#16 Indiana (14-2 / 6-1) will travel to West Lafayette on Sunday to take on Purdue (9-8 / 2-4) at Mackey Arena. The Barn Burner Trophy Game is scheduled for a 2pm tip-off and will be aired on Peacock TV.
Indiana is coming off of an 85-62 win at home over Minnesota, in a game where Mackenzie Holmes put up a season high 32 points, hitting 15 of 17 attempts from the field. Native Minnesotan and IU Graduate Guard Sara Scalia also had a productive evening, putting up 22, including 5 triples. The Hoosiers continued their season strong shooting, carrying out 59% accuracy for the evening.
Purdue turned the ball over 19 times and sank only 34% of their shots on Thursday evening, as they dropped a road game at Penn State. The young Boilermakers have struggled in conference play, but their freshmen combined for 42 of the team’s 67 points against the Lady Lions. In the game, Boilermaker Guard Rashunda Jones set a new career high with 23 points on 6-of-13 shooting and went 10-of-12 at the line. It was the first 20-point game by a Purdue rookie against a Big Ten opponent since 2017-18. Jones now has three 20-point outings this season.
What to expect
Mackey Arena should be sold out, with 14,000 fans in the audience.
Look for Purdue to focus on the creation of shooting opportunities for Indiana native Senior Guard Madison Laydon. She is shooting 48% from beyond the arc.
Chloe Moore-McNeil will likely get the nod to guard Purdue’s 5th year Guard Abbey Ellis, the team’s most productive shooter, leading the Boilermakers in most offensive statistics.
Purdue will look to slow down the transition offense of the Hoosiers, likely throwing in varied ¾ court pressure defenses. The Boilermakers will have a goal to keep Indiana from scoring more than 70 points in the match-up. IU is averaging just shy of 80 ppg.
On the offense, look for Purdue to capitalize on high ball screen dribble-drives to force IU Graduate Forward Mackenzie Holmes to the high post, opening up back screens and the potential to draw early fouls on the Hoosiers.
Sophomore Yarden Garzon is due for breakout performance. Garzon will have a match-up advantage for most of the game and should not have a problem producing double-figure scoring for the Hoosiers.
