1/10/2018 basketball Edit

Purdue defense slows Rutgers

Kyle Charters • BoilerUpload

Staff Writer

In its 3-2 zone defense, Purdue wanted to make Rutgers settle for jump shots.

It did. And it didn't make many.

That the Boilermakers (11-7 overall, 2-2 in the Big Ten) kept up the defensive pressure for 40 minutes made it all the more impressive, as Purdue suffocated No. 21 Rutgers on its way to a 47-33 Wednesday night in Mackey Arena. The Knights (16-3, 4-1 ), who had won 11 straight, including against Purdue in New Jersey less than two weeks ago, shot only 26.7 percent, missing all but one of their 20 three-pointers, and they had 20 turnovers.

“Our kids really came out and had a lot of grit,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “The defensive gameplan was absolutely amazing and we just handled things.”

Purdue flustered Rutgers from the jump, using the zone to dare the Scarlet Knights — at least all of them but Taylor Scaife and Nigia Greene — to shoot from the outside. The Knights couldn't hit, scoring only 10 points in the first half to trail 25-10 at the break, then 10 more in the third quarter. But by then, Purdue led 36-20.

Scaife, who went over the 2,000-point threshold with her first basket, scored only three more field goals, in 15 total attempts, as the Boilermakers chased her around the court, doubling her at times, even out of the zone. And Purdue extended its pressure into the halfcourt at times, trapping guards as they cross mid-court.

“We focused on that all practice and knew that’s what we were going to do,” senior Andreona Keys said. “They don’t handle pressure when you trap them or hedge hard on them, and we could use the sideline for that, and it worked.”

But Purdue's defense masked some of its own offensive ills. The Boilermakers shot less than 32 percent, plus had 18 turnovers. And although they had a comfortable lead in the second half, they made only three of their 17 shots through the first 14-plus minutes after halftime. Yet, Rutgers never seriously challenged, with the Boilermakers holding a 38-25 edge when Ae'Rianna Harris laid the ball in near the six-minute mark of the fourth. Two earlier third-quarter makes were big ones — and both shot-clock beaters — the first a three-pointer by Harris, the first of her career (and also the first of the game), and the second a triple by Keys.

“I thought, ‘OK, one second (on the clock), just shoot it,’” Keys said.

Harris, who said she practices her three-pointers occasionally in practices and after shoot-arounds, led Purdue with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Keys added 10 and five. Tam Farquhar had eight points and seven rebounds off the bench. Nearly all Farquhar's production came in the first half, when the freshman helped Purdue build its 15-point lead.

“She’s an X-factor the rest of the way and she’s starting to really understand the defensive concepts," Versyp said, "but now her offense, to be able to hit those three shots in the first half, it gave her confidence. She showed her emotion and get really into it, but that’s what we need from Tam. She’s putting work in to do those things.”

Wednesday's game was a bit physical, to say the least. Rutgers was called for 20 fouls, and only six for Purdue, allowing the Boilermakers a significant edge at the line. They hit 13 of their 20, compared to only 2-4 for the Scarlet Knights.

“We matched (their physicality) and I think we exceeded theirs," Versyp said. "… We knew what it was all about, understood what we needed to do to be real aggressive. Us getting to the foul line was key. We didn’t make as many as I’d like, but we got there 20 times and we played a zone and they only got there four, so we did a fantastic job.”

Scaife finished with nine points, a team-high, while Greene had only two on 1-of-7 shooting.

“We really locked in on their outside shooters,” Verysp said.

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