Q&A with Matt Painter

There have been lots of questions (e.g. why not put Byrd in earlier in the OSU game), and so I went directly to the ultimate source (CMP). Here is an excerpt from our Q&A session:

Q: Why LewJack and Ryno not starting?

A: Ryne Smith and Lewis Jackson didn't deserve to start ... I don't think I had five people that deserved to start. I know Byrd did. He has given us a good effort. Hummel gave us a good effort in the Indiana game.

Q: Can you explain not putting in Byrd for 8 long minutes after he (unfairly) picked up his 4th foul?

A: It’s tough, because I’m not going to take Rob out of the game. Putting (Byrd) into that group that was breaking down the defense with our matchups … and I have to keep Barlow in defensively, and the way he was playing offensively. Lewis was doing some good things. So, we stayed with (that lineup). We were going to try to go offense, defense, but we wanted to have (Byrd) in there at the end. I wanted to get him in there a little bit earlier, but it just didn’t work itself out.

Q: Byrd said practice has become a war lately, and that everyone has been competing hard. Is that true?

A: Yes.

Q: How can this team be more consistent?

A: It comes down to our effort. Our effort has to be better. Our discipline on the defensive end has to be better. If those two things improve for us, we would be a more consistent team. As a whole, there's a lot of factors that go into it.

Q: What specifically are you referring to that we are lacking?

A: It's sprinting, chasing loose balls and getting the long rebounds.

Q: But obviously our team doesn't have the size for the rebounds.

A: I will argue that. I can show you film where we've got guys on the perimeter that refuse to get their man when a shot goes up. It just takes discipline and effort to go box out and get the ball.

Q: I've heard that you spent practice talking about having a sense of urgency with the players the day after the IU loss.

A: Yes, and not dropping their heads when a play or a call goes against them. We need to have more of a fight. Even when you miss shots, you've got to have a fight. We don't have that right now.

Q: What are you asking the players to do?

A: We're asking them to have discipline, play harder, be tougher and fight through adversity. All of our experienced guys have been there and done that. It's really pretty simple.

Bonus - Q&A with Thad Matta

Q: Purdue has been shooting terrible coming into the game. What do you think allow them to shoot lights out?

A: We thought Purdue stink so badly that we didn't bother scouting for them.

A: I think match-ups were a little bit tough (for Ohio State). We didn’t do a great job of knowing (Purdue) personnel and screwed up a couple times on help and it cost us.

*I made up all the questions. All of the answers are Painter's quote pulled directly from various news publications.