With 21 wins and first place in the Big Ten Conference under their belt, the Purdue basketball team is far from satisfied ahead of Saturday night’s clash with Indiana.
Don’t believe it?
Consider the words of Purdue basketball center Zach Edey after picking up a win last week against Wisconsin. While pleased with the win, Edey said there was plenty of room for improvement, not only for himself, but his teammates.
“We didn’t play our best. I didn’t play my best. I need to play better, obviously,” Edey said.
And, he admits that desire for greatness has helped Purdue basketball soar this season.
“We are focused on just winning games. Obviously, you know where the standings are. I would be lying if I said we didn’t know we are in first place. We take it game by game. Our mentality is the same as when we were two games back from Wisconsin as when we are a game up,” Edey said after the Wisconsin win.
Purdue men’s basketball coach Matt Painter echoed those sentiments, saying his team cannot take the success for granted.
“We’ve obviously played a very tough schedule and we play in a tough league but you can’t take it for granted. You’ve got to keep learning because when you win games, you’re still making mistakes,” Painter said.
Heading into Saturday’s matchup against the Hoosiers, Purdue has won seven straight games and will bring a 21-2 overall, 10-2 Big Ten mark in. Indiana, on the other hand, is 14-9, 6-6.
While Purdue is a lock for the NCAA Tournament, Indiana needs wins to improve its resume, and Painter is aware an upset by the Hoosiers would be huge for them.
“This win would be the best win on their resume. You have to be cognizant of that and understand that. We are playing for something too. If our guys need something else to get motivated about playing your rival besides beating your rival straight up, sweeping for the year and getting one step closer to putting yourself in position for a Big Ten championship, I think we’ve got some issues. Our guys have worked really hard,” Painter said.
The work continues Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Mackey Arena.
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