WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter welcomed a special colleague to practice Tuesday — Texas Tech coach Pat Knight and his staff, who flew from Lubbock to West Lafayette on Tuesday morning.

Painter, a Muncie native and a Delta High School standout, and Knight, who played at Bloomington North, were AAU teammates and have known each other for a long time.
When they were in high school, Painter sometimes spent the night during the summer with Pat at Pat’s mother’s home in Bloomington to eliminate driving time from Painter’s Muncie area home to AAU tournaments in southern Indiana.

“He is a good friend of mine, and it was good to see him,” Painter said. "I’ve always admired what his dad (Bob) has done and what Pat has been able to do as an assistant for his dad and then taking over at Texas Tech. They always send me tapes when I ask for stuff.

“It’s what coaching is all about, sharing ideas. They just wanted to come up and see some other people do some things … maybe just pick up a drill. It’s a good part about coaching. You always are trying to learn new and different things.”

According to Painter, when coaches have an off day, they sometimes will attend another coach’s practice, whether it’s an NBA team or another college team. Painter has visited other programs. He said most coaches don’t do it a lot, because they are involved in their own season, but from time to time, Painter will go to another team’s practice,

He said Tuesday night that his practices always are open to other college or high
school coaches.

Painter and Knight also had an opportunity to discuss a possible Purdue vs. Texas Tech game or two-game series at neutral sites.

They discussed a Purdue vs. Texas Tech game in Dallas, and they also talked about a Purdue vs. Texas Tech game in Indianapolis.

“They are trying to do something in Dallas with the University of Texas, and it’s kind of some preliminary talks,” Painter said. “We will see. We’re always talking about scheduling so that you don’t get yourself in a scheduling bind late in a season.”