Matt Painter didn’t sound like a coach trying to sell a summer trip on Tuesday. He sounded like a coach who sees real value in the work ahead.
With Purdue set to head to Canada, Painter used his media session to frame the trip as more than a change of scenery. For him, the biggest benefit is simple: games matter, especially for younger players and those who have not had much run yet.
“Just the overall experience. I think it is always beneficial for guys to play games, especially the guys that are either incoming or guys that have redshirted or guys that haven't played as much.
We don't necessarily have experience of being together. This would be a really young team 10 years ago in college basketball that we have right now.
I really compare it to the when we went from 2018 to 2019 when we lost four starters. Then with those four starts, it took us a while to get going.
Then, obviously we had a great year, we had a lot of answers. And you know, they don't have those answers.”
That theme carried through the rest of the session. Painter said the trip will give Purdue a chance to test itself against three college teams in Canada, something he believes carries more value than it once did because the level of competition overseas is not what it was 20 years ago. He likes the idea of seeing enhanced college programs with older players who have already spent time together.
The coach also made clear that no one has been handed anything yet. Nobody has been promised a starting job, and Painter said those decisions will come down to what players earn and what works best for the lineup.
A few individual players drew attention, starting with freshman Luke Ertel. Painter said Ertel has handled the early stretch well, but the challenge is making sure all the information doesn’t overwhelm him while keeping his edge intact.
“He's done well. It's just, there's a lot.
I always tell guys that there's nothing that's going to like blow your mind, but everything together can blow your mind, you know, and so like you're just trying to throw a lot at him from an offensive and defensive standpoint, but you also don't want him to like lose his aggressiveness. He's an aggressive player.
He needs to be aggressive guarding the ball. He needs to be aggressive with the basketball, but he's also got to make quality decisions.
I think that's the tough thing because the only thing he knows in his mind about college is what he's experiencing out here. And this will help you to a degree, but there's a lot of different styles in Purdue facing Purdue and that is what comes up and that's what he's going to have to to work through just like any other freshman have to work through.”
Painter was just as direct about Omer Mayer, saying the second year is where the real opportunity opens up. He said Mayer was the same player last year, but the issue was opportunity, not ability.
“He's the same as he was last year. He just didn't get the opportunities in the game, right?
And I told him it's going to be very frustrating for you your first year because when you play well, you won't play more at times. And if you're a competitor, you don't like hearing that because most of the time that's not right.
When you play better, you get to play more. I just said like, 'Hey, we're kind of stuck here and your runway is really your second year.'
So, anytime he would come in and be upset about things, I would agree with him and that would blow his mind even more, but he understood that coming in. We're very honest in the recruiting that his big runway was this year.
So there is not any difference. He was a good player.
He was good for us last year in practice. Did a lot of really good things.
He showed some of those things in games and now he'll be able to play more and play through his mistakes more.”
Painter also pointed to Antoine West Jr. as a player who could become a bigger name down the line. He said West Jr. will have the ball in his hands, though not in the same usage role, and described him as a strong two-way player who is good on the basketball but still needs work away from it.
Another point Painter kept returning to was production over talent. That showed up in how he talked about the roster and the roles still being sorted out.
He said Enzo Shahrvin was brought in because of his physicality, specifically his rebounding, defense and ability to run the floor. He also said Raleigh Burgess has been excellent in practice and can play both the four and the five. As for Jacob Webber, Painter called him their “big wing net shooter.”
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