‘Look at them at their best.’: Regardless of how this season is going, Matt Painter is not taking Indiana basketball lightly

Indiana basketball has only 10 regular season games remaining this season, with each one of them being just as important as the next one. The Hoosiers are on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble and while things do not look too positive for the program getting back to the big dance, they are still one of the few teams that can change the trajectory their season.

This Friday night however, the game that Indiana basketball will be in carries just a bit more weight to it than the other nine remaining.

It’s Purdue week. Time to face your rival.

This will be the first of 2 regular season meetings for Indiana and No. 10 Purdue this year with the Hoosiers making the trip up to Mackey Arena first. The Boilermakers will be making return trip to Assembly Hall on February 23rd. Last season, when the Hoosiers made the trip to Mackey, they were dominated 79-59.

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It is pretty clear at this point in the current year that this season’s Indiana basketball team has not lived up to the standards they needed to. When you compare both Indiana and their rival Purdue, both teams are trending in very opposite directions. Purdue, who many thought would take a step back this season, sit second in the Big Ten standings competing for another conference championship while the Hoosiers are all they way down in the 9th spot at just 5-5 in the conference.

Indiana basketball has not played the type of winning basketball that many had hoped and thought they would and the result of it has been inconsistent. Regardless of the current state of the Indiana basketball program, Purdue head coach Matt Painter respects this Indiana team and expects nothing but their best on Friday night.

“Always understand you’re going to get their best effort,” Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter said on Purdue Basketball Live. “You always prepare for somebody’s best. Don’t look at them and say ‘this guy is streaky.’

“Always take guys at their best.”

While things do not look good in Indiana’s favor on Friday night, the silver lining in all this is that Mike Woodson does hold a 3-3 record as a coach vs Purdue and has proven that he can bring a team into Mackey and beat them.

This time around, there is no Trayce Jackson-Davis, no Jalen Hood-Schifino, and certainly no Zach Edey. There are some familiar faces from the recent years of this historic rivalry, but their are plenty of new faces that will get their first taste of it, mostly on the side of Indiana basketball.

“When you look at (Oumar) Ballo, you look at (Malik) Reneau, and (Mackenzie) Mgbako, they are very, very talented guys,” Painter added. “Look at them at their best. Sometimes when you’re piecing a team together, you don’t get everybody’s best….”They have good guards, (Myles) Rice is a good player, (Trey) Galloway is a good two-way player, and Luke Goode has really helped them.”

Matt Painter expects Indiana’s best on Friday. Now, it is up to the Hoosiers if they want to play their best or not. If Indiana plays to their capabilities as a ballclub, they can compete with Purdue and if not, it will get real ugly, real fast.

Tipoff for this rivalry clash is set for 8:00 PM ET on FOX.

You can watch full interview below.

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