Wisconsin at Purdue

[MichaelRR]

At the half Pirdue is up45-39. We had a double digit lead much of the half, but Bucky closed the gap in the last couple minutes. McCarthy struggling against UWsic bigs, Puryear is doing better offensively.

Layden and Swanson leading with 9 each, Lombard with 8 and Puryear with 6.

 

[MichaelRR]

84-71 Purdue win. Puryear 18, Swanson 17, COLLIER (see, I gave her flowers when she deserves it.) with 15 and Layden with 12. Layden one rebound away from a double double.

 

[Russ Ford]

Very nice win....you have to feel good for the ladies. It's been a while since they won one of these. It's amazing what can happen if you don't give the ball away a million times, knock down shots and rebound.

I really like the toughness Kendall Puryear is starting to show. I think she deserves the game ball.

Nice to see Ella Collier actually look to score. If she's going to play she needs to score some.

Rashunda Jones is starting to look like a real point guard. Hopefully she continues to get better.

Nice to see Sophie Swanson continue to take good shots and not force up the impossible ones.

McKenna Layden is continuing to show she is more than just Madison's little sister. Love the effort on the boards.

Now we will see if they can take this kind of effort on the road and win one at Rutgers. They have a week to get ready for it.

 

[GemstateBoiler]

We are not last anymore. Good job ladies!!!

 

[tomgloe]

Good win, especially considering Wisky just beat Michigan. The team took a couple punches but kept fighting back. Someone mentioned it a few games back about this team not knowing how hard you have to play just to be in games. We saw it these last 2 games.

Positives -

Kendall Puryear - 18 points on 8-10. She showed a few posts moves I haven't seen all season. Finished with both hands. She's growing up in front of our eyes. Some of her makes were against a very good player in Williams as well.

Collier - 15 points - 3-4 on 3pt shots. If anyone is taking a wide open 3, I'd want it to be her. It's too bad we don't have a true PG that could create more open looks for her.

The sophomores - all 3 had solid games, Jones and Layden continue to develop and will be key for us next season. Mckenna is an underrated passer.


Negatives -

McCarthy - only 8 minutes, 2 fouls. Struggled keeping williams in front of her. Glad she's here now so we have another big body, but unless she makes a big jump in the offseason, I think she may be our 3rd post off the bench behind Puryear and Gordon.

Press defense - I don't think we caused one turnover and gave up some buckets once Wisconsin beat it. We kept going back to it and it hurt us.

Final thoughts -

Developing players has been a hot topic on here and we're starting to see Jones, Layden, and Puryear emerge. It's not just this one game either.

Big Ten stats last year vs this year -

Jones 24' - 6.2 ppg 29.6 FG% 1.8 REB 1.8 AST

Jones 25' - 10.1 ppg 56.9 FG% 2.5 REB 3.3 AST

Layden 24' - 0.9 ppg 30.8 FG% 0.5 REB 0.9 AST

Layden 25' - 6.4 ppg 33.8 FG% 5.4 REB 1.5 AST


Obviously these two have benefited from more minutes but they've become more efficient as well. Puryear is our 3rd leading scorer in big ten play at 7.7 ppg.

 

[tomgloe]

Very nice win....you have to feel good for the ladies. It's been a while since they won one of these. It's amazing what can happen if you don't give the ball away a million times, knock down shots and rebound.

I really like the toughness Kendall Puryear is starting to show. I think she deserves the game ball.

Nice to see Ella Collier actually look to score. If she's going to play she needs to score some.

Rashunda Jones is starting to look like a real point guard. Hopefully she continues to get better.

Nice to see Sophie Swanson continue to take good shots and not force up the impossible ones.

McKenna Layden is continuing to show she is more than just Madison's little sister. Love the effort on the boards.

Now we will see if they can take this kind of effort on the road and win one at Rutgers. They have a week to get ready for it.

Nice point on Swanson taking better shots. There was still a couple forced but overall, she was more under control, made a few shots inside the paint too.. dare I say, I actually prefer her taking it inside then shooting from the 3 right now.

 

[MichaelRR]

I would not call this a "good win" even though it was much appreciated. UWisc is 102. (Purdue is 145). Rutgers is 107. What I'm most pleased with is that we played with intensity two games in a row.

 

[BoilerPride08]

Your girl at Wisconsin - the coach YOU WANTED PURDUE TO GET - is most likely getting fired after this year. Another good call from the board's basketball philosopher. 😂🤣😂

 

[BoilerPride08]

Good win, especially considering Wisky just beat Michigan. The team took a couple punches but kept fighting back. Someone mentioned it a few games back about this team not knowing how hard you have to play just to be in games. We saw it these last 2 games.

