Matt Painter Blasts NCAA's Poor Scheduling After Purdue Fans Miss Start Of Game In Indy

The top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers get to play the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Indianapolis — just over an hour drive from their campus in West Lafayette. But a home court advantage does you no good if your fans can't actually get into the arena.

Before Purdue was set to tip off against Grambling State on Friday, the game between Florida and Colorado (also played at Indy's Gainbridge Fieldhouse) ran late. Since fans cannot enter the arena until the stands are cleared out from the previous game, thousands of Purdue fans were left waiting outside for more than an hour.

According to one fan, Laura Kelsey, Boiler fans didn't get in until after the 16-minute timeout.

Perhaps no one was less thrilled about the overlapping schedule than Purdue head coach Matt Painter, who said the home fans were "great, especially when they got into the stands."

"You’re starting the game, and people are filling in; it’s surreal, right? You would think you’d start a game and everyone’s going to be there," Painter said after the game. "It’s like a major city crowd, like going to L.A. for an event, or people show up by the fourth inning.

"I always say that because we’ve had 72 sellouts in a row; I don’t know the actual number. But I always talk about it, like we have great fans, but we have to give them something to cheer about. Being in Indianapolis, you can have all your fans that you want. But if we don’t give them something to cheer about, they can’t help you."

Luckily, the Boilermakers gave fans plenty to cheer about — securing a comfortable 78-50 win over 16-seed Grambling State.

Fans in Indianapolis will get to watch Purdue take on Utah State in the second round Sunday at 2:40 p.m. ET. If, that is, the Colorado-Marquette game (12:10 p.m.) doesn't take too long.