Tag / Matt Painter

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And I Would (Once Again) Walk 500 More

This past November, Matt Painter notched the 500th victory of his coaching career against Akron.  In yesterday’s victory over Miami in the NCAA Tournament, he scored his 500th victory at Purdue, where he replaced Gene Keady in 2005.  Painter becomes the fourth coach in Big Ten history to reach the 500-win plateau, joining Tom Izzo, Bobby Knight, and Keady.

Keady ended his time on the Boilermaker bench with 512 victories, meaning that Painter, barring any freak occurrences, should pass his mentor early next season.  Painter will look to add to his total on Thursday, when Purdue faces Texas in the Sweet Sixteen.

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Top Of The Heap

With just under thirteen minutes left in the second half of Purdue’s victory over Wisconsin Saturday night at the Kohl Center, Braden Smith tied the all-time assists record in Big Ten history with a pass to Gicarri Harris, who drained a three-pointer despite being fouled on the play.  Less than four minutes later, he dished off under the basket to Oscar Cluff, who converted on the layup to give Smith sole possession of the record.  Smith finished the night with twelve assists, putting his career total at 893, three more than Cassius Winston, who toiled for Michigan State from 2017-20.

The win, giving the Boilermakers a 3-0 start in Big Ten play for just the third time under coach Matt Painter, was also the 100th victory for Purdue’s senior class, making them the eighth-fastest class in Big Ten history to reach 100 career victories with 124 career games.  Smith and the Boilermakers look to extend their records tomorrow against Washington at Mackey Arena.

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And I Would Walk 500 More

With Purdue’s victory Sunday night over Akron, Matt Painter notched the 500th victory of his coaching career.  He had 25 wins with Southern Illinois before returning to Purdue and replacing Gene Keady in 2005, where he has racked up 475 victories.  Keady ended his career with 550 career victories, 512 of which came at Purdue.

Painter becomes the 16th active head coach to amass 500 wins, reaching the milestone in the seventh-fewest games.  He will look to build on that total later this week as Purdue competes in the Baha Mar Championship in the Bahamas.

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26 Rings

One week ago, Purdue defeated Michigan State to earn at least a share of their 26th Big Ten Conference championship, the most in conference history.  A road victory against Illinois on Tuesday gave them the title outright, the first time a Big Ten team has gone back-to-back in over a decade and the first time Purdue has won back-to-back titles since winning three in a row from 1994-1996.

Their 26 titles are the most amongst all Big Ten schools, followed by the squad in Bloomington, who own 22 championships.  The Boilermakers have won four of the last eight conference titles, dating back to 2017.  Matt Painter has five conference titles under his belt, one less than Gene Keady and tied for seventh in conference history.  With the season wrapping up tomorrow at home against Wisconsin, the team has little to prove next week in the conference tournament while preparing to avenge last year’s first round loss in the NCAA tournament.

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25 Rings

What was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Purdue men’s basketball team, following the loss of Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams, Eric Hunter, Sasha Stefanovic, and Isaiah Thompson, turned into the program’s 25th Big Ten Conference championship.  Matt Painter and company last won a share of the conference title in 2019 and last won it outright in 2017.

Their 25 titles are the most amongst all Big Ten schools.  Indiana, of course, is second with 22 championships.  After closing out the regular season against Illinois tomorrow in West Lafayette, Purdue comes to Chicago next week as the #1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament at the United Center.  A deep run should guarantee them a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament as they try to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1980.

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We’re #1 Again

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for Purdue Men’s Basketball after the loss of Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams, Eric Hunter, Sasha Stefanovic, and Isaiah Thompson.  Matt Painter and company weren’t having any of that, though, and, for the second time in school history, Purdue is the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country.  A little over a month ago, they were an unranked upstart, but a 10-0 record with decisive victories against Gonzaga and Duke has seen them rise to the top of the rankings in record time.

When they reached #1 last year, the lost their next game that Thursday on the road at Rutgers.  This year, they are off until Saturday, when they play Davidson in a neutral site game in Indianapolis.  Hopefully they will be able to keep the train rolling and remain at the top heading into January and the bulk of Big Ten play.