Matt Painter and the Purdue Boilermakers nearly had the title in the bag. Sure, the Boilermakers got decisively crushed by the UConn Huskies in Monday's national championship game in Glendale, but considering what Purdue basketball went through in 2023, that 15-point deficit at the end of the game was much closer than what it really was. The reality was that UConn was just too good, too powerful, and too much to handle for the Boilermakers, who failed to stop the Huskies from winning back-to-back titles in a 75-60 loss.
Matt Painter opens up about Purdue basketball's loss to UConn
After the loss to the Huskies, Painter congratulated UConn while also opening up about what led to Purdue basketball's downfall in the title game.
“I want to congratulate UConn on the win. I thought they had some separation there in the first half, at the end, Painter said (h/t Brian Rauf of Heat Check CBB). “I thought the real difference ended up being their ability to offensive rebound in the second half.”
Purdue trailed the Huskies by just two points after Braden Smith connected on a jumper a little over 2:20 minutes remaining in the first half. But UConn then went on to score the final four points of the contest to end the half with just a six-point lead. For Painter, that looked like enough momentum for the Huskies to dominate in the second half.
“It hurts because this opportunities are slim. You say you're going to get back here and you want to use this as motivation. It's a lot different than last year when you put yourself in a great position and don't take advantage of it. This year we put ourselves in a great position and did take advantage. We just came up short against a great team,” Painter reflected on the lost opportunity.
Purdue can still be proud of what it had achieved in the 2023-24 college basketball season. The resilience alone that the Boilermakers showed in coming back from an embarrassing March Madness trip in 2023 to going to the NCAA Tournament title game in 2024 was already a huge accomplishment on its own by the Big Ten program that concluded its campaign with a 34-5 overall record.
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