Purdue’s Matt Painter On Life After Zach Edey

Source: Orlando Ramirez / Getty

The Purdue men’s basketball team is beginning a new era on the court. 

Zach Edey, the two-time National College Player of the Year, is gone, having taken his talents to the Memphis Grizzlies. His absence is still something that will take some getting used to for the Boilermakers and their fans, but they have still managed to begin this new season with an 8-2 record, with quality wins over teams like Alabama and Ole Miss. Currently, the Boilermakers are ranked 11th.  

During the Tuesday edition of The Ride With JMV, Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter joined the show, and spoke about the challenge of moving on from a player as dominant as Zach Edey. 

“There’s times where you find yourself getting frustrated because he spoiled you. You always had a place to go with the ball, he could always get deep position, and so like that position just spoiled you more than anything because now your position isn’t as deep…You’ve got to be grateful for what you have. You’ve got to be grateful for the players that you have, and you can’t go in reverse. A lot of times media people, people that write stories, they always write it in relation to the team previously, when in reality sometimes that team isn’t going to be like that team previously, they might be like a team like you’ve had six, seven, eight years ago. Now you’ve just got to keep your focus on what you have, you’ve got to keep your focus on trying to get them to play at a maximum level and not go in reverse and go backwards with it.” 

Listen to JMV’s full conversation with Matt Painter down below, and tune into The Ride With JMV weekdays from 3-6pm eastern on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!