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Dusty May praises Matt Painter ahead of showdown at Purdue: 'One of the best coaches in all facets'

Anthony Broomeby:Anthony Broome•about 16 hours•

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Purdue coach Matt Painter
Purdue coach Matt Painter (Chad Krockover)

The Michigan Wolverines head to Mackey Arena on Friday night for a showdown with the Purdue Boilermakers in a game with massive Big Ten regular season championship ramifications. U-M and Purdue are tired in second place in the conference behind Michigan State, potentially putting Frdiay’s winner in best position to challenge for the top spot.

Dusty May will match wits with Matt Painter on Friday night coming off a pair of Big Ten regular season titles and a trip to the national championship last season. The first-year Michigan coach has nothing but praise to share for one of the best in the game.

“I don’t ever say anyone’s the best coach because there’s so many great coaches and there’s 360-plus division one teams,” May said earlier this week. “But I think Coach Painter’s one of the best coaches in all facets. I mean, I guess you picture what great coaches are. He’s a great teacher. He knows what he’s looking for in recruiting. His humility and the staff he’s assembled around him are excellent in all areas. And for him to have the longevity and build the type of program where they’re this good every year is extremely difficult.

“They’ve climbed the mountain and now they’re managing to stay at the top of it pretty consistently. So, I can’t say enough good things. It’s an honor to compete against them. And we look forward to going in there and seeing where we’re made of.”

May has experience heading into Mackey Arena going back to his days at Indiana as a student manager. The memories are not his most pleasant.

“They’re all bad,” May joked. “That arena is gonna be. We better have our hand signals ready. We better be poised. We better meet every pass. We better have our fakes and footwork on point. But it’s as tough as an environment as there is in the country to play in. Anyone who’s played there or competed there knows that. We got our work cut out for us. We’re anxious to see where we are.”

The Purdue scouting report revolves around limiting the damage that guard Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer and big man Trey Kaufman-Renn are able to rack up. The Michigan head coach gushed about how they have grown in their careers in West Lafayette.

“Braden Smith, he’s a surgeon,” May said. “His ability to make his teammates better, to make the right play. I was watching courtside when they lost to FDU in Columbus during his freshman year. And to see his growth, back then you could tell, they pressed him the whole game, he was tired, he was winded. Now he never looks tired, he never gets sped up. You rarely see him make even a solid decision. He makes good decisions repeatedly. He knows what he’s looking at, his ability to think the game, and manipulate your defense. I could go on and on and on.

“Trey Kaufman-Renn, what a story. They have these guys go there with all these accolades and everything that goes with being a young player now who’s really good. And they just become Purdue basketball. He waits his turn behind Zach Eady, who’s an NBA starter. And now he looks like one of the best bigs in the country or one of the most efficient bigs in the country. Fletcher Loyer, I’m blown away at his development. He’s gotten so much better as a player. He’s more complete, he shoots it deep, he shoots it off the bounce from deep. His mid-range, he has floaters now.

“It starts with those three, and then there’s probably a couple of guys on that bench that are playing a complementary role that we’ll be talking about in a year or two in a similar fashion. So that’s their culture, that’s them, they have a real program.”

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