No. 25 Michigan 87, Purdue women's basketball 60: Takeaways
The Boilermakers dropped to 0-5 in Big Ten play
Thoughts from Saturday’s loss at Mackey Arena:
• It’s hard to win when you don’t have the lead. Since Big Ten resumed on Dec. 29 at Iowa, Purdue has led for 19 seconds. It was 2-0 Boilermakers against the Hawkeyes. Since then, Purdue trailed the final 39 minutes to Iowa and Michigan State, UCLA, and Michigan led from start to finish.
• The change to the starting lineup brought some results but not enough. Freshman Jordyn Poole started at point guard and Kendall Puryear replaced Lana McCarthy in the lineup. The Wolverines got out of the gate with a 13-4 run before the Boilermakers could settle in. Puryear finished with 10 points.
“Just trying to get a little bit more juice to start the game,” Purdue coach Katie Gearlds said. “I thought Jordy and KP have the ability to make plays for themselves and just trying to get a little bit more juice. I thought thought KP brought us that.”
• The pace at which Michigan played with was impressive. Sharp cuts. Quick decisions. Similar to UCLA, the Wolverines have highly skilled basketball players who know how to play the game. They don’t have the size and experience the Bruins have, but give this team another year, and they’ll be near the top of the league. Michigan is led by freshmen - Syla Swords, Mila Holloway, and Olivia Olson. They combined for 46 points. Holloway matched her season high with 21 points. And defensively, Michigan plays tight man-to-man, making it challenging for the offense to operate. Purdue didn’t counter to force the Wolverines into backing off.
• Michigan started the second half on a 9-2 run, and Katie Gearlds called a timeout. She put her head in her hands, stood there, and sent assistant coach Mark Stephens into the huddle. Gearlds tapped Stephens on the shoulder and took over the huddle. It was a one-sided message delivered by Gearlds. And Gearlds took another timeout 38 seconds later, even after a basket from Puryear. In a season of frustrating moments, this might rank No. 1.
“She definitely wasn't happy with us,” senior Ella Collier said. “We need to do better about executing what she wants us to execute, and we have not been doing that, and that's not fair to her. That's kind of what I got out of it, and that's what we need to be better about doing.”
Said Puryear: “She was mad because I think that she didn't feel that everybody was leaving everything on the court, and that was really frustrating to her.”
The message was simple.
“Play harder. Be more locked in,” Gearlds said. “We talked about it at halftime, sprint the floor in transition. Sprint back (on defense). But urgency. Play harder.”
MORE: Box score | Chad Krockover Photography | Mark Elsner Photography
• The Boilermakers aren’t playing with any sense of urgency with the game on the line. The energy and intensity increased early in the third quarter, but Purdue faced an insurmountable deficit.
• Stats of the game: Michigan outscored the Boilermakers 19-0 in fastbreak points. The Wolverines also scored 22 points off Purdue’s 18 turnovers.
• The 0-5 start in Big Ten games is the worst since the 1983-84 season.
• No idea who Gearlds will start - or play - when the Boilermakers head to the Pacific Northwest to take on Oregon and Washington next week. Not sure what’s next. The team has had player-only meetings to jumpstart the season and has tried other things, but nothing has worked up to this point.
Videos provided by Purdue Athletic Communications
REMEDY— KATIE HAS TO FIND HER CORE PLAYERS — THE 5 OR 6 THAT SHE CAN WIN WITH— SHE CAN’T WIN PLAYING EVERYBODY—WON’T WORK—- QUIT THIS APPROACH— IT DOESN’T WORK — FIND THESE 5-6-OR 7 IN PRACTICE AND STICK WITH THEM—AND YOU’LL FIND ONE THAT IS THE FLOOR GENERAL— TO ME IT WONT WORK THE WAY YOU ARE GOING NOW— LETS FACE IT— TIME IS STARTING TO RUN OUT— AND REALLY I CAN’T NAME YOUR STARTING 5–GETTING LATE IN THE GAME— BUT WE ARE LOOKING TO YOU TO RIGHT THE SHIP— YOU WILL SOLVE THIS PROBLEM IN PRACTICE— WE ARE DEPENDING ON YOU—- ED — FROM WANAMAKER
WELL— ANOTHER GAME THAT I THOUGHT WOULD BE DIFFERENT— THE MAIN THING IS THAT WE WERE GOING TO COMPETE—MOST OF THE TIMES WE PUT ONE PLAY IN DOUBLE FIGURES AND USUALLY JUST BARELY MAKING TEN POINTS— TODAY WHAT DID WE HAVE— 2 BARELY GETTING 10 POINTS—REMEDY