3/13/2017 basketball Edit

Early-morning practice led to Purdue's recovery, NCAA bid

Kyle Charters • BoilerUpload

Staff Writer

Don't miss out on any of our football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Click here to get your 30-day free trial. (Promo code Purdue30)

A couple days after their loss at Penn State, when Purdue gave up 79 points, the Boilermakers were up early.

Coach Sharon Versyp had scheduled a 6 a.m. Monday morning practice, trying a last-gasp effort to right Purdue enough to make a late-season NCAA Tournament push.

It worked.

The practice, on Feb. 13, came two days before Purdue won at Rutgers, the first of seven straight wins that ended only with a loss in the Big Ten Tournament title game. And the run was rewarded Monday night, when Purdue (22-12) was given a ninth-seed in the Lexington Region in the NCAA tourney; the Boilermakers will play No. 8 seed Green Bay (27-5) at 5 p.m. Friday at Notre Dame’s Purcell Pavilion. The winner likely gets the top-seeded Fighting Irish on Sunday (or perhaps 16th-seed Robert Morris).

But it was exactly a month ago that the Boilermakers started to surge with an early-morning practice in Mackey Arena.

“We just took it (in stride), because honestly I think all of us thought we needed it,” senior Ashley Morrissette said. “We needed a reminder what we were doing this for, and the Penn State loss was inexcusable, although they played a good game.

“... We came to practice ready and it was a very energetic practice. I think Coach V knows what she’s doing.”

It had been a rough start. The Boilermakers won only one of their first four games, including bad losses to Maine and Southern Illinois. But Purdue had recovered to a 6-6 start in the Big Ten, the last loss, however, being in Happy Valley.

But the Boilermakers won four straight, then the first three in the Big Ten Tournament, beating Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State. The victory over the Buckeyes, then ranked ninth in the country, was marquee, giving Purdue a signature win that its season had previously lacked.

And Purdue’s RPI raised about 25 spots with the three wins in Indianapolis, getting up to the low 50s even after the Boilermakers had lost to Maryland in the tournament title game.

“It’s one of the biggest turnaround in my career, and our staff’s careers, here,” Versyp said. “And I think that had to do with a lot of toughness from our upperclassmen, our freshmen acclimating really quickly.”

ESPN, however, made the Boilermakers nervous. Purdue hadn’t been selected through the first three regions, leaving three Big Ten teams for the Lexington Region. But it was unlikely that all three would be selected.

But Purdue was off the board at No. 9. (Then, the NCAA committee violated its own rules by putting Ohio State as the 4, making a conference matchup a third-round possibly. And Michigan, somewhat inexplicably, was left out altogether).

“After the first (bracket), I was like, ‘Oh, I’m fine,’” freshman Dominique Oden said. “But after the second one went, I was a little bit nervous. And after the third one, I was a lot of nervous.”

That nervousness turned into excitement quickly.

And now, Purdue faces Green Bay, coached by Kevin Borseth, for the third time in the programs’ history, after having split the first two. The Phoenix won a spot in the NCAA by taking the title of the Horizon League Tournament.

Morrissette, a senior, is ready for a tournament chance.

“It’s really special,” she said. “We’re going to do everything we possibly can to advance and stay in the tournament as long as we can. We’re going to prepare and scout and show up ready.”