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Still struggling Purdue overcomes poor shooting to defeat Kansas
Posted: Monday March 15, 1999 11:36 PM
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Defense is a big part of the Purdue offense. Sometimes, it's the best offense the top-ranked Boilermakers have. Like Monday night, when Purdue turned its second poor offensive showing in the NCAAs in beating Kansas 55-41 in the Midwest Regional. Still, it the Boilermakers' defense -- and free throw shooting -- that made the difference in a game that featured more turnovers than field goals. "I don't think style points ever matter to this team," said Purdue guard Ukari Figgs, who scored 14 points. "It was a tough defensive battle, and when you have defensive battles, they get kind of ugly." It was more than just kind of ugly for the first 30 minutes. At one point in the second half, both teams had more turnovers (24) than field goals (17) and both were shooting just 26 percent. The Boilermakers, who averaged close to 78 points in the regular season, were up just 30-28 midway through the second half when Lynn Pride, the leading scorer for Kansas (23-10), went to the bench with her fourth foul. Purdue (30-1) took control of the game, using a 15-2 run that continued through Pride's return to go up 45-30 with 3:59 left. Figgs and Katie Douglas combined for 10 points in that stretch, and ninth-seeded Kansas wouldn't threaten the rest of the way. "We like to set the tone on our defense and translate that to offensive points," said Douglas, who led Purdue with 15 points and nine rebounds. "We felt that if we could stop them on defense, that we could get the momentum and score on offense." The Boilermakers also got it done at the line. They hit 17 of their 21 free throw attempts, 15-of-17 during that final nine minutes when they took control of the game. "Our problem was that we did not score. We missed five layups in the first half. ... That hurts. You can't do that against a team like Purdue," said Kansas coach Marian Washington, whose team was just 4-of-7 from the free throw line. "Then you look at the free throw line. We talk about it being a physical game, but we only got there seven times and they got there 21 times, and that's very difficult to overcome." The game was at its ugliest in the first half, when the Boilermakers shot 8-of-30 from the field - but 4-of-9 from 3-point range - and had nine turnovers, that after shooting just 38 percent in beating Oral Roberts in the first round Saturday. But the Jayhawks were just as bad, shooting 8-of-26 from the field and committing 14 turnovers. Still, Purdue was able to take a 22-16 lead at halftime, thanks in part to holding Pride to two first-half points. She leads the team with a 17.2 scoring average, but finished the game with just nine. "Most of the game, we were within striking distance," Washington said. "It wasn't until we had some mental breakdowns and ended up fouling and they got to the line that they started taking control." Brooke Reves led the Jayhawks with 14 points and seven rebounds, while All-American Stephanie White-McCarty scored 13 points for Purdue. "We just go out and play hard, and a win is a win," Figgs said. "No one is ever going to look back at this game and try to take it away from us."
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