Purdue women's basketball report: Minnesota preview, running out of time and more
Only two home games remain for the Boilermakers, who need a strong finish to qualify for the Big Ten tournament
A snapshot look at Wednesday’s matchup between the Golden Gophers and the Boilermakers at Mackey Arena:
Time: 7 p.m. (ET)
Watch: B1G+
Listen: 95.3 BOB-FM
WHAT’S AT STAKE
Wednesday is shaping up as a must-win for Purdue to claim a spot in the Big Ten tournament. It’s hard to count on the Boilermakers to succeed on the road, and winning their two home games (March 2 vs. Indiana) is the best path. Minnesota looks to make a late push to finish among the top nine teams and avoid playing on the first day of the conference tournament.
ABOUT MINNESOTA
• Ten straight victories to start the season and winning 16 of 17 put the Golden Gophers in a good position. Granted, the non-conference schedule wasn’t strong, and they took advantage of facing the middle and bottom of the league to post an impressive record. Minnesota did this without its best player, Mara Braun, who re-injured her surgically repaired foot in November and has been out most of the season. As the schedule toughened, the losses started to mount. The Gophers have lost seven of their last 10, including back-to-back setbacks against Ohio State and Oregon. Minnesota is likely headed to the NCAA tournament team unless there’s a collapse in the next two weeks.
• One reason for the Gophers’ success: Limiting turnovers. For most of the season, they’ve kept the turnovers around 10 per game. That wasn’t the case in the last six games. Minnesota has 88 turnovers, leading to 113 points for its opponents. Ohio State and Oregon accounted for 53 points off turnovers over the last two games. Purdue isn’t a big ‘turn you over type of team,’ and ranks in the middle of the league in steals. Coach Dawn Plitzuweit said the lack of practice time plays a role in the recent surge of turnovers.
“We’re in a stretch of really short prep (for games),” Plitzuweit said in the Minnesota Star Tribune. “And that’s kind of hard for us, because we’re not really a team that has the highest basketball IQ yet. We’re still learning a lot of things. Ultimately having more opportunities to get in and get practice is going to help us.”
• Without Braun, the Gophers have featured a balanced attack. In the overtime loss to Ohio State, Minnesota placed five players in double figures for the third time this season. Four players have scored in double figures 10 times.
“It’s a team that has a pretty solid point guard in Amiyah Battle,” Purdue coach Katie Gearlds said. “(Sophie) Hart down low commands the post, and they have kids on the outside who can shoot it when their feet are set. (Grace) Grocholski can shoot it.
“They’re stingy defensively. They force you to shoot long 2s or outside shots, and you have to try and beat them from the outside. They’re very much like Indiana because Battle and (Tori) McKinney are like Chloe (Moore-McNeil) and (Shay) Cezski.”
The Boilermakers lost to Indiana on Saturday by 22 points after trailing by 20 at the end of the first quarter. Moore-McNeil and Cezski combined for 26 points and seven assists.
• Hart was granted an additional year by the NCAA and is eligible to return to the program in 2025-26. Hart transferred to Minnesota in the spring of 2023 after playing two seasons at North Carolina State. She’s started every game and is averaging 9.2 points and 4.5 rebounds.
ABOUT PURDUE
• The Boilermakers are running out of chances to qualify for the Big Ten tournament. Since winning on the road doesn’t seem realistic right now, defeating the Gophers and Indiana in the last two home games is likely the only path to join the 15-team field in Indianapolis. Purdue doesn’t instill a lot of confidence playing away from Mackey Arena. But to defeat Minnesota and the Hoosiers, the Boilermakers must avoid a slow start and play with a purpose. Too many times this season, Purdue has come out tentative before settling into the game. By then, it’s too late.
• Gearlds has made her team aware of the situation regarding the league tournament and what must happen.
“None of us want to be, especially them, they don't want to be a team that doesn't have an opportunity to play in the Big Ten tournament,” she said.