Positives -

Kendall Puryear - 18 points on 8-10. She showed a few posts moves I haven't seen all season. Finished with both hands. She's growing up in front of our eyes. Some of her makes were against a very good player in Williams as well.

Collier - 15 points - 3-4 on 3pt shots. If anyone is taking a wide open 3, I'd want it to be her. It's too bad we don't have a true PG that could create more open looks for her.

The sophomores - all 3 had solid games, Jones and Layden continue to develop and will be key for us next season. Mckenna is an underrated passer.


Negatives -

McCarthy - only 8 minutes, 2 fouls. Struggled keeping williams in front of her. Glad she's here now so we have another big body, but unless she makes a big jump in the offseason, I think she may be our 3rd post off the bench behind Puryear and Gordon.

Press defense - I don't think we caused one turnover and gave up some buckets once Wisconsin beat it. We kept going back to it and it hurt us.

Final thoughts -

Developing players has been a hot topic on here and we're starting to see Jones, Layden, and Puryear emerge. It's not just this one game either.

Big Ten stats last year vs this year -

Jones 24' - 6.2 ppg 29.6 FG% 1.8 REB 1.8 AST

Jones 25' - 10.1 ppg 56.9 FG% 2.5 REB 3.3 AST

Layden 24' - 0.9 ppg 30.8 FG% 0.5 REB 0.9 AST

Layden 25' - 6.4 ppg 33.8 FG% 5.4 REB 1.5 AST


Obviously these two have benefited from more minutes but they've become more efficient as well. Puryear is our 3rd leading scorer in big ten play at 7.7 ppg.

Williams is an experienced post - and of the best in the country - McCarthy is a true freshmen who always figured to be a little bit of a project. So it shouldn't come as any suprise that she struggled today. Posts always take longer to develop - thus why I was so concerned coming in this year. And then to make matters worse our few experienced posts completely disappeared leaving us with 2 true freshmen. My worst nightmare came true. Posts and PGs were our weakness and we've had injuries/illnesses/whatever it is because KG doesn't tell us anything about it (my number 1 pet peeve with her).

 

[GemstateBoiler]

Your girl at Wisconsin - the coach YOU WANTED PURDUE TO GET - is most likely getting fired after this year. Another good call from the board's basketball philosopher. 😂🤣😂

Stirring the pot?

 

[MichaelRR]

Your girl at Wisconsin - the coach YOU WANTED PURDUE TO GET - is most likely getting fired after this year. Another good call from the board's basketball philosopher. 😂🤣😂

I wanted her or Shea Ralph who has Vandy ranked after White wrecked that program. You wanted Gearlds. 😄

So you are saying UWisc takes women's basketball more seriously than Purdue? Because even with us beating them, Bucky is still ahead of us in the conference standings and the .NET. In .NET Purdue is last in the Big Ten currently, by a significant margin, but I'm assured CKG is totally safe in her job for at least another year.

 

[tomgloe]

Williams is an experienced post - and of the best in the country - McCarthy is a true freshmen who always figured to be a little bit of a project. So it shouldn't come as any suprise that she struggled today. Posts always take longer to develop - thus why I was so concerned coming in this year. And then to make matters worse our few experienced posts completely disappeared leaving us with 2 true freshmen. My worst nightmare came true. Posts and PGs were our weakness and we've had injuries/illnesses/whatever it is because KG doesn't tell us anything about it (my number 1 pet peeve with her).

It hasn't just been today though, she's been struggling for awhile. I hope she makes the jump and can be a contributer next year. You see Puryear improving and they were both 3 star unranked players with similar offers. Puryear(Ok st, Kansas st, Cincy) McCarthy(Minnesota, WVU, Providence).

Yeah it would be nice for CKG to shed some light on some of these mysterious injuries(Smith, Harper), but she did talk about Amiyah yesterday and has in the past about keeping her out to rest because of a shin injury, and same with Poole before her most likely season ending injury.

She might be trying to protect some of the other players by not releasing any details, I'm just spitballing here.

 

[MichaelRR]

It hasn't just been today though, she's been struggling for awhile. I hope she makes the jump and can be a contributer next year. You see Puryear improving and they were both 3 star unranked players with similar offers. Puryear(Ok st, Kansas st, Cincy) McCarthy(Minnesota, WVU, Providence).

Yeah it would be nice for CKG to shed some light on some of these mysterious injuries(Smith, Harper), but she did talk about Amiyah yesterday and has in the past about keeping her out to rest because of a shin injury, and same with Poole before her most likely season ending injury.

She might be trying to protect some of the other players by not releasing any details, I'm just spitballing here.

