CROSSROADS CLASSIC: BUTLER VS PURDUE

December 18, 2021

LaVall Jordan

Aaron Thompson

Bryce Golden

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Butler Bulldogs

Postgame Media Conference

Purdue 77-Butler 48

LaVALL JORDAN: Obviously, at the Crossroads it's a heck of an event, and we've been thankful to be a part of it for as many years as it's gone on and grateful for the state and the fans and the players. As it comes to an end, it's fortunate to have a state that cares about basketball as much as the state of Indiana and to have it attended like it is. It was good to have fans back in there like today.

Obviously, we didn't play well. Purdue, give them credit, they are a really good team, and they played well, and I told our guys in the locker room, that's bringing your best every day when your best is required, and then being able to match up, and you have to play well. And we did not, and they had a lot to do with that.

So give them credit, and got a lot of respect for Coach Painter and that program.

Q. Any other things you can identify that allowed Purdue to pull away in the first half? It was pretty much even through the first quarter.

LaVALL JORDAN: They made shots. Now, obviously, they've got size on the inside, and that's a heck of a matchup, and you have to -- every coach that faces them is going to have to figure out how they're going to deal with that, and that creates a lot of the tension. And then they made threes.

It's hard when you have both. You know you are probably going to get some baskets on the inside, but then when they're making shots, as they did too, and it separates. And on the other end I thought we had really good looks, and they didn't fall. Then there's game pressure, different type of game pressure on those shots if we make some on the other side.

Q. LaVall, what are some of the things you feel like you need to do to have your team where you want it to be once the Big East starts in a couple of days, besides getting healthy?

LaVALL JORDAN: I think just keep our mentality and not allow, you know, making or missing shots to dictate our energy. I think that's something we've talked about, and so just continuing to press on the defensive end of the floor, stay with your principles and their assignments and then not allow the other side to dictate our energy level.

Q. Aaron, you had that setback before you bounced back. How do you rebound from a lopsided loss like this one? Any pressure? Do you try to take a couple of things from this and try to move on?

AARON THOMPSON: I think there's lessons in every game whether you win or you lose. There's a lesson. We look at a loss as a lesson for us to come out. They're a good team. I feel like we're a good team. Sometimes good teams lose. You always learn from when you play and learn from film. You just take that and move on it the next game.

I don't think it's something we can throw away. There's some things we can adjust, but, obviously, the coach will figure that out, and we have to come out and execute.

Q. Segueing from what Coach said, it did look like in the first half especially (indiscernible) missed a lot of three point (indiscernible) other shots that seem like you guys would normally make.

AARON THOMPSON: I think we got the looks that we wanted. They just didn't fall in the first half. It's not the reason why we lost, but, I mean, some of the shots that we make a lot of times, and we're going to stay confident in those shots. So I was encouraging guys to keep shooting them all night whether they missed two, three, four, five, or 60. Just keep shooting. Those are shots that we're going to live with every day.

Q. In your five seasons, is Purdue about as good a team as you have gone against?

AARON THOMPSON: They're always tough. In my first year we played them twice. We beat them my junior year and this year. They're a good team as well. Every year they come to play. We come to play. They just got the edge over us tonight.

Q. Bryce, what do you, I guess identify one or two things that you guys need to do (Indiscernible)?

BRYCE GOLDEN: I think coming out with the defensive intensity. They made shots. You know, some of them were tough shots. Some of them were open looks, so just getting there and finding people. I think that was the biggest thing.

And then just kind of just slowing down on offense, figuring things out, adjusting to the game as the game comes to us.

I think those are the biggest things, but we'll take this as a lesson. We got 20 games with the same caliber coming up with the Big East schedule, so just learning from it and moving on.

Q. How uncommon or unique is that Williams-Edey arrangement for them, and how does it impact preparation in a different way?

LaVALL JORDAN: It's not uncommon for Purdue, whether you go back to Haas and they've had Haarms and Haas. We faced a few of those guys. Swanigan. They've cornered the market on the elite size in the country. And they've evolved, developed, and gotten better over time. Trevion, when we played him two years ago to now, he is a much better player and his development has been really good.

They're different. There's so much size at the basket. It's hard to keep them away from the basket. And then with Williams and his passing ability and the shooters around him, you know, you don't get much time -- you don't get time off. There's always pressure right at the rim with size like that. And so, again, the skill around them makes it all work together, so they're well put together.

Q. Bryce, when you are looking at this game, how do you translate that to going into the Big East with -- I forget some of the size on the Big East teams, but is there any translation between Edey, Williams and what you are going to be facing in the Big East?

BRYCE GOLDEN: Yeah, definitely. Those are two talented players, and there's talented bigs in the Big East. We'll take the film and adjust and see what works, what didn't against size, and get ready for the season coming up.

Like I said, no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have our first game of the conference schedule coming up in a week, so --

Q. Any update at all on Chuck (indiscernible)?

LaVALL JORDAN: Obviously, Chuck's deal happened over the last few days, and he is resting and taking the medication and improving, so he will be back sooner rather than later, and the other two are still progressing. No real, like, drop-dead timeline. Just a little bit better every day, and hopefully we get him back soon.