After playing well in its two-game road trip, including a victory against No. 10 Maryland and battling 16 Ohio State for a half, the Boilermakers return home for their final two regular-season games.
And the key: Find a way to sustain the play in Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers (17-11 overall, 8-6 in the Big Ten) host Illinois (9-19, 0-14) Wednesday night, then Michigan State for senior day (or Andreona Keys day) on Saturday. Purdue is 10-4 at home this season — its 6-6 in true road games, with three wins against ranked opponents — with Mackey loses to MAC opponents Ball State and Ohio, plus Big Ten foes Indiana and Minnesota. The latter two were the Boilermakers’ last two in Mackey.
“We played two games very solid,” Coach Sharon Versyp said of the road trip. “We won a big one and competed at a high level in the second one. Just bringing that same energy. It’s our last two home games, last time they’ll be playing with Keys at home, so hopefully that focus and energy continues to get to a high level.”
Purdue’s locked in to playing Thursday March 1 in the Big Ten, unable to move up into the double bye and unable to drop into the bottom four. But more than the conference tournament, Purdue has its eye on the NCAA, knowing it’s on the right side of the ledger now, but doesn’t have much room for error.
Perhaps two more wins, one would need to be Wednesday against lowly Illinois to avoid a bad loss, would be enough. The Boilermakers’ résumé includes wins vs. ranked Rutgers, Iowa, Michigan and Maryland, plus a road victory at Central Michigan. Although the home losses weren’t ideal, none are "bad," as defined by opponents outside the RPI top-100.
“We’re 4-1 against ranked opponents and played Ohio State really well,” Keys said. “But we do have to find that consistency to shoot the ball well. As you’ve seen, when we didn’t, that’s when we’ve lost. It’s more so on the offensive end, trying to be consistent there. But if we get both offense and defense clicking, we’re a pretty good basketball team.”
Versyp wants to finish strongly, hoping her young team can do so.
“Shots will come and go, but if you’re playing good basketball and doing everything possible, we’ve put ourselves … we’ve played well, played a tough schedule,” Versyp said. “We’re getting better every time and that’s what you want with a young team, keep improving and playing really good basketball right now.”
Cooper remains out
Lamina Cooper, who has missed the last three games and three earlier in the season due to illness, will remain on the sidelines, per Versyp.
Cooper, a sophomore, is the Boilermakers’ best defender and is averaging 10 points per game.
Farquhar on the glass
After its back-to-back loses to Minnesota and Indiana, Purdue needed to do something to clean up its work on the glass.
Enter Tamara Farquhar.
The freshman has 19 boards in the last two games, including a career-high 13 vs. Ohio State on Sunday.
“The big crucial thing the last two games is rebounding,” Versyp said. “When she rebounds well with Ae’Rianna (Harris) we do good things. And in a couple games, we didn’t rebound well. But I think her consistency on that level and that it’s something her teammates rely on and she’s really good at. And offensively, the game is coming to her now.”
In the last two games, Farquhar, who is starting in place of Cooper, has 20 points, 19 rebounds, three assists (without a turnover) and two blocks.
“You’ve seen in the past couple games, she’s played great basketball,” Keys said. “It didn’t start off that way, especially early in the season and even a couple games ago, but now she’s really finding that, ‘OK, I can rebound and go hard and help on offense.’ She has great length, she’s very athletic and she’s using that. Her confidence is up and she’s playing really well.”
Last edited:
