Today's game

[jindy]

Just following on line but appears that Oden, Harris and Whilby are having good all around games. Karissa struggling a bit on shots(2 of 10, 0 of 4 on 3's) but I'm sure she'll bounce back.
Today's opponent isn't a bad team. They came in with a 3 & 1 record, and the one loss was in OT at Missouri.

 

[jindy]

3rd quarter - lead holding around 10-11 points. Farquhar has a pretty good stat line - 6 points, 9 rebounds and multiple assists and blocks, but also 5 turnovers. Team overall with too many turnovers - need to clean that up before conference play. Harris with 10 boards already but Karissa still not finding her shot(it'll come). Looks like bench shortened a bit - 9 players shown with game time(7 with most floor time).

 

[TC4THREE]

Good to see they grinded out this win. It seems like they've dropped one or two like this against mid-majors in recent seasons. Like you said, this isn't a terrible mid-major. They kind of hung around but we won comfortably without KM shooting well. Looking forward to the competition ratcheting up after Thanksgiving.

 

[jindy]

Good to see they grinded out this win. It seems like they've dropped one or two like this against mid-majors in recent seasons. Like you said, this isn't a terrible mid-major. They kind of hung around but we won comfortably without KM shooting well. Looking forward to the competition ratcheting up after Thanksgiving.

Agree - grinded out seems an apt description, and this is one they may have lost in the past. Take out Oden and Karissa and the team actually shot pretty well. Likewise, while turnovers appeared to be a problem more than half came from two players. I believe both issues will improve and must with December games at Virginia Tech and South Carolina. Would like to see depth continue to improve - going to need it against the better teams ahead. Still a pretty young team and any win is good.

 

[illiniboiler]

Observations:
--Yes w. illinois well coached and sure knew how to head fake and drive. When they started hitting their 3's they were in it tho I did not think Purdue was ever in real danger of losing.
--This is not that young of a team. Karissa is a jr, Harris and Odem seniors and they are key. But we do have a lot of young parts and maybe more when Grant and Hardin return.
--Farquar is a beast. I would give her mvp honors today. Harris had 17 rebounds.
--After looking like she figured it out, Traylor took 2 shots.
--Mololo must be high on V's list as she was in there down the stretch.
--Wilby is a bit over aggressive but has been giving some good minutes.
--Part of the problem today was that we missed a ton of wide open shots. Had we shot more in line with our averages it would have been a blow out.
--We did play very good D in the first half, then weakened at the end.
--Worst thing again--scads of turnovers, many unforced. This will be our Achilles in the BT if we don't clean it up. Very bad today.
--Still think this is a top five BT team and will squeeze in the Dance, but maybe not make much noise. But it is early like the men and there is still a lot of experimenting going on.

 

[jindy]

Observations:
--Yes w. illinois well coached and sure knew how to head fake and drive. When they started hitting their 3's they were in it tho I did not think Purdue was ever in real danger of losing.
--This is not that young of a team. Karissa is a jr, Harris and Odem seniors and they are key. But we do have a lot of young parts and maybe more when Grant and Hardin return.
--Farquar is a beast. I would give her mvp honors today. Harris had 17 rebounds.
--After looking like she figured it out, Traylor took 2 shots.
--Mololo must be high on V's list as she was in there down the stretch.
--Wilby is a bit over aggressive but has been giving some good minutes.
--Part of the problem today was that we missed a ton of wide open shots. Had we shot more in line with our averages it would have been a blow out.
--We did play very good D in the first half, then weakened at the end.
--Worst thing again--scads of turnovers, many unforced. This will be our Achilles in the BT if we don't clean it up. Very bad today.
--Still think this is a top five BT team and will squeeze in the Dance, but maybe not make much noise. But it is early like the men and there is still a lot of experimenting going on.

Thanks for the recap. You're right, I should have used "new group" instead of young - there are quite a few players who are in first year or two as contributors, including the transfer.

 

[WaltV]

Thanks for the recap. You're right, I should have used "new group" instead of young - there are quite a few players who are in first year or two as contributors, including the transfer.

