	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BIG TEN CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYS

October 2, 2019

Matt Painter

Hilton Rosemont - Rosemont, Ill.

MATT PAINTER: Obviously like everybody else, excited about the season. I thought we had a very good season last year after losing four senior starters, and had a tough non-conference but we also had a really good schedule. And I'd like to talk about having real problems. I think a lot of times you can work through your non-conference and you don't get to real problems. And if you have a tough schedule, you can also lose some games in there, and it's kind of tough sledding at those points.

But I think we learned a lot about our team. We grew. We were able to have a fabulous conference season and be co-champs along with Michigan State and then make a good run in the NCAA Tournament. So was really proud of our guys last year, and hopefully we learned something from that. We lost a lot with our three guys in Carsen Edwards, Ryan Cline, and Grady Eifert, who was the most efficient player in college basketball last year. And it kind of shows if you get guys that play hard and do what they're supposed to do, they're going to help you win games. Sometimes that gets lost.

We just have to have guys learn from that experience, and we need some new guys to come in and be able to adapt to our system and our understanding of how to play. I'm really excited about it. I think we've got some good interior players on Trevion Williams and Matt Haarms. Nojel Eastern has a lot of experience, a guy who's really helped us win games. And then we have a lot of guys who can make shots, and so just trying to get that balance and that growth from our guys, especially the guys that came off the bench. We had four freshmen come off the bench for us last year that will now be sophomores, so it's going to be a big jump for those guys, but looking forward to working with everybody and having a great season.

Q. You've been in this league as long as about anybody who's currently coaching. The new three-point distance, how do you think that's going to impact play in the Big Ten this year, the first year there?
MATT PAINTER: Well, I think it'll be different for each team. I think the guys that can make threes, it's probably not going to bother much, and the guys that are trying to be three-point shooters, it's really going to bother. We have a couple guys that are working towards trying to make threes now. That made it really hard for them. But the guys that already shoot threes that walk on campus and that's the reason they're there, we really look into their skill level when we take them. We've taken guys -- Ryan Cline was one of those guys that had no high major offers, ended up being a really good high major player, but it was because he could shoot threes. The line doesn't affect him. The line doesn't affect Carsen Edwards.

But it will affect guys trying to do that. So I think as the season progresses and you look at guys' percentages, I think you can end up seeing for certain teams people really packing it in and making you earn it from the three-point line because the three-point line has changed how we guard things. You're trying to get threes, but you're also trying to stop your opponent from getting threes. So I think it's one of those wait-and-see things, but it's going to be interesting. I think it'll fluctuate from team to team.

Q. With all that Carsen showed last year in regards to just taking over games and finishing that, how much of a carryover can there be in your guys who are back this year, just seeing that and being a part of it and wanting to step up and do the same thing themselves?
MATT PAINTER: Well, I think we have to be different when it comes to scoring the basketball. I think we had a real good balance two years ago, and then last year obviously he had a lot of responsibility in terms of shooting the basketball. But the people around Carsen Edwards had a great collective assist turnover ratio. They took care of the basketball. They made good decisions. I thought Matt Haarms was one of the best defensive players in our league. I thought Nojel Eastern was one of the best defensive players. I just mentioned Grady Eifert was the most efficient player in the country. So then you throw someone like Ryan Cline on top of it that had the best assist turnover ratio in the history of Purdue basketball, that was a good mix. That was a good stew that we had with our starting five. Then Trevion Williams and those guys that really came off the bench, really gave us a bunch.

I think trying not to be like that team is going to be really important. Like no one is going to take over Carsen Edwards's role for us. We didn't have a Carsen Edwards before, and let's not have one afterwards. And I think that's important in basketball, because I think in recruiting, a lot of times people say you're going to come in and you're going to play the same role as this guy, when in reality you're just going to be the best version of yourself.

Each team is different, even if you have a lot of experience. I think that's important for us to kind of learn -- we played a lot different than we did the previous year, and I look at us doing a lot of the same things but in a different way.