Pretty sure Smith and Harper are out for "mental health" reasons and are fine playing, at least at Purdue.

Agree that McCarthy seems to be regressing as the season goes on, no discussing as to why though. Puryear getting better is in sharp contrast to their progressions.

 

[tomgloe]

I wanted her or Shea Ralph who has Vandy ranked after White wrecked that program. You wanted Gearlds. 😄

So you are saying UWisc takes women's basketball more seriously than Purdue? Because even with us beating them, Bucky is still ahead of us in the conference standings and the .NET. In .NET Purdue is last in the Big Ten currently, by a significant margin, but I'm assured CKG is totally safe in her job for at least another year.

Props to Wisky for beating Michigan, but their non conference schedule is laughable compared to Purdue's. Switch those around and the NET is probably comparable between the two.

 

[rgarlitz]

I would not call this a "good win" even though it was much appreciated. UWisc is 102. (Purdue is 145). Rutgers is 107. What I'm most pleased with is that we played with intensity two games in a row.

Depends on how we want to look at "good win." Is it a resume-building win? No. But after the last 6 weeks, beating a team 40+ spots above you in the NET is a definite step in the right direction.

I'm happy for the team. Losing by 30+ night after night has to take a toll. Sometimes you just need something--anything--positive. The team's been much more competitive since the debacle at Illinois. I hope they keep it going.

The February schedule is comparatively manageable. At this point, they just have to build whatever they can over the last 1/3 of the season.

 

[BoilerPride08]

It hasn't just been today though, she's been struggling for awhile. I hope she makes the jump and can be a contributer next year. You see Puryear improving and they were both 3 star unranked players with similar offers. Puryear(Ok st, Kansas st, Cincy) McCarthy(Minnesota, WVU, Providence).

Yeah it would be nice for CKG to shed some light on some of these mysterious injuries(Smith, Harper), but she did talk about Amiyah yesterday and has in the past about keeping her out to rest because of a shin injury, and same with Poole before her most likely season ending injury.

She might be trying to protect some of the other players by not releasing any details, I'm just spitballing here.

Of course she's been struggling for a while - we've been playing very good teams, with good, experienced post players. It's been an absolute gauntlet. Thus why it's imperative that our recruiting picks up - the BIG is going to be on a whole other level talent wise than it's been for the last 20 years.

Puryear is improving because physically she was college ready right away. I figured she'd be the first to really round into shape. McCarthy will be a solid player for us the rest of her career - but she needs more time to develop - unfortunately we need a lot from her right now, and we aren't getting it. Thus why we are losing - and often by a lot.

KG only talks about players injuries if is she asked about it. Only time. You have to pry all of that information out of her. Other programs literally instantly do press releases about players injuries right after the news is medically confirmed. That's what I always thought was the standard before this.

 

[GemstateBoiler]

Depends on how we want to look at "good win." Is it a resume-building win? No. But after the last 6 weeks, beating a team 40+ spots above you in the NET is a definite step in the right direction.

I'm happy for the team. Losing by 30+ night after night has to take a toll. Sometimes you just need something--anything--positive. The team's been much more competitive since the debacle at Illinois. I hope they keep it going.

The February schedule is comparatively manageable. At this point, they just have to build whatever they can over the last 1/3 of the season.

Of course she's been struggling for a while - we've been playing very good teams, with good, experienced post players. It's been an absolute gauntlet. Thus why it's imperative that our recruiting picks up - the BIG is going to be on a whole other level talent wise than it's been for the last 20 years.

Puryear is improving because physically she was college ready right away. I figured she'd be the first to really round into shape. McCarthy will be a solid player for us the rest of her career - but she needs more time to develop - unfortunately we need a lot from her right now, and we aren't getting it. Thus why we are losing - and often by a lot.

KG only talks about players injuries if is she asked about it. Only time. You have to pry all of that information out of her. Other programs literally instantly do press releases about players injuries right after the news is medically confirmed. That's what I always thought was the standard before this.

Stevenson leaving really hurt us. Now she plays 12 minutes a game on an 11-11 Stanford team. Of course it is Stanford so there is more that came with her transfer than just basketball. That said, I am glad to see some better play from this team the past two games. Only 11 turnovers against Wisconsin. I didn't expect that. Nice.

 

[purduedavie]

Stevenson leaving really hurt us. Now she plays 12 minutes a game on an 11-11 Stanford team. Of course it is Stanford so there is more that came with her transfer than just basketball. That said, I am glad to see some better play from this team the past two games. Only 11 turnovers against Wisconsin. I didn't expect that. Nice.

Wonder if Stevenson would return?

 

[MichaelRR]

Wonder if Stevenson would return?

