IU Coach Teri Moren didn’t leave a timeout without telling her team to stop Purdue’s transition.
Time after time in the first half, empty IU offensive possessions resulted in fast-break baskets for Purdue. It was an obvious problem, but the Hoosiers didn’t have a solution.
The Boilermakers (9-5) scored 16 points – to IU’s 0 – off defensive stops.
In an 86-64 IU (11-3) loss at Mackey Arena Sunday, that differential disappointed Moren most.
“They kicked our tails in transition. Let’s just call it what it is,” Moren said. “Regardless if you’re in man, you’re in a 2-3 zone, a 3-2 zone, you have to stop the ball and control that. And we didn’t today.”
Success against Michigan State just days ago came from IU’s ability to change defenses throughout the game. Moren said they couldn’t find anything to work the same way against Purdue.
The Hoosiers couldn’t contain guards Ashley Morrissette and Bridget Perry, who combined for 32 points.
But they especially had no answer for senior forward Whitney Bays, who scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. She set a Purdue program record with her fifth-straight double-double.
With the Boilers’ size in the post and on the perimeter, the Hoosiers struggled once again to match up against a bigger team. Moren said that can’t become their excuse.
“We just didn’t attack the way we needed to, and we just shot it poorly today,” Moren said. “That’ll happen, but on nights like that you have to rely on your defense. Tonight, we were really, really bad.”
A poor defensive effort stemmed from IU’s inability to get anything going offensively. The Hoosiers shot just 34 percent from the field, including 7-of-30 made 3-pointers. The last time they shot that poorly resulted in a 15-point loss to Rutgers.
Seventeen IU turnovers led to 20 Purdue points.
Purdue Coach Sharon Versyp said getting out in transition, as well as defending IU’s fast break, was the emphasis in practice the past few days after a loss to Minnesota on New Year’s Day.
They wanted to get back to what they had done well during a five-game win streak prior to that game.
And they did.
“We’ve been practicing it all season – it’s just doing it,” Purdue guard April Wilson said of her team’s transition play. “It was just reinforcing it in shoot around this morning and the past couple practices, just to sprint back and not let them get transition buckets.”
Moren credited Morrissette and Bays for hitting shots on a night when IU couldn’t. She said her team just looked tired on defense.
After having nothing to critique following IU’s win over Michigan State on New Year’s Eve, Moren’s list went on and on Sunday.
Luckily for her and IU, the Hoosiers get another chance Feb. 2 at home.
“It’s a long season,” Moren said. “We’ll have another crack at them at our place. Hopefully when they come to Assembly Hall we’ll respond a lot better than we did this afternoon.”
