B1G Game 1: Gophers Host Purdue (12-10-23)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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A Boilerhood of Sisters​

Purdue’s five returnees from last season started the opener at UCLA. It didn’t go well. UCLA led 24-8 at the end of the 1st quarter on the way to a 92-49 rout of the Boilers. While slowing down the Bruins 6’7” Lauren Betts was going to be a tall order (20 points on 9-11 shooting), Purdue was simply out matched position by position. It wasn’t due to lack of experience in the starting lineup. Here were the Boiler starters in Pauley Pavilion (listed with current season stats):

6’3” center Caitlyn Harper is in her sixth season: 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 27.8 mpg

5’6” guard Abbey Ellis is in her fifth season: 14.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 28.8 mpg

5’11” guard Jeanae Terry is in her fifth season: 3.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 17.1 mpg (leads the team in assists with 54)

6’1” guard Madison Layden is a senior: 10.9 points and 3.0 rebounds in 28.8 mpg (22-47 from three)

6’0” guard Jayla Smith is a junior: 5.1 points and 4.8 rebounds in 17.1 mpg.

After being blown off the court by the Bruins, Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds swapped 6’2” freshman center Mary Ashley Stevenson (9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 26 mpg) for Jayla Smith. That’s the starting lineup that’s helped the Boilers to a 6-3 record.

In addition to the returnees, there are five freshmen and two transfers. Purdue is a family affair with three sets of sisters: the Harpers, the Reynolds and Laydens.

More importantly, there are three players from South Bend Washington high school: Mila Reynolds a 6’3” forward who played her freshman season at Maryland, Amiyah Reynolds a 6’0” freshman guard who decommitted from Maryland and 6’0” freshman guard Rashunda Jones (10.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 19.9 mpg) who is having an immediate impact. Please note: Amiyah Reynolds has yet to play-I assume this is because of a high school injury.

In 2022-23, the Boilers offense struggled. It ranked 12th (67.9 ppg) in Big Ten play. Their offensive issues did not disappear in the off season. Purdue is currently 12th (69.1 ppg) playing a fairly easy non-conference schedule. Known for defense, Purdue is 8th, holding its opponents to 60.7 ppg.

Katie Gearlds is in her third year. Last season, the Boilers finished 7th in the Big Ten with a 9-7 record (a MSU game was cancelled) and were selected for the NCAA tournament where they fell to St Johns 64-66 on a last second shot. This was an improvement over her first year when the Boilers finished 7-11 and tied the Gophers for ninth.

Minnesota and Purdue are two sisters in basketball which will keep a wary eye on one another as they battle for an NCAA slot.

INJURY UPDATE:

Neither Rashunda Jones “medical” nor Mila Reynolds “available” played in Purdue’s most recent win versus SEMO.

The 6-3 record:

Wins: Southern 67-50, Texas A&M 72-58, Southern Indiana 95-57, @Dayton 67-59, Valparaiso 83-56 and South East Missouri State 83-57

Losses: @UCLA 49-92, in Nassau, Florida 49-52 and Georgia 57-85
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Thanks for the write up. The game sounds winnable. We need to beat teams that we need to beat out for possible NCAA bids.
 


Gophers112233 said:
hope a good crowd shows up.. it's an early 1pm start.. with the Vikings out of town.
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Vikes do not play until 3:10 pm. Plenty of time to take in a 1 o'clock start. I agree hope a good crowd shows up. How do we get more students to show? They get in free don't they?
 


The Purdue game has a couple of special offers for students. It's a hard nut to crack and the program for years has tried to get more students to women's games. This year, they've even worked with the Barnyard crew.....but we haven't seen a significant change yet.
 

fanfromthevalley said:
The Purdue game has a couple of special offers for students. It's a hard nut to crack and the program for years has tried to get more students to women's games. This year, they've even worked with the Barnyard crew.....but we haven't seen a significant change yet.
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Start winning consistently and the fans, including students, will come.
 


Frink said:
I will be there with my dad. We had season tickets for 8 or 9 years during the Borton era and would occasionally go to games after that but it's ben years since we were able to make it work. Really excited to be able to go and see the improvement.
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welcome back Frink! enjoy sunday!
 






Purdue's Abbey Ellis has averaged 14.8 points per game this season, Purdue's leading scorer.

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Madison Layden, Rashunda Jones, and and Caitlyn Harper have also averaged double-digit scoring.

Layden is a .468 3-point shooter this season on 47 shots.

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Purdue has committed 141 turnovers with 130 assists.


YTD stats for both teams here:

Purdue:
purduesports.com

Purdue WBB 2023-24 Season Stats - Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue WBB 2023-24 Season Stats
purduesports.com purduesports.com


Minnesota:
Sorry, stats just finished cooking. Check back later. Good stuff is rolling in, as Gophers hit the challenging stretch of the schedule. Tough road ahead. Nice that the Gophers have a tough defense.

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fanfromthevalley said:
The Purdue game has a couple of special offers for students. It's a hard nut to crack and the program for years has tried to get more students to women's games. This year, they've even worked with the Barnyard crew.....but we haven't seen a significant change yet.
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It's not a hard nut to crack, it's a hard nut to crack for the University because they build these in(s)ane rules for themselves which means they can only offer Subway sub coupons instead of things people want.

At least this was the case back when I was involved with The Barnyard in the 2000s.
 

It would seem like it will be a close game. Purdue has a lot of experience. Gophers are at home and playing pretty well. Is Purdue better than Drake?
 

60's Guy said:
It would seem like it will be a close game. Purdue has a lot of experience. Gophers are at home and playing pretty well. Is Purdue better than Drake?
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Probably. I don't know how much. Unclear.

