Dropping inside the huddle of his team with dry-erase board in hand, Matt Painter has a firm grasp of reality.
Before him are players who can shoot-some more inclined to the outside while others prefer to showcase their abilities on the outer part of the three-point stripe.
That's all good for the Purdue coach when it comes to offense, but on the flip side he's a little less secure.
"We've been a better defensive team in the past," admitted Painter on Sunday night of his team that at 5-6 in the Big Ten is teetering on the bubble of the big dance.
His admission is justified, considering the Boilers rank 241st in rebounding and allows 65 points a contest as they gone up and down throughout a yo-yo Big Ten season.
But when he does step in to talk to his team, there is one player he can look at and know what he'll get. For 2012, its something the Boilers need.
"Through all of our ups and downs we always come back and say 'He's not scared and he played hard,'" said Painter of DJ Byrd. "He might do something...you scratch you head sometimes but he's shot a high percentage, he played hard and he's not scared."
Maybe that's why it was Byrd who was the catalyst for the Boilermakers most consistent play on Sunday night against Northwestern, a team stuck in Big Ten and NCAA tournament bubble limbo.
The junior from Crawfordsville buried a flurry of threes and help bring enough defensive intensity to help Purdue pull out a physical 87-77 win over the Wildcats at Mackey Arena. His 18 second half points and trio of three-pointers helped Purdue improve to 6-6 in conference and put themselves ahead of another NCAA tourney contender.
"He definitely helps us with his ability to shoot the basketball," said Painter of Byrd-who finished with 20 points. "He's always someone who has been aggressive."
In the opening minute of the second half he helped to show that when Byrd drove in the paint, backed in, the spun a shot up behind his back and put it in while drawing the foul to give Purdue a seven point lead.
When Northwestern used the hot shooting of John Shurna (game-high 30 points) and others to crack into the lead midway through the half, it was Byrd who helped lead the charge.
His three-pointer got the Boilers back into the lead and another triple was apart of trio by Purdue that put them in the lead for good with just over five minutes to play.
"We were just trying to get the ball in the middle and try to draw two people because in that "1-3-1" they're pretty good at getting the passing lanes," said Byrd of how he and the Boilers tried to open the perimeter against the Northwestern defense-but it wasn't only there that they did damage.
From the beginning of the game Purdue frustrated Northwestern on the glass with a flurry of offensive and defensive rebounds. The margin was 11 at the end of the first half the Boilers-including 13-5 on the offensive glass.
In the end Purdue had a 40-28 edge, a far cry from the Wildcats' 37-23 advantage they had against the Boilermakers in Evanston on January 28th.
"There's just so many more possessions when you do that," said Hummel, who admitted the team focused more on rebounding against Northwestern after the January meeting. "I don't think we turned the ball over too much tonight and when you have those things working for you, you have have a good chance to win."
Especially when the fearless live up to their reputation.