 

[WaltV]

The shooting does not concern me. McLaughlin and Oden are good shooters and will be productive. However, 23 turnovers is ridiculous and it is not an anomaly. It has been a constant problem for years. Traylor appeared not to be in the game---many careless plays. Finally, SV put Karissa at the point and things improved greatly. Farquar is an enigma---does lots of great things, but is a turnover machine. We would have been thrashed today by a good team. The depth that people are bragging about isn't valuable unless the reserves play well. They didn't today.

 

[DocRon]

Observations:
--Yes w. illinois well coached and sure knew how to head fake and drive. When they started hitting their 3's they were in it tho I did not think Purdue was ever in real danger of losing.
--This is not that young of a team. Karissa is a jr, Harris and Odem seniors and they are key. But we do have a lot of young parts and maybe more when Grant and Hardin return.
--Farquar is a beast. I would give her mvp honors today. Harris had 17 rebounds.
--After looking like she figured it out, Traylor took 2 shots.
--Mololo must be high on V's list as she was in there down the stretch.
--Wilby is a bit over aggressive but has been giving some good minutes.
--Part of the problem today was that we missed a ton of wide open shots. Had we shot more in line with our averages it would have been a blow out.
--We did play very good D in the first half, then weakened at the end.
--Worst thing again--scads of turnovers, many unforced. This will be our Achilles in the BT if we don't clean it up. Very bad today.
--Still think this is a top five BT team and will squeeze in the Dance, but maybe not make much noise. But it is early like the men and there is still a lot of experimenting going on.

I only got to see the second half but good grief! Those TO's drive you CRAZY! I know they want to push, push, push the ball but WOMEN, you need to know where you are throwing the ball and not have a defenders hand who is looking at you two inches from the passing lane. Arghh!

Yeah, Farquhar was clearly the star of the game and she has improved so, so much from her frosh and last years. She sure did not look like her knees were bothering her yesterday that I saw but what do I know.

So you didn't worry at all when they got within 5 in the last few minutes, Illiniboiler? I did, especially after witnessing the MBB meltdown in Marquette. But in the post-game interview Versyp seemed pretty pleased.

Now a week to work on reducing those TO's.
____________

 

[DavidBoiler]

I thought Western Illinois was much quicker than Purdue and their zone but pressing defense really bothered the Purdue women. It was a sloppy game.... 18 turnovers..that's way too many..

 

[DavidBoiler]

One thing that stood out to me is that this team really is pretty thin depth wise without Hardin and Jenelle Grant. I stupidly thought that Rickie Woltman would be a bigger factor and play a lot more because she looked really good when they played in Australia in the summer.. but she only played 2 minutes yesterday... I think Grant and Hardin would have played some minutes yesterday and they will provide some quality depth when they return... But except for Whilby subbing in for Traylor, the starting 5 played almost the whole game... and this starting 5 has now been together for 3 years so they are really experienced with 2 really good seniors...

 

[DavidBoiler]

How about the rebounding of Tamara? She is short for a power forward in this lineup but she can surely rebound and had a really nice overall game yesterday.

 

[DavidBoiler]

The shooting does not concern me. McLaughlin and Oden are good shooters and will be productive. However, 23 turnovers is ridiculous and it is not an anomaly. It has been a constant problem for years. Traylor appeared not to be in the game---many careless plays. Finally, SV put Karissa at the point and things improved greatly. Farquar is an enigma---does lots of great things, but is a turnover machine. We would have been thrashed today by a good team. The depth that people are bragging about isn't valuable unless the reserves play well. They didn't today.

Mike Carmin said 18-19 turnovers.. was it 23? Wow!

 

[WaltV]

Mike Carmin said 18-19 turnovers.. was it 23? Wow!

YES!!! You can find it in the box score

 

[WaltV]

YES!!! You can find it in the box score

Oden 2, Farquar 5, McLaughlin 3, Traylor 7, Whilby 3, Makolo 2, Woltmon 1