Versyp returns to IU for first time as Boilers' coach

IU women's basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack is ready to play again.\nComing off an embarrassing 73-51 loss at No.12 Purdue (16-3, 5-0) last weekend, the Hoosiers (13-6, 2-4) will play the Boilermakers for the second time in as many games Sunday afternoon.\nWith former IU coach Sharon Versyp's first trip back to Bloomington -- highlighting the final regular season match up between the two in-state rivals -- Legette-Jack has stuck to the same comments throughout the season: Versyp's return means absolutely nothing.\n"She left and there was some emotion there (with the team)," Legette-Jack said. "But I think we got through that one game, and that was teams playing against teams and coaches coaching against coaches. Now that we got that one game out of our system, we are ready to just kind of go on."\nIn their first match-up against the Boilermakers, the Hoosiers only managed to shoot 29 percent for the game. They allowed Purdue senior forward Katie Gearlds to finish with 20 points. Gearlds currently ranks second in scoring in the Big Ten, averaging 18 points per game.\nLegette-Jack said the key to turning around last week's loss will not be about stopping Gearlds but containing her instead while stopping her supporting cast. \n"(Gearlds) is definitely one of the best players in the country," Legette-Jack said. "We're not going to give her a red carpet to the basket, but we definitely have a lot of respect for her."\nThe Hoosiers answer to Gearlds may be 6-foot-7 senior center Sarah McKay, who is averaging 14.6 points over the last five games. In that span, McKay has moved to second on the team in scoring and has added a presence in the low post.\n"I'll do anything to help my teammates, whether it's 10 assists a game or 15 rebounds a game or however many points I need to score," McKay said. "I'm just going to do whatever I can to help get that 'w' for us."\nIU is hoping to entertain its largest attendance of the season against its biggest rival. The Hoosiers implored the student body to attend Sunday's game all week long -- sending out fliers, e-mails and airing a video message by Legette-Jack at the men's basketball game Tuesday night.\n"When we were at Purdue, it was tough for us and they had a big crowd there," said sophomore forward Whitney Thomas. "It's always tough to play at Purdue and hopefully we'll have a good fan base here and it will be hard for them to play."\nHowever, Legette-Jack said when everything is taken into consideration, Sunday will be just a basketball game; one in which the Hoosiers will need to fire on all cylinders in order to hand the Boilermakers their first Big Ten loss of the season.\n"This is the opportunity where people can look at us and say we're not the team for this year and they doubt us and then we go out there and shock the world," Legette-Jack said. "We can do great things if we stick together"