Huskers Wrap Big Ten Road Trip at Purdue

Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten)

at Purdue Boilermakers (4-2, 1-1 Big Ten)

Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, 1 p.m. (CT)

Mackey Arena – West Lafayette, Ind.

Live TV:  BTN (Lisa Byington, Meghan McKeown)
Live Radio: Husker Sports Network (12:45 p.m.)
Matt Coatney (PBP), Jeff Griesch (Analyst)
Lincoln (B107.3 FM); Omaha (ESPN 590 AM); Huskers.com, Huskers App, TuneIn

Huskers Complete Big Ten Road Trip at Purdue

The Nebraska women’s basketball team wraps up a two-game Big Ten road swing through Indiana by battling the Purdue Boilermakers on Wednesday afternoon in West Lafayette. Tip-off between the Huskers (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) and Boilermakers (4-2, 1-1 Big Ten) at Mackey Arena is set for 1 p.m. (CT).

Live television coverage will be provided by the Big Ten Network with Lisa Byington and Meghan McKeown on the call.

Live radio will be available with Matt Coatney and Jeff Griesch on the call across the Husker Sports Network stations, the Huskers App and on Huskers.com.

Wednesday’s game is the only scheduled match-up between Nebraska and Purdue this season.

The Huskers slipped to 3-2 overall when they suffered their first Big Ten loss of the season at No. 15 Indiana on Sunday. In her first season as a starter, the 6-2 forward from Canberra, Australia is averaging 13.8 points and 6.8 rebounds, including 18.5 points and 7.0 boards in Big Ten play.

One of three Nebraska captains this season joining senior Kate Cain and junior Sam Haiby, Bourne averaged 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds as a true freshman for the Huskers last year.

Sam Haiby enters the Purdue game as Nebraska’s season leader in scoring (15.6 ppg), rebounding (8.4 rpg) and assists (3.6 apg). The 5-9 junior guard from Moorhead, Minn., erupted for a career-high 33 points to go along with nine rebounds and four assists in the win over Illinois (Dec. 10) to earn a spot on the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Weekly Honor Roll (Dec. 14).

Junior Bella Cravens has been a major contributor as a starter in her first two Big Ten games. The 6-3 forward from Laie, Hawaii, is averaging 7.5 points and 9.0 rebounds, including a career-high-tying 16 rebounds in the win over Illinois and a Nebraska career-high 12 points at Indiana.

Three-time Lisa Leslie Award candidate Kate Cain anchors the Husker starting five inside. The 6-5 senior center from Middletown, N.Y., is Nebraska’s career block leader (295) and is poised to become just the sixth player in Big Ten history with 300 career blocked shots. Cain is averaging 8.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.0 blocks through Nebraska’s first five games of 2020-21.

Nebraska began September with a 13-player roster but had just seven players available for the game at Indiana (Dec. 20). Fourth-year guard Taylor Kissinger closed her career because of chronic pain (hip), which followed surgery that cut short her 2019-20 season. Transfer Nailah Dillard underwent hip surgery (Dec. 15) and is out for the season. Trinity Brady (Idaho State, Dec. 6) and Ruby Porter (Creighton, Dec. 14) are both listed as day-to-day with lower leg injuries, and transfer MiCole Cayton has not yet been cleared to fully participate but continues to make progress (leg injury).

Scouting The Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue enters Wednesday’s game with a 4-2 overall record after running to its first Big Ten win with a 91-87 victory at Penn State on Sunday afternoon.

The Boilermakers are led by junior guard Kayana Traylor, who is averaging 16.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-best 4.3 assists per game. Traylor erupted for a career-high 28 points while adding four rebounds, five assists and three steals in the win over Penn State.

Junior Brooke Moore has also stepped into the starting five in place of recovering All-Big Ten guard Karissa McLaughlin. Moore is averaging 13.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists while leading the Boilermakers with 10 three-pointers and a 41.7 percent success rate from beyond the arc. Moore had 19 points and a team-high six assists in the win over Penn State. Moore spent her first two seasons at Auburn and was a top-50 high school prospect out of Atlanta.

