3 takeaways from Matt Painter's press conference ahead of national championship game vs. Dan Hurley's UConn

Purdue basketball head coach Matt Painter`s press conference ahead of the national championship game had several key insights. Facing perhaps the best team in the nation, UConn, Painter knows that his squad needs to bring their A-game or bust if they want to have a chance.

Here are three key takeaways from Painter`s press conference.

Matt Painter's Purdue needs to have a clean game

Matt Painter believes that one of UConn`s greatest strengths is how they capitalize on their opponent's mistakes. And he`s not just talking about turnovers here but also the other areas of dirty work beyond just hitting their shots: getting rebounds, loose balls, and executing their offense to near-perfection.

"You have to be on your Ps and Qs. You have to take care of the basketball, you gotta be able to rebound, you gotta be able to be good in transition. If you take bad shots and you turn the ball over, it`s a quick two or quick three," Matt Painter said (via ESPN).

For this season, the Huskies are among the best at generating points off turnovers, with 13.1 PoTO (via UConnHuskies.com). Their opponents, in comparison, score just 9.6 PoTO. The Boilermakers, on the other hand, are relatively poor compared to UConn, as they`re almost on the opposite end of the spectrum.

As per Purdue`s cumulative team stats, they score 9.8 PoTO and let teams score 12.6 PoTO (via PurdueSports.com). PG Braden Smith and star center Zach Edey commit the most turnovers for the team, so that`s one of the biggest things they need to take care of.

The team needs to understand and respect UConn

Oftentimes, championships are won or lost by teams that downplay their opponents and don`t acknowledge their strengths. This also tends to come from teams who have never been to a title game before, and that can certainly be said for Purdue, who`s appearing in its first national championship game since 1969.

"They understand what they're up against. They understand we haven`t played anybody like UConn. They`re not fools. We have cable where we`re from. We`re very familiar; I think that`s the number 1 thing of not fearing your opponent, but respecting your opponent," Matt Painter said.

As the old basketball adage goes, "The path to the championship always goes through the champs."

Composure is critical for the Boilermakers

Understandably, a team like this season`s Boilermakers has not had a lot of major challenges. They`re 34-4 thus far in the year and only the truly good teams have been able to challenge them. But then again, UConn is a different kind of beast. There`s a reason that the Huskies are the only other team left from all those good teams that could`ve given Purdue a run for their money.

A team like the Huskies are playing for championships because they`re mentally built for it. Thus relative newcomers like the Boilermakers have a chance to prove that their regular-season dominance was not a fluke.