BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2022

Matt Painter

Eric Hunter

Jaden Ivey

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Purdue Boilermakers

Postgame Press Conference

Purdue - 69, Penn State - 61

MODERATOR: We are joined by Purdue University Head Coach Matt Painter, Jaden Ivey and Eric Hunter, Jr. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Painter, then we'll go to questions for the students, then we'll come back to questions for Coach Painter.

So, Coach, the floor is yours.

COACH MATT PAINTER: First of all, it was obviously a really good college basketball game. How they can do different things on their third day from a defensive standpoint, I still don't know. I just asked him and I still don't understand what he said. But the ability to change and mix things up to try to keep us off balance was genius. I thought it was just -- for our guys, just trying to get them to be simple and just move and pass the ball so they don't try to overdo things. Then once we started doing that, we started getting more open looks and better looks.

But they're a good team, and trying to piece things together in your first year is really hard to do, especially when everybody is new to you. You can kind of see how he strengthened our program and Penn State obviously made a great hire. They're difficult to go against. I knew just -- I knew the start of the game was going to be that way just because we've had the double bye every year and it just seems the people that get a chance to play a game or two games and get into that second or third game, they seem to have an advantage to start. I thought our guys were really resilient, thought they hung in there, kept making plays, did a lot of good things.

And probably the player of the game for us was Brandon Newman. It's a great sign. It's very difficult. I told our guys in our locker room, we got one guy didn't play who in my opinion will be an all-conference player for us at some point in his career. We've got another guy that played eight, nine minutes that he's a really good player. It's just hard, I want to start him and play him all 40 minutes. That's just not the way it works. That's kind of part of making sacrifices and being on a great team.

But our guys hung in there and played hard, did a lot of little things and grinded it out. I think that was a question for this team as the season went on, is just can we grind it out, and I think they proved it on a neutral court that they can do that and not simply just outscore somebody.

Q. For Jaden and Eric, the moment that Brandon had tonight and just the work that he's continued to do in practice, just how do you feel, what's your emotions like seeing what he did?

ERIC HUNTER, JR.: I mean, as his roommate, you just love it for a guy like that. I'm not going to say I knew that was going to happen, but I could feel something. When he first got in the game he just told me he was locked in. So from there, you know, you saw Trey find him early and get him going and a dude like that only needs to see one go in.

Q. Jaden, could you talk a little bit about what this arena and this building means both to you and your family and what the weekend could hold for you and your family with what's going to happen starting tomorrow?

JADEN IVEY: This is for real home. Obviously my mom, she's been here, played with the Fever, and as a young boy, I can remember coming here. It's just a great atmosphere to be in. It's just a blessing to be able to play here.

Q. Jaden, the steal and layup in the final minute to essentially put it away, what did you see on that play to get to the ball first there and then break free?

JADEN IVEY: That's just all our hustle. I knew we had to get that rebound and there was one man on the fast break, so I knew I could get to my back and try to help my team win.

Q. Jaden, you really kind of took off after you came back in the game after -- you got me?

JADEN IVEY: Where you at?

Q. You really kind of took off there when you came back in. Was there something you had to kind of learn about the way this game was going to be played or anything like that after that first turn through?

JADEN IVEY: I think I just had to settle into the game a little bit. Just took me a little bit to get going. Once I settled in the game, I felt good.

Most importantly, we got the win over a great Penn State team and they're very tough team to play. I'm just happy that we got the win and looking forward to tomorrow and a tough test with Michigan State.

Q. Eric, question for you. I saw you run off the floor, point to Brandon and I don't know who was more excited, you or Brandon coming off there. But what does he mean to this program? There's so many guys who come through here, I don't think I've heard the fans excited since Tommy days, he got in, but what does he mean to this team? Because he hasn't got much playing time recently but just really came through tonight.

ERIC HUNTER, JR.: Brandon Newman, he means a lot. He's obviously a good player. We've seen him before, we saw it again today. But I think he's just a staple of what we're about as far as always being in the gym, staying ready no matter when. You don't know when your time is. I don't know how many games ago was the last time he got in, but just to have a performance like that in the postseason, you just know a guy like that will just stay ready.

Q. For either of you guys, whoever wants to take it, you guys, they had it cut to one with about two and a half minutes left, you guys called timeout. What did you say in that last timeout? Because you guys came out and like scored the last seven points.

JADEN IVEY: Basically we just had to figure out a way to win. I think that was the biggest thing down the stretch was we've been in situations like that before and we had to figure out a way to win and staying poised and just running what the coaches say on offense and then on defense, just trying to get stops, just trying to finish the game and win.

Q. Trevion's been seeing the floor really well and he's been seeing the floor for a while now really well. How prepared are you when he whips that ball across to you with that shot? I know there are screens there to work off of, too. Talk a little bit about how Trevion's really seeing the floor now.

ERIC HUNTER, JR.: Yeah, I've been playing with him for a long time now and I think I learned early you just -- sometimes I even get caught not being ready because he just whips it. But you just really got to be ready. We all know it. Coaches say it. Whenever he's on that block, I mean that's his game, he likes to pass the ball. So yeah, you just really got to stay ready because it's coming.

Q. (No microphone) they missed their last seven shots, was scoreless the last 2:39. What was the key to getting those stops there to finish the game out?

ERIC HUNTER, JR.: Say that again? I think it was just a team effort. I think we all did our part. I think this is probably one of the better games we had just talking to each other on defense. Even though it was loud in there, this was probably the best we did as far as communicating with each other and trying to be on the same page as much as we can as possible.

