(Talked to Sharon Versyp via phone, so no video).
Purdue felt it did a lot right on Thursday night, like its defense and rebounding against Iowa.
But what it didn’t do is shoot. The Boilermakers made less than 36 percent of their field goals in a 63-55 loss to the Hawkeyes, missing 16-of-20 three-pointers. Ashley Morrissette and Bridget Perry, Purdue’s second- and third-leading scorers, combined for only 14 points on 4-of-26 shooting.
“We played really well, we just couldn’t knock down shots,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “You have to stay positive with that because they did everything we needed to do. We need to finish some layups – we had talked about that before – and there were open looks. Some were contested, but we didn’t shoot well.”
The Boilermakers (16-10 overall, 7-8 in the Big Ten) – they take on Nebraska (17-9, 8-7) at 3 p.m. Sunday – are trying to correct those offensive ills, spending more time on it in practice, and out, during recent weeks. In the five-game losing streak, Purdue is averaging only 59.8 points per game, with a high of 67 in a 20-point loss to Maryland.
“We’ve been in the gym and that’s what we’ve been working on, working on offense quite a bit,” Versyp said. “Sometimes when you work on things that you think are a negative then they become a negative, I think, but that’s all we’ve ben working on, the offense. It’s different when you can knock down shots in practice, but when you’re in a game and you’re getting up and down the court and doing things.
“They’ll fall some time, but they need to fall sooner rather than later.”
The offensive issues, Andreona Keys said, could be causing the Boilermakers to press, particularly in these games that they are getting behind early and having to try to rally.
“Focus could be a problem,” the sophomore said. “… We’re just not focused in our mechanics, we know how to do that. But we get in these games where we’re losing again, to where in the beginning we weren’t and we were fine and we could just shoot the ball with no problem, no pressure. But now we’re starting to think too much.”
Purdue’s problem has frequently been lengthy periods where it slumps. Against Iowa Thursday, the Boilermakers were tied at 55 with about four minutes left, but didn’t score again.
Can’t do that.
“Not unless you stop them from scoring,” Keys said. “We keep getting in these slumps, like last game Iowa in the fourth quarter with two or three minutes left, we started fouling them and they were scoring and we couldn’t. We get our shooting together, which we’re working on right now, and make buckets when we need to, be aggressive, attack the hole, have them foul us and we’ll be fine.”
Getting back: Senior April Wilson didn’t play in the fourth quarter of a loss to Michigan, then didn’t start the Iowa game.
But after getting in against the Hawkeyes, she looked more aggressive offensively, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting in 31 minutes.
“If you look at her numbers, they were better, especially the scoring part,” Versyp said. “Her and Keys are the ones who shot the ball well. She did some really good things (Thursday) night and started bringing the team together again a little bit.
“But we have to have production from our post play. Our post play has gotten no production with scoring, so that puts more production on our guards. People are going to guard us heavily at the guard spot, until we can get Bree (Horrocks) and Bridget and Dom (McBryde) and Torrie (Thornton) and Nora (Keisler) going a little bit more down low.”
Purdue felt it did a lot right on Thursday night, like its defense and rebounding against Iowa.
But what it didn’t do is shoot. The Boilermakers made less than 36 percent of their field goals in a 63-55 loss to the Hawkeyes, missing 16-of-20 three-pointers. Ashley Morrissette and Bridget Perry, Purdue’s second- and third-leading scorers, combined for only 14 points on 4-of-26 shooting.
“We played really well, we just couldn’t knock down shots,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “You have to stay positive with that because they did everything we needed to do. We need to finish some layups – we had talked about that before – and there were open looks. Some were contested, but we didn’t shoot well.”
The Boilermakers (16-10 overall, 7-8 in the Big Ten) – they take on Nebraska (17-9, 8-7) at 3 p.m. Sunday – are trying to correct those offensive ills, spending more time on it in practice, and out, during recent weeks. In the five-game losing streak, Purdue is averaging only 59.8 points per game, with a high of 67 in a 20-point loss to Maryland.
“We’ve been in the gym and that’s what we’ve been working on, working on offense quite a bit,” Versyp said. “Sometimes when you work on things that you think are a negative then they become a negative, I think, but that’s all we’ve ben working on, the offense. It’s different when you can knock down shots in practice, but when you’re in a game and you’re getting up and down the court and doing things.
“They’ll fall some time, but they need to fall sooner rather than later.”
The offensive issues, Andreona Keys said, could be causing the Boilermakers to press, particularly in these games that they are getting behind early and having to try to rally.
“Focus could be a problem,” the sophomore said. “… We’re just not focused in our mechanics, we know how to do that. But we get in these games where we’re losing again, to where in the beginning we weren’t and we were fine and we could just shoot the ball with no problem, no pressure. But now we’re starting to think too much.”
Purdue’s problem has frequently been lengthy periods where it slumps. Against Iowa Thursday, the Boilermakers were tied at 55 with about four minutes left, but didn’t score again.
Can’t do that.
“Not unless you stop them from scoring,” Keys said. “We keep getting in these slumps, like last game Iowa in the fourth quarter with two or three minutes left, we started fouling them and they were scoring and we couldn’t. We get our shooting together, which we’re working on right now, and make buckets when we need to, be aggressive, attack the hole, have them foul us and we’ll be fine.”
Getting back: Senior April Wilson didn’t play in the fourth quarter of a loss to Michigan, then didn’t start the Iowa game.
But after getting in against the Hawkeyes, she looked more aggressive offensively, finishing with 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting in 31 minutes.
“If you look at her numbers, they were better, especially the scoring part,” Versyp said. “Her and Keys are the ones who shot the ball well. She did some really good things (Thursday) night and started bringing the team together again a little bit.
“But we have to have production from our post play. Our post play has gotten no production with scoring, so that puts more production on our guards. People are going to guard us heavily at the guard spot, until we can get Bree (Horrocks) and Bridget and Dom (McBryde) and Torrie (Thornton) and Nora (Keisler) going a little bit more down low.”
