Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers had to cleanse the stench of their 23-point home loss to the now-No. 4-ranked Iowa State Cyclones, and they did just that by handling the Minnesota Golden Gophers at home on Wednesday night. However, pertaining to the ranked weekend matchup, Purdue’s 81-58 loss – its largest loss at home since 2013 – dropped it from the No. 1 ranked team in men’s college basketball to No. 6.
Painter gave his perspective on in-season rankings.
“I don’t reflect on it a lot; I don’t think about it. Like, I didn’t walk away from the Iowa State game and say, ‘well, we’re not No. 1 anymore.’ I walked away from the Iowa State game saying, ‘we got our ass kicked, and how could I have stopped that,’” the Boilermakers’ head coach said after Purdue’s 85-57 win on Wednesday night when asked about their drop in the rankings.
“That’s kind of the downside to coaching. You can go 34-5, and you sit around thinking about those five losses. It makes you miserable. You’re like, ‘why did you choose this profession?’ Being [ranked] No. 1 really isn’t that important. Being a No. 1 seed in the tournament is. I think there’s nothing wrong with that being a goal, but it’s also having one next to your name in March.
“One next to your name in October, November, December, like, who really cares? It’s not that big a deal. Some of those teams that can do it and start from the beginning all the way in, that’s pretty rare.”
The Iowa State loss is Purdue’s lone defeat of the season, with it 9-1 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten play. Furthermore, Purdue has ranked wins over now-No. 12 Alabama and now-No. 16 Texas Tech.
The Boilermakers continue to be led by seniors Trey Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer; Kaufman-Renn is averaging 13.9 points and a Big Ten-high 10.6 rebounds per game; Smith is averaging 13.3 points, 9.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 44.4% from behind the arc; Loyer is averaging 14.0 points per game, while shooting 44.9/45.9/91.4; transfer center Oscar Cluff is averaging 11.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game; fellow center Daniel Jacobsen is averaging 2.4 blocks in 15.7 minutes per game.
Next up for Purdue is a home matchup against Marquette on Saturday, followed by a clash against No. 21 Auburn on Dec. 20.
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