Q. Coach, how much was the 12-2 start a factor of what you said earlier about Coach Shrewsberry changing things up or was there an energy factor, or how do you kind of explain the start?

COACH MATT PAINTER: Yeah, it's probably a combination of a lot of things. Just the fact that they've played a couple games, it seems like not always more familiar with the surroundings, more familiar playing, and they made good plays. They had to make some shots in there. We had a couple guys fly at shooters instead of just getting a regular close-out and they ended up hitting a couple threes and got going. We had a couple good looks early, but then we turned it over early. We had 10 turnovers in the game, but we probably had four of them in that first four, five minutes, if I'm not mistaken. So I think it was just the combination of that. Like Jaden said, we just had to settle into the game, but I think it was just a combination of them playing well, already playing and us not giving ourselves a chance for some of those turnovers.

Q. What do you think has kept Brandon engaged while -- he's obviously a very ambitious kid. I'm sure it's just very difficult for him here the last couple weeks. Did you sense he was capable of this when his time finally came and all that stuff?

COACH MATT PAINTER: Sure, I think he's capable, he's on our team. You get and you play, you know, 20 games in a season and then someone that's struggled in a role -- I mean, he struggled in the same role last year after we took him out of the starting lineup.

So like are you better off as a team giving those minutes that he split with somebody else? If you play 8 to 10 minutes, it's really hard to be functional. I like giving them in chunks instead of playing 8 to 10 minutes and subbing in four times and playing through a tough time if I can.

It doesn't circle around him. You want that as a player, you want it to circle around you. Now, when it does circle around you, like with Zach and Trevion and Jaden, now who fits in with those guys. A lot of people that are close to those people, they will look at it just from the perspective of that person, they're not looking at it from the perspective of the team. So he just struggled in that role, but if he played more and he was more of a focal point, then he would have more success.

But Sasha Stefanovic, Jaden, Ivey, they're pretty good players. You know, Carson and Dakota in that stretch. For two years, he was a starter for us, he would finish some games for us, but he was probably the best. He could play in that role. And obviously he proved that he was a starter too and he could play 30 minutes in that role, too. It was a little bit of a combination of having a bigger guard out there, too, guarding those guys. They back you down and they get to the rim and they do stuff and I think that really helped us. Then obviously his ability -- if they were going to play the junk defense, his ability to make an open shot, too.

But he's worked really hard. He's used our guys, used our coaches, he comes in every single day, he gets extra lifts, he shoots extra and that's how you play well. When you're frustrated, I just told our guys like besides the best players on our team, I know how everybody feels. So for him to be able to come out and be productive, you've got to tip your hat to him. It was a great performance and we don't win that game without him.

Q. Coach, Jaden's ability to kind of play the passing lane and jump the pass and get those steals and turn it the other way, what does it say about him as a defender and how much energy and kind of motivation does that give the team when he's able to just switch the momentum?

COACH MATT PAINTER: He's so fast when he gets in some of those plays, especially kind of the one-on-two, one-on-threes. For most people you really want him to pull that out, you know, the numbers aren't there. But he can go by people to create numbers for himself.

I thought he got -- you know, he got hit when he got that foul -- excuse me, when he got that steal at the end, he got hit at the end again and he just kind of played through it. I used to always try to get Carsen Edwards to put the brakes on in those plays and he never listened to me. It was like kind of running through the third base coach sign, stop sign, so I don't even try with Jaden. But he makes a lot of those plays right there and that was a huge play. That was a huge play in the game to be able to get it to two possessions and get that stop. But he's a talented guy. You need angles to make plays when the ball is loose in the open court and a lot of times he creates his own angles. He would be a really good free safety just because like he can track people down, he can be out of a play and get back into a play.

Q. You and Michigan State, obviously Tom and yourself, the longest tenured coaches in the conference, many, many matchups, many memorable moments, tomorrow likely another one. What moments from the rivalry stick out to you and what do you think the rivalry -- you have lots of rivalries, but what do you think this particular rivalry means to both programs?

COACH MATT PAINTER: From our perspective, they're the ones that went to the Final Fours and we haven't, so like they're the flagship program of our conference. That's how we've always looked at it. If you want to be that team, you want to win our league, you want to advance in the NCAA Tournament, you've got to be able to compete with them and be able to beat them. And obviously this year we didn't beat them. They were one possession better than us and now we get a chance to go back and compete again with them.

But no, we've got a lot of respect for them, we've got a lot of respect for just their program. They're blue collar, there's nothing cute about it. They're going to come at you, they're going to defend, they're going to play the right way. They have depth, he always has depth and you've got to be hooked up or they'll embarrass you. So it will be a good Big Ten matchup, but we've got to play better. We played really good in spurts. We got to be more consistent. We weren't very consistent when we played them the first time and a lot of that had to do with them.

Q. It's late at night, quick turnaround for the game tomorrow. How does that brutal stretch that you guys had with all those games and those practices help prepare your guys right now for that quick turnaround?

COACH MATT PAINTER: Just move to the next game. It's great that we won. We're very fortunate to win. Penn State was great and we went through a lot. We had 23 straight days without a day off. We had the second longest stretch in our league, too. We had 16 days without a day off. We played a lot of 9:00 games this year. We played a lot of people going to the NCAA Tournament twice. Not all of them, but I think we had to probably play the most or second most of anybody in our league, so we're prepared. But they're prepared, too. They go through a gauntlet of their own and everybody kind of has that. So that's what this league does, but you've still got to show up, you've got to show up and play. And like I said earlier, we've got to be more consistent.