And will the Gophers of the 2nd half against Kentucky show up for 3-4 quarters? The first half was fine but 2nd half much better.

This is the week when we get a little more clarity, since B1G plays B1G this week. Ignatius posted the game schedule in another post. I'm not sure what to expect.

This isn't the best indictor but Purdue RPI is 89. Drake is 94.

Gophers (41) have an edge here but I think Purdue can play good games.

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EllIs has great energy. She has this great layup move where she goes right into the chest of the big, creates contact and puts it in while she bounces off
 

www.purdueexponent.org

Gearlds: 'We're coming at you'

The Boilermakers have been battling the injury bug to start the season, but that hasn’t stopped them from picking up steam heading into Big Ten play.
www.purdueexponent.org www.purdueexponent.org

The Boilermakers have been battling the injury bug to start the season, but that hasn’t stopped them from picking up steam heading into Big Ten play.

Purdue has won five of its first eight games, and hasn’t lost at Mackey yet.

“It would be nice if we could get everybody healthy,” head coach Katie Gearlds said Tuesday. “Jayla (Smith’s) ankle, you know, what Mila (Reynolds) battled with her concussion. What else do we have here? Caitlin's got a little bit of an ankle issue. You know, so just like stuff that kids are playing through trying to figure out where everybody fits in, who plays well.”

Fresh off the injury list is freshman guard Sophie Swanson, who made her presence known almost immediately with a timely 3-pointer late against Valparaiso on Sunday.

“We’re so proud of her. She’s come such a long way,” said fifth-year guard Abbey Ellis. “To come back from ACL injuries is not easy at all. She's been working so hard every day in practice, and you know she’s going to get that opportunity and show out, she’s a great scorer.”

“She's such an offensive threat,” Gearlds said about Swanson. “She's a little behind on the defensive side, but I think the more we're able to get her on the floor and practice with in-game situations, it gives us good film to show because obviously she can help us on the offensive end. She just moves a little bit differently than everybody on the court, has a little bit more wiggle than everybody else on our ball club.”


Freshman guard Sophie Swanson lays up on a fast break possession. She scored five points during eight minutes of play.


With so many injuries plaguing the roster, no part of the lineup is set in stone, and there are abundant opportunities for younger players to show what they have to offer.

“I tell that second group to go steal minutes right, go earn your minutes,” Gearlds said. “Be productive, play really hard, you can steal minutes and if they're able to do that for us it's better in the long run, right? Because now our older kids are playing 35 minutes in January and February. They've got fresher legs and you know, hopefully we're playing long term basketball.”

The 13 player roster features eight underclassmen, including six freshmen.


Though much of the roster may be lacking Big Ten experience, Gearlds is not lacking in her confidence for them.


“I think we've got a really mature group,” she said. “Even our young kids, for being freshmen, are mature young women.”

Through eight games, forward Mary Ashley Stevenson leads the freshmen in production, averaging 9.3 points while starting in seven games. Also, freshman guard Rashunda Jones is averaging 10.9 points off the bench.

The team has agreed to focus on two goals to ensure a successful season.

“Specifically, we don’t want to lose two games in a row, that’s something we don’t want to do,” Ellis said. “And we want to not lose at Mackey, we want to protect our home court. I think we can do that but we just have to be better in every aspect, whether it be offensively or defensively.”


Ellis and co. each made a list of goals for the team individually, and then agreed on the two most important goals as a squad before bringing them to Gearlds.

“They told us those goals, you know, so now it allows us to coach them that hard, right?” Gearlds said. “And so when they take a step back or we turn the ball over, like y'all told us, this is what you want, so we're coming at you. So the onus kind of goes back on them.”

The Boilermakers have lived up to their own expectations so far, as they haven’t lost at Mackey. The offense is picking up steam too. Purdue has scored its highest totals in two of the last three games, 95 against Southern Indiana and 83 against Valparaiso.

The Boilers visit Minnesota on Sunday to kick off their Big Ten campaign against the Golden Gophers. Tip off is at 2 p.m.
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I am sure Lindsay is bummed and thinking "they are winning with my players". I wish Lindsay was still here too but, gezzz, it sure felt like she was not a good coach. I cracked when they acted like they had never seen a zone press before in her last game. This year I think we have both players and a coach.
 
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HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving said:
I am sure Lindsay is bummed and thinking "they are winning with my players". I wish Linsey was still here too but, gezzz, it sure felt like she was not a good coach. I cracked when they acted like they had never seen a zone press before in her last game. This year I think we have both players and a coach.
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I think Lindsay knew she wasn’t cutting it when it came to coaching. She was doubting herself before her last season if I’m remembering right. It’s too bad she wasn’t made an assistant coach initially or to help with recruiting because she obviously helped get this great sophomore class. But alas. Coach P was a great hire and has this team learning fast.
 

adamj95 said:
I think Lindsay knew she wasn’t cutting it when it came to coaching. She was doubting herself before her last season if I’m remembering right. It’s too bad she wasn’t made an assistant coach initially or to help with recruiting because she obviously helped get this great sophomore class. But alas. Coach P was a great hire and has this team learning fast.
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Coach P, I like it. I can never spell her name. i dont have plus so I can not watch today's game.
 

Am I missing something? No Live Stats? Been watching first quarter. Offenses not great, defenses are both playing pretty well.
 

Great 2 b back in the barn ! Our 1st quarter shooting was awful, 13% from 3 n 14% from the field. Braun with 0 points. Tied 7-7.
 

Score has been 7 to 7 for six quarters. Not really.

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And Purdue just made a 3.
 



Mara Braun at the line makes her 37th free throw in a row without a miss.

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And run came to an end with the next shot. Congratulations to Mara Braun for 37 consecutive!
 


Not the prettiest 1st half but a 25-18 lead.
 

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