Why 'hitting singles' continues to pay off with home runs for Purdue basketball
WEST LAFAYETTE — Maybe in his past life, Matt Painter was a baseball coach and not the head of the Purdue basketball program.
"Keep hitting singles," Painter preaches to his players.
The idea: several small things lead to something big. But you can't just say it and make it magically work.
You ingrain it into your players' heads and hope a collective group of guys in their late teens and early 20s buys into it and believes it.
Staring at a 10-point deficit early in the second half and knowing there was no one- or two-possession comeback, the Boilermakers took a baseball philosophy and applied it to basketball in an 84-76 comeback win over Minnesota at Mackey Arena Thursday.
More: How Purdue basketball came back to beat Minnesota after being down double figures
Well, they do.
"We knew we just needed to hit singles," Mason Gillis would say afterwards. "One play wasn't going to get the 10 points back and we just needed to score, stop, then score."
How did the Boilermakers do it?
By committee.
Sure, Zach Edey and Braden Smith, who were among 30 players listed on the Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Midseason Team, were big parts of it.
But so was Gillis. And Trey Kaufman-Renn. And Caleb Furst. And on down the line.
"Braden making plays. Mason making shots. Lance (Jones). You can go down the line," senior Ethan Morton said. "Everybody kind of did what they were supposed to do. That's what you need when you're up against it a little bit."
Edey was in foul trouble. Insert Furst, who had 6 points and 3 rebounds in 11 minutes.
Gillis remains hotter than fire from beyond the arc, a product of Johnson knowing the way he wanted to double Edey would leave the Gophers susceptible to open shots on the back side.
Jones was his standard self, giving the Boilermakers 12 points.
Kaufman-Renn scored 9 points and had 8 rebounds and, again, Purdue elected to start the second half running its offense through him rather than Edey.
"You've got to give those guys credit," Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said. "They're a good team and they're No. 2 for a reason."
We haven't even mentioned Morton, who downplayed his part in Purdue's comeback because his box score line, as it most often does, undersold his value.
Cam Christie is one of the best freshmen in college basketball.
Morton is a defensive disruptor and Christie, who caught fire from 3 during a first half run, was limited to two points on 1 of 5 shooting in the second half, where Purdue outscored the Gophers by 16.
"I think it's a group effort at the end of the day," said Smith, who was one assist and two rebounds shy of a triple-double. "It wasn't just me. It wasn't just anybody. I think we all did something to lead.
"We just had a lot of buildup of those little plays and it ended up working in our favor."
Hitting singles.
But that mindset stretches beyond moments of being down 10. It goes 12 deep, so deep that Painter has two scholarship players he wants to get into games, but just seemingly can't in Brian Waddell and Will Berg.
He can't find enough minutes for others like Myles Colvin and Camden Heide, or Gillis, Kaufman-Renn, Morton and Furst for that matter.
"In my mind we've got four guys that get the minutes they deserve," Painter said. "And then everyone else should play more. But you only get 200 minutes.
"I've never felt this way about a whole team. I've got two guys that don't play that are on scholarship. They're good enough to play. But I don't have anywhere. I appreciate our guys and I appreciate their professionalism when it's hard for young people to be professional. And they are."
And that's not a single. That's hitting a home run.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Baseball or basketball? Purdue basketball winning by 'hitting singles'