McLaughlin was a first-team All-Big Ten pick in 2019 and an honorable-mention choice as a junior in 2020. She spent nearly every minute on the floor during her first three years at Purdue before undergoing ankle surgery in July of 2020. McLaughlin was expected to miss the entire season but played five minutes off the bench on Sunday in the win over Penn State. She did not score. McLaughlin owns 1,255 points and 350 career assists while starting 94 games. Last season she averaged 13.1 points per game, and she has hit at least 70 three-pointers and dished out 100 assists in each of her first three seasons at Purdue.

Senior Tamara Farquhar gives Purdue three starters averaging in double figures with 10.8 points and a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per game. Farquhar had eight points and five boards against Penn State.

Fifth-year senior Fatou Diagne has averaged 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds to anchor the Boilermakers inside. The 6-4 center just missed a double-double in the win over Penn State, putting up 13 points and nine rebounds.

Freshman Madison Layden adds more size for Purdue. The 6-1 guard from Kokomo, Ind., is averaging 5.7 points and 3.2 rebounds. She had nine points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals in Sunday’s win over Penn State.

Fellow freshman Ra Shaya Kyle adds big-time size for the Boilers. The 6-6 center from Marion, Ind., is averaging 6.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 block in just over 10 minutes per game.

Junior forward Nyagoa Gony (Lincoln High School) gives Purdue more depth on the block. She has four points and two rebounds in 12 total minutes so far this season.

Experienced guards Cassidy Hardin (4.0 ppg), Jenelle Grant (3.3 ppg) and Ajah Stallings (1.8 ppg) give Purdue more backcourt help, along with newcomer Rokia Doumbia (2.0 ppg).

As a team, Purdue is averaging 72.2 points, while surrendering 70.2 per game. The Boilers own a plus-4.8 team rebounding margin but carry a minus-4.7 team turnover margin. Purdue committed 27 turnovers in a Big Ten-opening loss to Northwestern (Dec. 17).

Nebraska vs. Purdue Series History

Purdue leads the all-time series with Nebraska, 9-6, including back-to-back wins. However, Nebraska won the last meeting between the two teams at Mackey Arena with an 84-64 victory in West Lafayette on Jan. 31, 2019.

Nebraska’s 2019 win at Purdue was followed by a 67-61 Husker victory over the Boilermakers just 10 days later in Lincoln (Feb. 10, 2019). That completed a three-game series winning streak for the Huskers that began with a 75-51 win over the Boilers at Pinnacle Bank Arena (Jan. 24, 2018).

Although Nebraska has played 15 games against Purdue, only five of them have been played in West Lafayette, with the Huskers owning a 3-2 edge on the road.

In the first-ever meeting between the two schools in women’s basketball, Nebraska fought its way to a 93-89 triple-overtime win at Mackey Arena (Feb. 2, 2012). Later that same season, Purdue defeated the Huskers 74-70 in double-overtime in the Big Ten Championship Game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

In the only meeting between Nebraska and Purdue last season, Ae’Rianna Harris had 25 points on 10-of-12 shooting to go along with nine rebounds and three blocked shots in a 76-68 Boilermaker victory in Lincoln (Jan. 22, 2020).

Karissa McLaughlin (19 points) and Dominique Oden (14 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) added big games as well, while Jenelle Grant (7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) and Cassidy Hardin (6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) were major contributors.

Purdue’s current starters combined for two points and five rebounds (Fatou Diagne, 2 points, 4 rebounds; Kayana Traylor, 1 rebound) in last year’s game. Tamara Farquhar was injured and neither Brooke Moore nor Madison Layden played in the game. Jenelle Grant and Cassidy Hardin were both starters for the Boilermakers in last year’s win at Nebraska.

Sam Haiby (10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists) and Kate Cain (4 points, 2 rebounds, 3 blocks) are the only two returning Husker starters from a year ago, while Isabelle Bourne added seven points and four rebounds off the bench.