Matt Painter has spoken out in praise of his best player.
Purdue’s Zach Eady has become a polarizing figure in college basketball, with the 7-foot-4, 285-pound center leading No. 1 seed Purdue to eighth-seeded Utah State, 106-67. He defeated them and led them to the semi-finals. He had 23 points and 14 rebounds in Sunday’s Sweet 16.
Painter, Purdue’s head coach, didn’t hold back when asked by reporters after the game what he would say to Eady’s critics who believe Eady’s success is due to “just being tall.”
“Basketball shouldn’t be brought up,” Painter said of Eady’s critics. “I think everyone should be tested on their knowledge of what they’re doing. I think every coach should be tested to understand officiating, and every umpire should be tested. I think you should take a test to understand coaching, and I think every journalist should take a basketball quiz or test, or I think anyone who tweets should take it. You have to be able to do it.”
The painter didn’t stop there.
“If they say something stupid like that, they should be put on probation where they can’t tweet for three months,” he added. “I think it would be helpful to society to bash the idiots so they don’t have to gather at the local Walmart and say gibberish.”
Eady, who turns 22 in May, was college basketball’s Player of the Year last season and Big Ten Player of the Year for the second straight year.
This season, he averaged 24.6 points and 12 rebounds per game for Purdue.
Painter, Purdue’s head coach since 2005, led the program to the Sweet 16 for the seventh time in his tenure.
In Painter’s 19 seasons, Purdue has reached the Elite Eight once, in 2019, and will aim to do it again later this week against No. 5 seed Gonzaga.
The Boilermakers’ victory over Utah State also clinched their fifth Sweet 16 appearance in the past eight seasons as they look to win the national championship after losing to No. 16 Farley Dickinson in last year’s tournament.
