Although they lose their leading scorer from a season ago, the Boilermakers think they’ll score more this season.
And that’d be a big step forward. Last year, Purdue put up only 67.3 points per game, the third-worst in the Big Ten and one of only four teams at less than an average of 70.
Purdue loses April Wilson’s 14.5 points per game, but returns its next five top scorers, including guard Ashley Morrissette and forward Dominique McBryde.
“We’re going to score more points this year,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “I feel we have more weapons, really are sharing the basketball well and we have more people who are understanding, have good basketball IQ, so we can score more.”
It might be a reasonable prediction. In McBryde, Purdue has a versatile forward who could be poised to significantly up her scoring average after she scored 7.3 per game as a rookie. She showed flashes last season, with a couple 20-plus-point games, and has added more consistency — and confidence — in the perimeter this offseason. And Morrissette averaged 13 last season, but might be leaned on more heavily now, being that she’s the only veteran returning to the backcourt.
And wings Andreona Keys and Bridget Perry spent a bunch of offseason time working on their perimeter games, trying to become more consistent in the midrange; they combined to average almost 19 points per game last season.
Although she’s not played a lot, only 6.1 minutes per game last season, point guard Tiara Murphy showed enough to know that she’s not going to be shy about trying to score. And she seems to have an ability to do so from the perimeter.
“We can score in so many different ways,” said Perry, who averaged 10.5 points as a junior in 2015-16. “In practice, what we’ve done is drive and dish very well and we’ve been knocking down outside shots. We’ve had a really good inside-outside game, and especially in the post, we’ve been distributing the ball more. So if we have a double-team, fanning it out, going baseline. It’s not only that we have a lot of scorers, but we have a variety of ways that we can score.”
But the Boilermakers will need to be more efficient than they’ve been. Last season, Purdue hit only 42.1 percent of its field goals, the 10th-best mark in the Big Ten, and it was 37 percent from three-point range, exactly the middle of the pack. Versyp said she wants the Boilermakers to run more, which could equal higher percentage shots, and more of them.
Wilson, though, was Purdue’s second-best perimeter threat, and with her gone, that’ll need filled. Morrissette (36 percent last season from distance) could be an answer, but Murphy will need to as well, plus freshman Dominique Oden, a projected scorer off the bench, needs to help.
And Perry and Keys might need to hit more than their combined 18 three-pointers last season.
Versyp says the Boilermakers are likely to use their high-low post offense — the one in which the ball runs through the power forward on the elbow — again this season after rarely doing so last year. A reason being McBryde is a more-than-capable option as a scorer and distributor, perhaps in a similar mold to Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Drey Mingo in years past.
But part of that offense is reliant on centers being able to score, and Versyp thinks Bree Horrocks and Nora Kiesler have improved enough there to be threats. Last season, in about 26 minutes per game, they combined for 6.8 points.
“Our 5s have to score the ball,” Versyp said. “They have to rebound and they have to score, Nora and Bree, and (freshman) Ae’Rianna (Harris) plays a 4/5. But last year, it was only one person (in Wilson) who would shoot and we don’t have (only) that this year.”
And that might be the strength, a versatility that keeps defenses from keying in on one player. At least, it’s what the Boilermakers are hoping.
“We love playing together,” Perry said. “This is the best chemistry we’ve had as a team, which is really encouraging, and we’re very unselfish. We distribute the ball really well.”
And that’d be a big step forward. Last year, Purdue put up only 67.3 points per game, the third-worst in the Big Ten and one of only four teams at less than an average of 70.
Purdue loses April Wilson’s 14.5 points per game, but returns its next five top scorers, including guard Ashley Morrissette and forward Dominique McBryde.
“We’re going to score more points this year,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “I feel we have more weapons, really are sharing the basketball well and we have more people who are understanding, have good basketball IQ, so we can score more.”
It might be a reasonable prediction. In McBryde, Purdue has a versatile forward who could be poised to significantly up her scoring average after she scored 7.3 per game as a rookie. She showed flashes last season, with a couple 20-plus-point games, and has added more consistency — and confidence — in the perimeter this offseason. And Morrissette averaged 13 last season, but might be leaned on more heavily now, being that she’s the only veteran returning to the backcourt.
And wings Andreona Keys and Bridget Perry spent a bunch of offseason time working on their perimeter games, trying to become more consistent in the midrange; they combined to average almost 19 points per game last season.
Although she’s not played a lot, only 6.1 minutes per game last season, point guard Tiara Murphy showed enough to know that she’s not going to be shy about trying to score. And she seems to have an ability to do so from the perimeter.
“We can score in so many different ways,” said Perry, who averaged 10.5 points as a junior in 2015-16. “In practice, what we’ve done is drive and dish very well and we’ve been knocking down outside shots. We’ve had a really good inside-outside game, and especially in the post, we’ve been distributing the ball more. So if we have a double-team, fanning it out, going baseline. It’s not only that we have a lot of scorers, but we have a variety of ways that we can score.”
But the Boilermakers will need to be more efficient than they’ve been. Last season, Purdue hit only 42.1 percent of its field goals, the 10th-best mark in the Big Ten, and it was 37 percent from three-point range, exactly the middle of the pack. Versyp said she wants the Boilermakers to run more, which could equal higher percentage shots, and more of them.
Wilson, though, was Purdue’s second-best perimeter threat, and with her gone, that’ll need filled. Morrissette (36 percent last season from distance) could be an answer, but Murphy will need to as well, plus freshman Dominique Oden, a projected scorer off the bench, needs to help.
And Perry and Keys might need to hit more than their combined 18 three-pointers last season.
Versyp says the Boilermakers are likely to use their high-low post offense — the one in which the ball runs through the power forward on the elbow — again this season after rarely doing so last year. A reason being McBryde is a more-than-capable option as a scorer and distributor, perhaps in a similar mold to Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Drey Mingo in years past.
But part of that offense is reliant on centers being able to score, and Versyp thinks Bree Horrocks and Nora Kiesler have improved enough there to be threats. Last season, in about 26 minutes per game, they combined for 6.8 points.
“Our 5s have to score the ball,” Versyp said. “They have to rebound and they have to score, Nora and Bree, and (freshman) Ae’Rianna (Harris) plays a 4/5. But last year, it was only one person (in Wilson) who would shoot and we don’t have (only) that this year.”
And that might be the strength, a versatility that keeps defenses from keying in on one player. At least, it’s what the Boilermakers are hoping.
“We love playing together,” Perry said. “This is the best chemistry we’ve had as a team, which is really encouraging, and we’re very unselfish. We distribute the ball really well.”
