What Purdue basketball head coach Matt Painter said about Braden Smith’s turnovers that lost UCLA game

The 2025 Purdue basketball season has been a great one, but they have two losses where they did not play up to their potential. The Boilermakers are 17-2 and lost on a last-second shot to UCLA, 69-67. The Bruins shut out Purdue to close out the game and scored the final eight points of the game. One massive issue was that Purdue struggled to execute as a team, and Braden Smith had some costly turnovers.

Purdue basketball head coach Matt Painter talked to the media in the postgame press conference about how the Boilermakers needed to be better at finishing. He also talked about how they turned the ball over a few times late, and as disappointing as it was, UCLA deserves credit for how they played down the stretch.

“The thing that I would say for them was the eight blocked shots. The six blocked shots in the first half were huge,” Painter said. “We’re getting the ball at the basket a lot. I think they blocked one three, but all the rest were at the basket. We had a couple of transition layups blocked, and a couple with our big guys on offensive rebounds and post-ups. We had to do a better job finishing.”

UCLA transfer guard Donovan Dent and center Xavier Booker each accounted for three blocks in the game, while Bilodeau and Eric Freeny each had one. That defensive prowess cost Purdue a potential 17 points, which is significant in a game like this that came down to the wire.

Painter said he was overall happy with how Purdue looked, but the missed opportunities were what ultimately proved too costly.

“We had more rebounds than them, we had fewer turnovers, and that’s what you want. You want to win that possession battle,” Painter said. “We just had to execute at the end there. When you get good shots, and you don’t make them, it’s not difficult.”

The turnovers by their stalwart at point guard, Braden Smith, were the most surprising and directly led to UCLA getting a chance late.

“We had a couple turnovers late, and that’s part of it,” Painter said. “You have to give them credit, too.”

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