Purdue is on the bubble.
But right now, the Boilermakers very likely stand on the good side, one of the last teams in the Field of 64 for the NCAA Tournament. Good thing then that they have a chance to solidify that standing, with a final weekend of the season that has them playing twice at home, starting with the 6:30 p.m. Thursday tip vs. Rutgers.
“We can’t even stress how important these last two games are,” said Ashley Morrissette, whose Boilermakers got a must-win game at Nebraska on Sunday to break a five-game slide. “We put ourselves in a rut with the losing streak, so we definitely have to make sure we end the season very well.”
The Boilermakers have a résumé worthy of consideration, with a 17-10 record, including 8-8 in the Big Ten, and an RPI of 57, per NCAA.com. Perhaps Purdue’s biggest plus is an early-season victory vs. Louisville, a 22-6 ACC team that’s RPI is at No. 15, making the Boilermakers are one of the few bubble teams that have such a marquee win. Their other biggest victories are Indiana (RPI 38), Iowa (59) and Michigan (62), and they have other top-100 wins vs. Maine (69), Minnesota (70), Dayton (71), Ball State (73) and Nebraska (88).
Rutgers (16-12, 7-9) also provides Purdue with another quality opponent; the Knights, an outside-looking-in bubble team, currently have an RPI of 53.
But Purdue has demerits, as well. The Boilermakers lost their ACC/Big Ten Challenge game to Boston College, which has faded badly in the ACC and has an RPI of 119, and the loss at Wisconsin (182) is ugly. Plus, Purdue lost five consecutive games during the Big Ten, part of an 8-of-10 slide, that took it from assuredly in to questionably so.
“We don’t talk about it,” Coach Sharon Versyp said of Purdue's outlook. “We know we have two games left. … For us, we need to continue to keep playing and having fun. We played hard (in a loss) at Maryland, hard (in a loss) at Iowa and didn’t make shots. Then all the sudden at Nebraska, things started turning. You just want to keep playing well, because that’s important when you talk about the eye (ball) test for tournament time and afterwards.
“It’s the next game, then senior day (vs. Wisconsin), then the Big Ten Tournament. It’s about finishing strong. They are about their business and we really don’t have to discuss a lot.”
In ESPN.com’s latest bracket, released on Monday, Charlie Creme has Purdue as one of his “last four in,” placing the Boilermakers as a 12 seed in the Lexington sub-regional playing against fifth-seeded DePaul, with the winner likely getting No. 4 Kentucky in Round 2.
Seemingly, Purdue can stay in good position with two wins this weekend.
“Earlier in the season, we lost some games that we shouldn’t have and we can’t get them back, and those are going to come back to bite us,” senior April Wilson said. “These next two games we have to win them. If we win the next two, we’re going to make it to the Dance. We just have to take care of our home court.”
That the Boilermakers are here is a big turnaround from last season, when Purdue fell to the bottom of the Big Ten with only three conference wins and 11 overall. It lost 10 games straight in the second half of the season, then watched as its starting frontcourt graduated.
But the Boilermakers started better than many could have imagined this season, winning 14 of their first 16 games, including a 5-0 mark in the Big Ten. But Purdue struggled a bit after, winning only two of 10 before rebounding 68-50 at Nebraska on Sunday.
“After the season that we had, you can triple your (conference) wins, you can do a lot of great things, position yourself in the Big Ten (Tournament),” Versyp said.
“We’ve come a long, long way. We only lost two kids, we pretty much have a young group of players – and the future looks bright – so exceptionally pleased but never satisfied, want more. We’re hungry. No matter what we want to play in the postseason, obviously you want to play in the Dance, but I think with this group, in the Dance or postseason tournament, will allow us to grow even more.”
Offensively inclined: Over the last several weeks, the Boilermakers worked to get their offense back in gear after it had waned significantly during the losing streak.
The work paid off Sunday, when the Boilermakers scored 68 points, their most since their double overtime win at Penn State on Jan. 30 and most in a regulation game since scoring 90 vs. Iowa nearly a week earlier.
“I felt like every player who came into the game gave us something positive,” Versyp said. “We always talked about that, when you come in be productive in some facet. We were struggling in that area, but now, we hit some outside shots, we got people going down low. We were able to get to the free throw line a halfway decent amount and score there, but I thought our rebounding was the key. And our defense got us going, our (generated) turnovers ended up in scores.”
Purdue had two score in double-figures, with Wilson and Morrissette combining for 32 points. But three others had eight each, including interior contributions from Dominique McBryde and Bree Horrocks.
Purdue shot 47 percent, plus had 19 points off Nebraska turnovers, a sign that it was getting offense from defense, a formula it wants for success.
“During the five game losing streak, I don’t think any of us were playing to our potential and doing what we were supposed to be doing to win those games,” Morrissette said. “The Nebraska game just showed that we weren’t. That game will definitely help our confidence and jump start our offense for the next couple games.”
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