Matt Painter on loss to Kentucky: 'This could have been worse'

Kentucky was without its starting point guard — and its likely starting big man — on Friday night against the top-ranked preseason team in the country, Purdue.

And yet, the ninth-ranked Wildcats came out on top with relative ease, cruising past the Boilermakers 78-65 in Rupp Arena. Kentucky led for over 37 minutes of game time and beat out Purdue in most major statistical categories. Every UK player who saw real playing time recorded at least one field goal, an assist, and a rebound. Eight of them scored at least six points. The fancy analytics predict Purdue will have the best offense in the country this season, and that still might end up being true, but they shot under 40 percent against Kentucky, including a 3-15 mark from deep.

Afterward, Purdue head coach Matt Painter said that the outcome could have been even uglier than what the scoreboard read. Painter played his top guys heavy minutes, while Kentucky spread the love across 10 different pieces — not including preseason All-SEC guard Jaland Lowe and potential NBA lottery pick Jayden Quaintance, who were both sidelined with injuries.

“You look at their minutes from their starters. Besides (Denzel) Aberdeen — you gotta remember, Lowe’s not playing, that’s why (Aberdeen is) playing more minutes there. If Lowe was here, Lowe would be playing,” Painter said. “I don’t know if he would play as much, but (Mark Pope) really just did balanced numbers.

“They walked us, and look at the guys that we played. Our top three guys from last year played 28, 31, and 32 (minutes). And Aberdeen is the only one that has high minutes because they have to, because they don’t have Lowe. So this could have been worse. They could have played those guys. (Pope) was trying to get a lot of people in there.”

Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, tabbed as preseason All-Americans, were out there for 32 and 28 minutes, respectively. Fletcher Loyer, who is in year four with the program, finished at 31 minutes. Kaufman-Renn was productive with 19 points on 7-15 shooting, but Smith and Loyer combined to go 6-24 from the field.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen, who mostly filled in at point guard in place of Lowe, led all Kentucky players in minutes with 29. No other Wildcat topped out at more than 23 minutes, with 10 different guys seeing at least 16 minutes. Jasper Johnson, Kentucky’s leading scorer at 15 points, was on the floor for just 19 minutes of action. Everyone was eating in Mark Pope’s deep bench.

“But that’s the thing about being in a great program like Kentucky,” Painter added. “Next guy up.”

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