If Purdue's to have success during the Big Ten season, it might start now.
The Boilermakers play three games over the next three games - part of the Basketball Travelers Invitational in Mackey Arena - before taking a week off from games before the post-Christmas Big Ten opener at Illinois.
At 4-4, after having lost a couple overtimes games and one at Dayton in which they had three chances to win in the final 40 seconds, the Boilermakers know the importance of the weekend trio.
"We want to get momentum before going into the Big Ten; we've had a very tough schedule, like ranked second in the country out of 351 schools," Coach Sharon Versyp said. "It gives us an opportunity to get better, especially before the holidays before everybody takes off.
"You're playing at home, and right after finals (week), so there's benefits from that. It's tough on the kids, but as we say practice is practice. They'd rather play three games than practice every day.
Purdue opens at noon Friday vs. UC-Irvine (1-9), before 2:30 p.m. games Saturday and Sunday against Denver and Wright State, respectively.
"It's going to be a good test for us," junior Hayden Hamby said. "We played the two games (back-to-back) in the Bahamas, which will help us prepare. But with three games, we're just going to have to push through. They've done a bunch of conditioning in practice, early on, and with finals week, we're going to have to make sure we're eating right and getting our sleep and rested up for the three games at the end of the week."
Purdue likely needs the opportunity to fix some of what has ailed it during the first eight games, as well. The Kansas victory, 61-48 on Dec. 11, was a good start, a game in which the Boilermakers were solid defensively from start to finish and were balanced on offense.
But in the previous seven games, they'd missed on both aspects, and rebounding had been inconsistent, also.
"I think the biggest thing is to continue our team execution and defense, and rebounding," she said. "I think that's key in getting to the foul line. The things we really did well vs. Kansas, finally, in following the plan. I think that's big. And our outside shot, our three ball, has to start coming, and when that does, then we'll be fine."
Purdue, though, has shown some grit, Versyp thinks, coming back strong against Kansas after dropping three straight games, two of them right at the end.
"I like their fight, their resilience," she said. "They hate to lose, they're not happy about any of that. They bounce back. I haven't really seen them feel sorry for themselves. It's tough not to sometimes, but self-pity will just destroy you as a group. Again, they turn around and come back and practice well. We've never not come around and not gone back to work."
• Hamby had plenty of tests during finals week, most of them academics related.
And one other: Wednesday morning's concussion protocol exam.
She passed, meaning the junior reserve will be able to play this weekend after she sat out vs. Kansas Purdue's last time out. She also missed about a week of practices after taking an incidental Torrie Thornton elbow to the head during a practice two days before the game.
"It was frustrating," Hamby said. "Just bad timing before finals. And trying to rest your brain before finals is almost impossible, then I missed the Kansas game and missed some practice time, so that's been hard, feeling like I'm not getting the shots in that are needed. I'm not like that. I like to know that I'm prepared."
But Hamby started taking some jumpers again Tuesday, then was cleared on Wednesday. She'll be a big part of the weekend, giving Purdue perimeter depth; she's averaging 6.1 points per game off the bench.
This is the third concussion of Hamby's career, a concerning trend.
"It's like the same scenario every time, an elbow to the head," she said. "I guess elbow-height problems."
• The weekend might provide Versyp the chance to go deep into its bench.
Freshmen Justine Hall and Erica Moore have played little so far this season, only five games for Hall and only two games (four minutes) for Moore. Fellow rookie Bree Horrocks, who is part of the rotation although in limited minutes, could get a bigger opportunity.
"You're always hoping that," Versyp said of going deeper. "If the first six (players) can really play exceptionally well, it can give opportunities to other people and not put them in a stressful situation. Playing three games in three days, you really have to. This early in the season, kids are in basketball shape but it's still a work in progress, we're hoping that our bench can expand."
The Boilermakers play three games over the next three games - part of the Basketball Travelers Invitational in Mackey Arena - before taking a week off from games before the post-Christmas Big Ten opener at Illinois.
At 4-4, after having lost a couple overtimes games and one at Dayton in which they had three chances to win in the final 40 seconds, the Boilermakers know the importance of the weekend trio.
"We want to get momentum before going into the Big Ten; we've had a very tough schedule, like ranked second in the country out of 351 schools," Coach Sharon Versyp said. "It gives us an opportunity to get better, especially before the holidays before everybody takes off.
"You're playing at home, and right after finals (week), so there's benefits from that. It's tough on the kids, but as we say practice is practice. They'd rather play three games than practice every day.
Purdue opens at noon Friday vs. UC-Irvine (1-9), before 2:30 p.m. games Saturday and Sunday against Denver and Wright State, respectively.
"It's going to be a good test for us," junior Hayden Hamby said. "We played the two games (back-to-back) in the Bahamas, which will help us prepare. But with three games, we're just going to have to push through. They've done a bunch of conditioning in practice, early on, and with finals week, we're going to have to make sure we're eating right and getting our sleep and rested up for the three games at the end of the week."
Purdue likely needs the opportunity to fix some of what has ailed it during the first eight games, as well. The Kansas victory, 61-48 on Dec. 11, was a good start, a game in which the Boilermakers were solid defensively from start to finish and were balanced on offense.
But in the previous seven games, they'd missed on both aspects, and rebounding had been inconsistent, also.
"I think the biggest thing is to continue our team execution and defense, and rebounding," she said. "I think that's key in getting to the foul line. The things we really did well vs. Kansas, finally, in following the plan. I think that's big. And our outside shot, our three ball, has to start coming, and when that does, then we'll be fine."
Purdue, though, has shown some grit, Versyp thinks, coming back strong against Kansas after dropping three straight games, two of them right at the end.
"I like their fight, their resilience," she said. "They hate to lose, they're not happy about any of that. They bounce back. I haven't really seen them feel sorry for themselves. It's tough not to sometimes, but self-pity will just destroy you as a group. Again, they turn around and come back and practice well. We've never not come around and not gone back to work."
• Hamby had plenty of tests during finals week, most of them academics related.
And one other: Wednesday morning's concussion protocol exam.
She passed, meaning the junior reserve will be able to play this weekend after she sat out vs. Kansas Purdue's last time out. She also missed about a week of practices after taking an incidental Torrie Thornton elbow to the head during a practice two days before the game.
"It was frustrating," Hamby said. "Just bad timing before finals. And trying to rest your brain before finals is almost impossible, then I missed the Kansas game and missed some practice time, so that's been hard, feeling like I'm not getting the shots in that are needed. I'm not like that. I like to know that I'm prepared."
But Hamby started taking some jumpers again Tuesday, then was cleared on Wednesday. She'll be a big part of the weekend, giving Purdue perimeter depth; she's averaging 6.1 points per game off the bench.
This is the third concussion of Hamby's career, a concerning trend.
"It's like the same scenario every time, an elbow to the head," she said. "I guess elbow-height problems."
• The weekend might provide Versyp the chance to go deep into its bench.
Freshmen Justine Hall and Erica Moore have played little so far this season, only five games for Hall and only two games (four minutes) for Moore. Fellow rookie Bree Horrocks, who is part of the rotation although in limited minutes, could get a bigger opportunity.
"You're always hoping that," Versyp said of going deeper. "If the first six (players) can really play exceptionally well, it can give opportunities to other people and not put them in a stressful situation. Playing three games in three days, you really have to. This early in the season, kids are in basketball shape but it's still a work in progress, we're hoping that our bench can expand."