Basketball is not her future, and a degree from Stanford is worth a lot more than a degree from Purdue. She'd be a fool to change schools again.

 

[tomgloe]

Depends on how we want to look at "good win." Is it a resume-building win? No. But after the last 6 weeks, beating a team 40+ spots above you in the NET is a definite step in the right direction.

I'm happy for the team. Losing by 30+ night after night has to take a toll. Sometimes you just need something--anything--positive. The team's been much more competitive since the debacle at Illinois. I hope they keep it going.

The February schedule is comparatively manageable. At this point, they just have to build whatever they can over the last 1/3 of the season.

Agreed on the team needing something positive to happen and you could argue we actually saw that in the nebraska game. This team lost some fight and spirit I think because of the brutal schedule and we saw big margin losses to teams that probably aren't 20+ points better than us.

 

[BoilerPride08]

Stevenson leaving really hurt us. Now she plays 12 minutes a game on an 11-11 Stanford team. Of course it is Stanford so there is more that came with her transfer than just basketball. That said, I am glad to see some better play from this team the past two games. Only 11 turnovers against Wisconsin. I didn't expect that. Nice.

She seems to really love Stanford. Her fit at some place like Purdue was always a bit odd considering she seems to be from an affluent family living in a major metropolitan area. Her coming to Purdue of all places seemed a bit off and you could tell she was never a cultural *fit* with us. So it's not really that surprising that she'd leave for a place like Stanford. If she does transfer it's not going to be back to us, that's for sure.

But again - if I was puzzled by the fit and I'm in no way associated with the program, then KG probably should've been as well and pursuing a non-fit like that ultimately comes back to the coach who chose to recruit her. Again - all things lead back to the HC - is it completely fair? Maybe not. But that's why they make the big bucks.

 

[tomgloe]

Of course she's been struggling for a while - we've been playing very good teams, with good, experienced post players. It's been an absolute gauntlet. Thus why it's imperative that our recruiting picks up - the BIG is going to be on a whole other level talent wise than it's been for the last 20 years.

Puryear is improving because physically she was college ready right away. I figured she'd be the first to really round into shape. McCarthy will be a solid player for us the rest of her career - but she needs more time to develop - unfortunately we need a lot from her right now, and we aren't getting it. Thus why we are losing - and often by a lot.

KG only talks about players injuries if is she asked about it. Only time. You have to pry all of that information out of her. Other programs literally instantly do press releases about players injuries right after the news is medically confirmed. That's what I always thought was the standard before this.

I'd argue Mccarthy and Puryear were on the same level strength wise heading into the season and they probably aren't far off in the weight room right now. McCarthy even had more success than Puryear did early on in the non-conference.

For me, it's more to do with Puryear's skill set, her ability to process the defense and decide what to do with the ball. Her post moves are superior to Lana, better free throw shooter. So I don't think it has to do with strength.

McCarthy is actually second on the team in turnovers per game 2.2 and she isn't even someone who handles the ball. The game is moving really fast for her right now.

I don't want this to come off like I don't want her back next season, I do and would like her to finish her career here. She just has a long way to go imo and might get passed up by Gordon coming in next season.

I hope I'm wrong and she shows some improvement down the stretch here.

 

[MichaelRR]

I'd argue Mccarthy and Puryear were on the same level strength wise heading into the season and they probably aren't far off in the weight room right now. McCarthy even had more success than Puryear did early on in the non-conference.

For me, it's more to do with Puryear's skill set, her ability to process the defense and decide what to do with the ball. Her post moves are superior to Lana, better free throw shooter. So I don't think it has to do with strength.

McCarthy is actually second on the team in turnovers per game 2.2 and she isn't even someone who handles the ball. The game is moving really fast for her right now.

I don't want this to come off like I don't want her back next season, I do and would like her to finish her career here. She just has a long way to go imo and might get passed up by Gordon coming in next season.

I hope I'm wrong and she shows some improvement down the stretch here.

I would be shocked if Gordon doesn't pass her by next year. Gordon just has a far superior physical skill set and is more prepared for college ball than McCarthy was as a freshman. If Kira is as good as some here believe, I would like to see her starting at the 4 and move Layden to the 3 spot.

 

[Gesysp]

Let's just hope Gearlds creates an offense that allows Gordon and Reynolds to shine.

 

[MichaelRR]

Let's just hope Gearlds creates an offense that allows Gordon and Reynolds to shine.

ROFL..... Gearlds only knows the offense she learned from Versyp. She puts in a wrinkle now and then and usually doesn't have the team hold the ball 25 seconds every possession to try and shorten the game, but its still the same high school offense we have seen for 20 years. It won't change until we get a new COMPETENT coach.