Matt Painter is quite familiar with watching his players look to build upon victories.
It’s less common for Painter to see how his team responds to a setback. He will get that chance when No. 6 Purdue hosts Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference matchup Wednesday evening in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Boilermakers (8-1, 1-0) are coming off an 81-58 loss against then-No. 10 Iowa State on Saturday. It marked the first setback of the season for Purdue, which lost eight or fewer games three times in the previous four seasons.
Painter said the loss could serve as a wake-up call about what mattered most.
“I think you saw a frustration level with some of our guys,” Painter said. “You can’t play through your offense. You’ve got to find your energy through your defense, you’ve got to find your energy through your rebounding and getting 50-50 balls and making those plays.
“When I say, ‘Somebody stole your spirit,’ that’s what they did. Their determination and their fight was better than ours. Those guys have been through it. We’ve had tough games like this before — not a lot of them, but we’ve had them. And they understand what that means.
“You’ve got to respond. You’ve got to listen a little more. You’ve got to play a little bit harder than you’re playing. You’ve got to have a little bit more intestinal fortitude.”
The Boilermakers will try to respond against Minnesota (5-4, 1-0), which has endured a bumpy start but is coming off its best game of the season. The Golden Gophers held on for an upset win against then-No. 22 Indiana in their last contest, prompting students to storm the court.
Minnesota coach Niko Medved praised his team for embracing an underdog mentality in the win over Indiana. It is something they will need to replicate as they travel to face Purdue.
Before knocking off the Hoosiers, Minnesota had lost its previous three games.
“You don’t really learn about people, about yourself, when things are easy,” Medved said. “You learn about yourself and others and people in your foxhole when things are hard. …
“I told them, ‘People are going to count you out.’ We’ve got to respond. We’ve got to find a way to be as good as we can be. We didn’t flinch (against Indiana).”
Cade Tyson leads the Golden Gophers with 21.8 points per game on 52.9 percent shooting. He also is shooting 81.4 percent from the free-throw line.
Purdue is led by Fletcher Loyer, who is averaging 14.4 points. Three others are scoring in double digits including Trey Kaufman-Renn (13.9), Braden Smith (13.1) and Oscar Cluff (11.1).
Painter said he was less concerned with the team’s statistics on offense.
“Your constants in basketball are running, rebounding and defending,” Painter said. “Those are the constants. I didn’t say a word about offense.
“I’ll get guys all the time that have bad body language when they miss a good shot. I’m like, ‘Don’t ever feel bad about missing a good shot. That’s a good shot. The percentages say so. Just keep taking them. Keep feeling good about it.'”
–Field Level Media
