Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter: Eastern Kentucky preview
Matt Painter discusses Friday’s game vs. Eastern Kentucky and Will Berg’s impact.
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue men’s basketball senior Mason Gillis has made a career as being the glue guy in Mackey Arena.
Gillis plays hard and practices hard. Almost to the detriment of himself.
“Sometimes he’ll over train,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “He puts in a lot of time on his game.”
The past four years haven’t always been fair to Gillis. He tore his meniscus during his senior year of high school at New Castle.
Game story: Purdue basketball finishes non-conference schedule with rout of Eastern Kentucky
Gillis was forced to miss time again last year with a nagging back injury but has been a proven scorer and reliable rebounder when healthy. He notched 10 points and nine rebounds in another collective effort by Purdue to squash Eastern Kentucky 80-53.
The victory for Purdue extended its streak of non-conference regular season victories to 35 — the longest regular season non conference win streak in Big Ten history.
“It’s impressive definitely and Coach Painter talked about it how no other Big Ten team has done it,” Gillis said. “We haven’t just played some weak teams in our nonconference. We played really good teams. It’s just a testament to our coaches and how we work. Understanding that every day is as important as the next. We just have to use this momentum going into the Big Ten season. See where it takes us.”
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Impressive indeed. Wins against against Arizona, Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette all while Gillis continues to play his role as the stoic and gristled veteran off the bench.
“Our coaches have done a great job of listening to our bodies, listening to us in practice and games,” Gillis said. “We’ve done a really good job in the preseason again heading into the Big Ten staying fresh and ready to go.”
Gillis continues to perform in key situations off the bench but Painter has taken note of Gillis’ dissatisfaction of not starting. Being a little incensed, bringing rage to the game are things that Painter believes will help his team put pressure on the opposition.
“He hasn’t played quite as much as he wants to but I always say when he gets mad, he gets quiet and I like it when he is that way,” Painter said. “I want people to be upset. I don’t want people to settle in ‘oh I’m not playing it’s no big deal.’ It is a big deal. It’s your passion. And as long as you’re professional about it, you can keep going. And he helps us.”
Ethan Hanson started working for the Journal & Courier in West Lafayette, Indiana after four years at the Record Searchlight in Redding, CA. He previously freelanced with the Los Angeles Daily News for four years. Follow him on Twitter at @EthanAHansonand ethan_a_hanson on Instagram.