Matt Painter Explains How Myles Colvin Hilariously Checked Himself in vs. Rutgers

You only needed to watch the first 98 seconds of Tuesday's Rutgers-Purdue game at Mackey Arena to begin scratching your head in confusion. At the 18:55 mark in the first half, Myles Colvin came off the bench and check in for CJ Cox. Just 32 seconds later, Cox was back on the floor and Colvin had returned to the bench.

Along media row, some eyebrows were raised as to what unfolded in the first 1:38 of the game. Fortunately, Purdue coach Matt Painter provided an update in his postgame presser.

"Myles subbed himself in the game to start the game," Painter said, laughing about the situation. "If you can pull that off — I thought it was beautiful. Think about that, if you can just sub yourself in? That wouldn't be chaotic, would it?"

But Colvin wasn't pulling a Michael Jordan, deciding to enter and exit the game whenever he wanted. The sophomore legitimately thought he heard the head coach call his number.

"He's like, 'I heard you say my name.' I'm like, 'No.' It was a hell of a try," Painter said. "He got a shot up, too. I love it."

Unfortunately for Colvin, that shot didn't go in.

Colvin had another solid outing for the Boilermakers in a 100-71 victory over the Scarlet Knights in the home finale for the 2024-25 season. He scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds in the victory, knocking down a pair of important three-pointers in the first half.

Painter did speak highly of Colvin's play from Tuesday night, but he provided plenty of laughs about the confusion from early in the game.

"I just sat there, I was stunned. I kind of took a poll of our assistants. Like, did CJ say he was hurt? He just subbed out. (We asked) CJ, 'Are you hurt?' He's like, 'No.' I was just trying to find an answer to make sense of what he did," Painter said.

"I mean, good for him. He's grown a lot — if you can finagle it and get yourself in there. What can you do when you check in, right? 'Hey, I didn't have permission from the coach.' They don't care. You don't have to take a note to the scorer's table."

We'll see if Colvin tries that again anytime in the near future.