Purdue rallies from down big, but fades late on senior day
Purdue had hoped to go to the postseason with momentum.
Instead it heads to the Big Ten Tournament after another home loss, its third in the last four at Mackey Arena. And this one, a 82-68 to Michigan State, on Andreona Keys' senior day.
The Boilermakers (18-12 overall, 9-7) now likely have work to do in the Big Ten Tournament if they want to be selected into the NCAAs.
"We do, but we like to play in Indy,” said Keys, who scored 16 with five rebounds, four assists and two steals in her last Mackey appearance. “It’s a tournament. Everybody gets a fresh start."
After trailing by double-digits following a rough second quarter in which they scored only eight points, the Boilermakers rallied in the third. Purdue erased a 15-point deficit — MSU (17-12, 7-9) had its largest lead of the game following the first bucket of the second half — when Dominique Oden caught fire. The sophomore had 14 of the Boilermakers' 30 in the third quarter, as they clawed back to tie at 52 with 1:12 remaining 'til the fourth. At one point, Oden had made seven straight, dating back to the second quarter, including four third-quarter triples.
“This game was about Keys and we were supposed to be playing for Keys,” said Oden, who scored 16 of her 20 after halftime.“I personally didn’t do that and the team as a whole didn’t do that in the first half. We talked about it in the locker room and coming out in the third quarter, I was like, ‘Well, we need to play for her’ because she’s our senior on senior day and we didn’t show up. That was the big thing in the third quarter.
“In the fourth quarter, we played hard still, but shots just weren’t falling.”
Indeed. After Purdue tied the game, MSU hit two free throws, then a three-pointer, in the final minute of the third, pushing its lead back to five; it was the start of a 15-2 run that reestablished control for the Spartans early in the fourth. Purdue was never again closer than eight.
“That kind of was a backbreaker,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “If we would have gotten the lead maybe things could have been a little different, but I thought that was the big push.
“It’s a strong, physical game and they were able to make some key shots. We were riding certain people for a while but you’ve got to be executing your offense all the time and I felt two people weren’t doing that today.”
The Boilermakers, who got 18 and 10 from Ae'Rianna Harris, shot 40 percent from the field, including their miserable 3-of-15 second quarter, with 13 turnovers. It was in that second quarter that the Spartans pushed their lead from six-points after the first to 35-22 a the break. MSU, which shot 48 percent, was led by Shay Colley's 21 points. The forward, who had missed several games this season, part of an injury-stricken year for the Spartans, scored eight during MSU's deciding 15-2 run in the second half.
"She's the difference in the season," MSU coach Suzy Merchant said. "She had 20 today but if she scores 20, it's probably worth like 35, because of what she can do defensively and setting people up."
Oden was her equal for a bit. After struggling to find openings against the physical Spartans in the first half, she exploded early in the second. She had four three-pointers in the third, helping the rally. But she dislocated her left non-shooting pinkie, sending her briefly to get it taped up — she says she'll be fine for the Big Ten tourney — but wasn't the same afterward.
“I thought she did everything she could to put that team on her back,” Merchant said. “Harris was really, really good too in the second half to try to get a win for their senior class. This isn’t an easy place to play.”
Purdue is likely the eighth seed in the Big Ten Tournament, playing at noon on Thursday in Bankers Life Fieldhouse, perhaps needing at least a win to bolster its NCAA hopes. It'll likely face Rutgers.
“Obviously, you’d feel a lot better if you’d win (this) game," Keys said, "but yeah, moving on."
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