LEXINGTON, Kent. — Matt Painter wasn’t smiling after Purdue basketball’s 78-65 exhibition loss at Kentucky on Friday — he was practically beaming.
Was it the standing-room-only crowd in the Rupp Arena interview area reminding the Boilermakers coach of the closing scene in “Blue Chips,” his own cinematic debut? No, Painter recognized how an unsuccessful night of basketball can yield a successful series of film sessions and practices.
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Purdue lost a road exhibition for the third consecutive preseason. It lost at Arkansas with Zach Edey. It lost at Creighton with last season’s Sweet 16 team. Those teams needed those early doses of reality. So did this one.
“I know it sounds crazy, but it’s really helped us,” Painter said, drawing laughter from a Kentucky crowd hearing this philosophy for the first time.
“A lot of times early in the season in basketball you don’t know your real problems. And we have real problems. I don’t care where we’re ranked — we have real problems. It allows us to go back to practice, eat our humble pie and try to get better so we can have a great season.”
No one should overreact to the final scoreboard. How many times will Purdue shoot 17.8% from 3-point range? How many times will it only turn the ball over seven times and struggle to score?
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Yet in other ways, that’s precisely the point. Purdue endeavors to be an improved rebounding team this season. It must be a better defensive team. It was neither, yet, on Friday.
“You’ve got to take a step back and realize it’s a quiz leading to a test,” senior guard Fletcher Loyer called Friday’s exhibition. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to fix a lot of small things — a lot of big things as well.”
Where Purdue fell short defensively in exhibition loss at Kentucky
The Boilermakers did not scout the Wildcats to the same extent that they will opponents in games which count. That’s sort of the point. As Braden Smith pointed out after the game, regardless of the extent of prep, the team has defensive rules and principles to which it must adhere.
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Kentucky played without its injured starting point guard, Jaland Lowe. Potential starting forward Jayden Quaintance also missed the game with injury. Especially when considering those absences, the Wildcats simply took too many uncontested routes to the basket.
Some of that was simply Otega Oweh being Otega Oweh. The preseason SEC Player of the Year thrives as a downhill slasher and scored 10 points in 17 minutes. He only comprised a small portion, though, of the 18 dunks and layups leading to 36 points in the paint.
Dribble penetration, a point of emphasis since the summer, will remain one after what the short handed Wildcats accomplished.
“It’s not too much of a physical thing for me,” Painter said. “It’s more of a mental concentration — you’ve got to concentrate and keep the ball in front of you.
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“And sure, good players with quickness and ball skills are going to beat you at times. But they can’t beat you all the time.”
There are caveats here, such as the complications of setting up a defense when you’re missing so many shots. Teams are going to get out in transition from time to time. Kentucky won fast break points in this game 15-5. A three-to-one deficit there had better come with a superior shooting night elsewhere.
Did Purdue’s improved rebounding options show up against Kentucky?
Painter brought in South Dakota State transfer Oscar Cluff to galvanize this team’s rebounding. The Australian started alongside Trey Kaufman-Renn, who has said he expects his own rebounding to improve from sliding to his more natural spot at the 4.
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Kentucky outrebounded the Boilers by 12 and amassed a 14-4 edge in second-chance points.
Again, on better shooting nights — and there will be many of those — that disparity will not be this team’s fate. Painter also shuffled in numerous different lineup looks, as did UK coach Mark Pope.
However, after specifically addressing that vulnerability in the offseason, this was not the tone Purdue wanted to set — even on a soft opening.
“If we’re going to have a two big lineup in at all times, for the most part, you would think we would out-rebound the team,” Kaufman-Renn said.
Painter said the tougher team won Friday. Perhaps that’s understandable given the home team playing in a packed arena with a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country under any circumstances.
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It’s also something for this team to take to heart. They’ll be back in SEC country soon to play in Alabama’s gym. They play Wisconsin and UCLA and eight other opponents from the rugged Big Ten on the road this winter.
How many times can Purdue say his team wasn’t the tougher one on the floor while discussing a win?
The more dramatic corners of the fan base will overreact to these 40 minutes. Purdue simply needs to confront one night’s shortcomings with the intent of leaving them in Lexington.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter on loss at UK: ‘We have real problems’