Q. December 4th you've got the rematch against Virginia and the Big Ten ACC challenge. Looking back on your career, your tenure at Purdue, has there been a pre-conference game, a non-conference regular season game that has been maybe as much of a circle-the-date kind of affair as this one?
MATT PAINTER: Well, we have a very difficult schedule, but to be able to play a program like Virginia who won the National Championship the next year after we had a tough loss to them, to go to the Final Four, you know, it is a big challenge. But it's also -- we play Texas at home and we play at Marquette. We play VCU in Destin, and then we either play Florida State or Tennessee in Destin before we play them. So we have so many challenges before them.

But, no, Tony Bennett is a great coach, and it'll be very difficult for us. They lost a lot, we lost a lot. But whenever you play them, it's very difficult to go against them. They're very stingy on defense, very efficient on the offensive end. But it's going to be a big challenge for us.

Q. As we creep closer and closer to 2020, if you had to name the best player you've seen in the Big Ten you've seen this decade, who would you say it is?
MATT PAINTER: Man, you should give me some candidates because I'm going to forget people. Obviously I'm going to be biased. We've been able to win some Big Ten championships. We've been close a couple other times. Carsen Edwards was a really good player for us. In the beginning of the decade, obviously E'Twuan Moore, JaJuan Johnson, and Robbie Hummel, really good. Caleb Swanigan, he was the Big Ten Player of the Year. JuJuan Johnson was the Big Ten Player of the Year.

So I'd probably give one of those two guys the nod just because they got that award and we won the league with those guys. JuJuan's year, I don't think we won the league then, but we won it previously. So one of those guys. But there's obviously a lot of good players. That's kind of a loaded question.

Q. How has Jahaad Proctor kind of adapted during summer workouts?
MATT PAINTER: Well, Jahaad has been really good. He's a guy that can score the basketball. He has a lot of experience, really trying to really separate himself. We have some guys that are very similar in those positions. We have a freshman, we have a redshirt sophomore. So those guys have done a really good job of competing. Just trying to learn our system. We run a lot of stuff, and so just trying to get everything down. When they're thinking too much, now they're not going full tilt, and they've got to get to where they know what they're doing so they can compete and play hard.

But, no, Jahaad is -- we thought when we lost Carsen, we needed somebody with a little bit more experience in that mix. But he can really put the ball in the basket. He averaged 19 points last year for high points, played for one of the best coaches in the country in Tubby Smith. So when he messes up on defense, I'm always on him that he should know better because the guy he played for at High Point was such a good coach. But we're excited to have him.

It's hard. Everybody sees the fifth-year guys and they come into a new program, they're learning -- part of what they have to do is the same as a freshman. Even though they have some experience, they have no experience of being in your program. So if they can get through that hurdle and be productive right away and build off of it, it really helps them. But if they don't, they kind of get into some struggles that freshmen do.

Q. I wanted to know about freshman Brandon Newman, what does he bring, and his athleticism, and also, what do you expect from Sasha in his third year in the program?
MATT PAINTER: Yes, well, those are the guys that are in that same fray that I just mentioned with Jahaad Proctor -- Sasha Stefanovic and Brandon Newman. But Brandon is very competitive, plays hard, can make threes. Just got a lot thrown at him right now as a true freshman. Just learning the system. Competes, and lays it on the line. But just looking for him to keep improving every single day and give us that punch in the backcourt. Sprained his ankle the other day, so he's going to be out here for a couple days, but look for him to be back hopefully tomorrow or Friday.

Sasha Stefanovic has been really good for us. He kind of got the short end of the stick last year because he was behind Ryan Cline and Carsen Edwards. He'd go in and play well, but he wouldn't play more -- which is frustrating if you're a player -- just because those other two guys were there. But I look for him to really help us. Out of those three guys, he knows what we're doing the most. He has the experience. He can move and shoot. A lot of times guys get credit for making a play and shooting and then being able to stand still and shoot the basketball. But if you can sprint off things and catch the basketball and shoot, you're a weapon. We're looking forward to him bringing that experience and that understanding and being able to shoot beyond the arc.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297