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Goals still ahead, but road is tough for Purdue; pre-Maryland notes/video ...

KODK

All-American
Nov 9, 2004
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Though Purdue has hit a recent slid, many of its goals are still attainable.

The Boilermakers can still build a résumé for the NCAA Tournament, although their climb into the Field of 64 is likely more difficult now following back-to-back home losses to Minnesota and Indiana. And Purdue, which is 16-10 overall, 7-5 in the Big Ten, has its biggest challenges yet upcoming, playing at No. 10 Maryland Thursday and No. 16 Ohio State on Sunday.

“You’re playing some good teams, day in and day out,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “We have a very small margin of error and the games that we have won, we haven’t made a lot of errors, so we have to continue to do that. It’s how it’s been for quite a while. You’ve got four regular-season games left and the Big Ten Tournament, so we’ve obviously got to win a couple more to do some things. It’s never out of sight. We’ve done some good things on the road.”

Lately, though, Purdue’s not done enough. It was outrebounded — and didn’t get enough stops — in a four-point loss to Minnesota, then struggled to score in an eight-point defeat to IU.

“We all have to contribute how we know we can,” forward Ae’Rianna Harris said. “On offense, we know we need to score. When we do score, we don’t do as well. And if one person is down, then we all get down. We have to have a person who can bring us back up.”

It won’t be easy against the Big Ten-leading Terrapins (22-3, 11-1). Maryland, which is beating teams by an average of more than 21 points per game, has a rebounding margin of plus-8.6, the second-highest in the league.

Purdue outrebounded the Hoosiers by six, but still gave up 13 on the offensive end for 16 second-chance points. It was an 11-rebound deficit against Minnesota.

“Everybody has to get the loose balls or chase down the long ones, where we might not get every one under the basket but there’s others to get,” Versyp said.

Purdue isn’t getting to the foul line enough either. The Boilermakers have had 26 attempts in the last three games, with nine tries vs. Illinois, nine vs. Minnesota and eight against IU. They’re the only three games all season in which the Boilermakers haven’t attempted at least 10.

“We’re trying,” Versyp said. “That’s been our bread and butter. If we give up a little bit on the offensive rebounds, we were always making it up on the free throw line. We’re trying to get it inside. Every game is different, the officiating is different, but we have to find lanes a little quicker. Some people have been able to play in front of us and then we played some big teams and that’s caught up with us where as before it never did. But we’ve got to find ways to do that because it’s a big asset for us.”

Harris up
Harris missed two free throws against the Hoosiers.

A year ago, that wouldn’t have been unusual.

Now, it’s a rarity.

The sophomore has made a huge turnaround at the line, hitting at a 77.1 percent clip this season, up from 55.1 percent as a freshman, including only 47 percent (15-of-32) in the nonconference.

“Last year, it was looking really ragged for me,” said Harris, who is playing with a sore right foot, limiting her during practices right now. “But I put in a lot of work over the summer. I’ve been doing it in practices — it’s all I can really do in practices — I don’t know if I was off (on those two vs. IU), but those are shots I need to be hitting.”

Until this season, Harris hadn’t been known as a shooter. She made less than 50 percent of her free throws as a junior at Lawrence North — it ticked up a bit as a senior — but has worked to correct her mechanics in the years since. And that is paying off now.

“She’s worked on her form and her elbow lift quite a bit, because she had always had a flat shot,” Versyp said. “No one worked with her for her outside shot, just told her to stay down low and play defense. Well, she’s done the defense and down the rebounding, but we’ve always said when she came here she was going to be a scorer and she’ll be able to expand her game the next two years.”

Harris, who also hit a 17-foot jumper vs. IU, is confident now, a big change from this time a year ago.

“I feel like last year I was forcing it,” she said. “My form was still off. I might have been nervous now and then, but this year I’ve gotten into the flow. It’s a fluid motion, I know what I’m doing, I know what I’m supposed to do. I know it will go in.”
 
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