The average fan probably can’t see the biggest problem Purdue currently faces. It’s hard to notice on television. Your eyes probably wouldn’t even notice it if you were sitting inside Mackey Arena. But it’s something coach Matt Painter has been emphasizing for weeks.

Painter made it very clear that his team was, well, non-vocal. Before Friday night’s game against Northern Kentucky, he talked about the team’s struggles communicating on the basketball court.

Even after Friday’s 72-50 win over the Norwegians, Painter wasn’t too excited about the way his team talked on the court during the game.

“They were just okay. We need to get people out of their comfort level, we need to do more as a team,” Painter said. “We have too many people who compete with their personality off the field. You can be whatever you want off the field, that’s who you are, that’s how the Lord made you.

“We’re past the point of telling them to speak. We’re telling them to shout, because they’re probably talking at that point, right? We just have to do a better job.”

In the first two games against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northern Kentucky, there were periods of sloppiness on both ends of the court. To the untrained eye, it looks like a group of teammates always trying to come together.

While that may be part of the early season issues, Painter said communication needs to improve moving forward, especially on the defensive end.

“We had three or four times tonight – I just remember it off the top of my head – we blew some ball screen stuff. I was like, ‘Why don’t you do that?’ You’ll watch it on tape and say, “Why didn’t we do what we were supposed to do?”

“Then you’ll go up to the guy on the ball and say, ‘Did he say anything to you?’ And he says, “I can’t hear it.” Then the other guy says, “Well, I said it.”

Since fall practice began, Painter has talked about players being too “quiet” on the field. Even though this is a group that has been working together for months, they are still trying to find their voice on the pitch.

This is not an uncommon problem, especially for a young team at the start of the season. Painter said he’s had teams in the past that struggled to communicate, but not to the extent he experienced this year.

“Not quite like that, but yeah,” Painter said. “I think everyone has that challenge going into the season in terms of talking.”

So far, Purdue has gotten away with miscommunication. The Boilermakers are 2-0 with double-digit wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northern Kentucky to start the year. But life is going to get a lot harder next week.

Purdue hosts Yale on Monday before a matchup with No. 2 Alabama at Mackey Arena on Friday. In a game of this magnitude, the Boilers cannot afford to play 40 minutes of quiet basketball.

It’s a work in progress right now, but Painter is committed to figuring it out this season.

“We’ll fix it,” he said. “We will continue to work on it.”

PAINTER UPDATES INJURIES ON JACOBSEN: Daniel Jacobsen was injured just a minute into Friday night’s game against Northern Kentucky. Coach Matt Painter provided an update on the Purdue freshman. CLICK HERE