the game, they combined to go 6 of 23 shooting.
“They’re both very, very good players,” Painter said. “They have a lot of responsibility for young guys on our team.
“We expect a lot from them and they expect a lot from themselves. Just stay process based.”
Some fans already are abuzz, chalking this up to “typical Purdue” late-season fizzle.
To that, Painter offers the contrary, 2019.
The Boilermakers had a sensational guard named Carsen Edwards, who was a streaky shooter, not unlike current Indiana guard Jalen Hood-Schifino, who cooked Purdue for 35 points Feb. 25.
Edwards entered the 2019 NCAA Tournament misfiring more often than not, hitting just 23 of 102 3s over an 11-game stretch before putting together one of the most memorable individual series of games in history.
When Purdue was struggling and appeared to limp into that NCAA Tournament with two losses in its last three games, Painter was asked what needed to change.
His answer then was the same as it was Feb. 25. Nothing.
“We just have to be better at what we do,” Painter said. “Well that’s not working. What they did tonight, that’s working? Yeah, when the ball goes in, it’s working. When it doesn’t go in, it doesn’t look like it’s working.”
Edey, the focal point of the offense who still had 26 points and 16 rebounds despite Purdue’s shooting woes, believes it’s working. Brandon Newman and Caleb Furst, flanked to Edey’s left and right in the postgame press conference, believe it’s working.
“You’re going to put yourself in a good situation if you keep getting the right guys,” Painter said. “We’ve got the right guys. We’re good.”