MORE: Weekly Big Ten report |
• One more “when will the Big Ten tell Northwestern it has to forfeit the postponed games at UCLA and USC” take. The sentiment is the conference will wait until the last possible moment to make that declaration. If the Wildcats play themselves out of contention for a tournament berth, the Big Ten won’t say anything and act as if nothing happened. But if it matters, the league will likely make it known, quietly, that those games were forfeited. The Big Ten can’t allow Northwestern to play in the tournament if it’s tied with one or more teams for one of the last remaining spots. The Wildcats face Maryland, Wisconsin, and Nebraska to finish the regular season and could win two of those games. The disappointment is the conference has dragged this out, but that’s because the Big Ten, at least in this case, lacks the backbone to make a decision. The league hired Megan Kahn as its vice president of women’s basketball in 2021. She has one job - overseeing women’s basketball - but hasn’t demonstrated the courage to tell Northwestern it must forfeit games after the school declined to travel to Los Angeles. It doesn’t appear to be a high enough priority for anyone at the league office to deal with. Instead, they prefer to run out the clock and hope nobody notices how poorly they’ve bungled this situation.
• What does Gearlds emphasize this late in the season while her team attempts to make the conference tournament despite the ongoing struggles?
“Play as hard as you can, have a competitive spirit, and play with joy, period,” she said. “We're trying to win games. You come to practice, and we have a team that hasn't thrown in the towel yet.”
But playing with a competitive spirit and joy hasn’t translated into wins.
“We do play with joy but losing sucks,” Gearlds said. “I don't see a team that doesn't play with joy. I don't see a team that doesn't practice with joy. I see a team that struggles at times scoring, defending or whatever. But I don't think that I see a team that most people think they see.”
• Wednesday is the program’s ‘Fight Like A Boilermaker Pinkout’ game. Fans can bid on game-worn pink uniforms, and all proceeds will go to the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research. Purdue is 12-5 all-time in Pinkout Games.
• Although the Boilermakers have shot the second-fewest free throws in conference games, Rashunda Jones is doing her part. The sophomore is 24 of 25 from the line in the last five games. She’s shooting 84% this season to rank second among Big Ten players.
• Gearlds said Ella Collier was “pretty tight and sore” during the loss at Indiana. She’s been battling a back issue for most of the season. Collier rested Sunday and received enough reps to keep her fresh heading into Wednesday’s game.
PRESSING QUESTION
Would you prefer Gearlds assemble a non-conference schedule similar to Minnesota's? The Gophers went 12-0 against the 357th-ranked non-conference schedule in the country, including 10 home games. They won 12 non-conference games for the first time in program history. Will Minnesota get punished by the selection committee if it’s on the bubble because of the weak schedule? That’s the risk. Purdue’s out-of-conference games this season included Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Kentucky, but the challenging opponents didn’t pay off against Big Ten teams. Once the conference season began, the competition increased, and the Boilermakers were buried throughout January. Purdue’s overall strength of schedule ranks No. 8 in the nation, a commendable number, but only if it helps win enough games and play competitive basketball. One goal is to challenge your team to prepare for league play, but winning games may take priority going into next season. If the program is headed toward a hard reset, finding as many wins as possible should be part of the plan, along with improving the overall talent on the roster.
Well—One thing is for sure for me—I did not think that we would be in this place when the season started— hoping that by some way we can make it in the tournament— I thought that would be a lock— looking at the players that we have and their background— but it did not happen and now we have to live with what we sowed-it’s tough for everyone— that’s life- for some reason they always got off to a slow start and trying to play catch-up to a good team just did not happen—I just wish that we had one game where we make a statement— and maybe this is the game that I am looking for them to show that—the one thing that I worry about now is the PORTAL— they definitley will come calling—and looking at the football team— players that I thought were true Purdue people— still got on the PORTAL TRAIN—money and opportunity knocks and it will happen here— they took one of our best players last year and that hurt us big time—I like our core players and we have help coming so I just pray that every thing turns out OK and when next year comes I will know most of the players that are on the team— GO BOILERS—-show us what you can do and maybe the PORTAL TRAIN isn’t all that it is cracked up to be— GOOD LUCK TONIGHT !!
"Would you prefer Gearlds assemble a non-conference schedule similar to Minnesota's?"
At this point, I'd like to be in a place where that question matters. Unfortunately, the program is heading the wrong direction.