HawgBeat - What Purdue HC Matt Painter said about Arkansas
See what Purdue head coach Matt Painter had to say about Arkansas and Eric Musselman.
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Purdue basketball head coach Matt Painter is heading into his 19th season with the Boilermakers this year after leading his team to a 29-6 overall record last season.
Winners of the Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Tournament champions, Purdue was awarded the No. 1 seed in the East region of the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers were defeated in a surprising upset by No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson — the second ever No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed.
Overall, Purdue is 413-198 (209-120 Big Ten) under the direction of Painter. During his tenure, the Boilermakers have reached the tournament 14 times with five Sweet 16's and one Elite Eight.
Returning for Purdue is the reigning consensus National Player of the Year Zach Edey. The 7-foot-4, 300-pound center averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 60.7% shooting from the field for the Boilermakers last season.
Other key names to know for Purdue are returning guards Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer. Smith is the lead man for the Boilermakers, as he averaged 4.4 assists last season to go along with 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds. Loyer, on the other hand, is more of an all-around scorer. He averaged 11.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists last year.
It'll be interesting to see how Arkansas matches up with the two guards, as the Razorbacks made multiple transfer portal additions at the position during the offseason and have the depth to keep up with almost every team in the country.
This will unofficially be the third time the Razorbacks and Boilermakers have met. Purdue won the initial meeting, 57-51, at the 1939 Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans. The ninth-ranked Hogs won the second matchup 78-68 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1983.
Arkansas and Purdue could possibly rematch next year. Sports San Diego officials announced that the field for the 2024 Rady Children’s Invitational will include the Arkansas Razorbacks, BYU Cougars, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Purdue Boilermakers. The second annual tournament will take place Nov. 28-29 inside LionTree Arena on the campus of UC San Diego.
No. 14 Arkansas and No. 3 Purdue are set to tipoff in a charity exhibiton match on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. CT inside Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. The game will be available to stream live on SEC Network Plus.
Ahead of the exhibition, here's what Purdue head coach Matt Painter had to say about Arkansas:
On how the exhibition came to be:
Painter: I think it's a great idea anytime you can, you know, use this platform to be able to raise money for families and communities that were affected by the tornados in the state of Arkansas.
But we really just try to search out teams that are different and teams that are talented, that have been very successful. Obviously they've been very successful and their talent level is very high. They produce a lot of NBA players and have done a really good job. So anytime you can do that, you're kind of checking all the boxes across the board. We know it's going to be a difficult game and rightfully so, it's what you want.
On the prep for the exhibition:
Painter: The prep work is not the same because they don't have film like we don't have film. It's probably a lot easier for them because we have so many people returning. They don't have as many people returning, even though most of the guys on their team have had a great deal of experience and success at other schools.
On Arkansas' style of basketball:
Painter: I wouldn't say that we've struggled with it, I think anytime you deal with a high level of athleticism, that's where — the thing that knocks you out more than anything used to probably be switching, and I wouldn't say that's been an achilles heel for us even though it still bothers us at times.
Just that ultimate pressure from high-level athletes, I think that gives you the most trouble. If you can run your stuff and be clean, we've had a lot of success.
