Matt Painter has led Purdue for over 20 seasons, consistently guiding the Boilermakers to success in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments. In the past three seasons, his coaching earned multiple No. 1 AP Poll rankings and two NCAA Tournament No. 1 seeds.
Building on this recent success, Purdue has held onto the top spot in the AP poll for four of the first five weeks this season, but lost it this week after falling to Iowa State. Having been in this situation before, Painter said he cares more if the team is one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Matt Painter Speaks About Losing the AP No. 1 Ranking After the Iowa State Setback
Purdue suffered its first loss of the season to Iowa State, falling 81-58 on Saturday. This has dropped the team to No. 6 in the AP Top 25 poll, approaching the end of Week 6 in college basketball play.
The Boilermakers’ chief tactician was asked after Wednesday’s 85-57 win over Minnesota about his feelings after losing the No. 1 ranking.
Being voted as No. 1 by the AP sports writers for seven different occasions in the past five years, Painter felt the need to move on immediately and plot the following strategy to win as many games as possible and become the top seed in the NCAA Tournament in March.
“I don’t reflect on it a lot. I don’t think about it. Like I didn’t like walk away from the Iowa State game and say, ‘Well, we’re not number one anymore,'” Painter said. “I walked away from the Iowa State game and we got our a** kicked.”
The 55-year-old, who is in his 21st season as Purdue’s bench tactician, referenced the team’s run in the 2023-24 college basketball season and subsequently the 2024 NCAA Tournament, where they went 34-5 and came close to winning their first title in history, eventually losing to UConn in the national championship final.
“You can go 34 and five and you sit around thinking about those five losses. It makes you miserable. It’s like why did you choose this profession,” said Painter.
The veteran coach noted that some people dwelled on it more than he did and pointed out that the bottom line is not how you start the race, but how you finish it.
“Being No. 1 (early in the season) isn’t really that important to be honest with you. Being a No. 1 seed is in the tournament. I think that there’s nothing wrong with that being a goal, but it’s also having one next to your name in March,” he said.
The painter expressed admiration for some teams that have consistently held onto the top spot from the first day and went on to win it all, describing that as “pretty rare” in college basketball.
Purdue Drops to No. 6 in Latest AP Top 25 Poll
The 23-point loss to Iowa State dropped Purdue five spots to No. 6 in the AP Top 25 Poll for Week 6. The Cyclones, now 9-0, jumped six spots to No. 4, while Arizona, Michigan, and Duke now hold the top three rankings after the Boilermakers’ loss.
UConn remained at No. 5, ahead of the Painter-coached team, as Houston and Gonzaga rose to No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Michigan State and BYU complete the Top 10. Louisville, Alabama, Illinois, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Tennessee, Auburn, St. John’s, Nebraska, Virginia, and UCLA fill spots 11 to 25 this week.
On Wednesday, Purdue bounced back, beating Minnesota by 28 points at Mackey Arena. Braden Smith led five double-digit scorers with 15 points, six rebounds, 12 assists, five steals, and two blocks.
Trey Kaufman-Renn and Oscar Cluff each added 14 points, while Daniel Jacobsen and Fletcher Loyer contributed 11 and 10. Purdue next faces Marquette (5-5) on Saturday.
