Coatney's Call: Purdue Game Preview

#16 Nebraska (18-3, 7-2) at #15 Purdue (18-4, 8-1)
Thursday, Feb. 2, 6 p.m. (central)
Mackey Arena (West Lafayette, Ind.)
Radio: 25-Station Husker Sports Network (Matt Coatney-PBP; Jeff Griesch-Analyst)
B107.3 FM-KBBK (Lincoln); The Wolf 93.3 FM-KTWI (Omaha); 1400 AM-KCOW (Alliance); 94.1 FM-KNEB (Scottsbluff); 1450 AM-KWBE (Beatrice); 1230 AM-KHAS (Hastings)
Internet: Free live audio on Huskers.com
Live Internet Video: BTN.com (subscription required) 

College basketball is so wonderful. There is nothing better than the anticipation of a big, meaningful game this time of year. Husker fans - Thursday night's Nebraska at Purdue match-up is a big-time game with regular-season conference title, Big Ten Tournament- seeding and NCAA Tournament seeding implications potentially at stake. 

NU's 67-47 win at Illinois Sunday, combined with weekend losses by Purdue, Ohio State and Penn State, vaulted the Huskers into a two-way tie for second place in the Big Ten.  Nebraska has tied the second-best record to start a season in school history (18-3) and their 7-2 league mark is tied with Ohio State, just behind the Boilermakers (8-1).   

Junior point guard Lindsey Moore had another masterful game for the Huskers Sunday at Illinois.  Moore led three Huskers in double figures with 20 points to go along with three assists and three steals. She is just 23 points away from becoming the 27th Nebraska player to score 1,000 points.  Freshman forward Emily Cady continued her tremendous play in Big Ten games, going a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line and adding 17 points. 

Sophomore Big Ten Player-of-the-Year candidate Jordan Hooper struggled from the field, but still posted the 13th double-double of her career and 10th of the season with 12 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.  Hooper has posted a career high in rebounds in two straight games and leads the Big Ten in rebounding (9.5 rpg).  She became just the third player in Nebraska history to pull down 15 or more rebounds in back-to-back games and is just the 13th player in school history to grab 15 or more rebounds two or more times in a career.

Purdue sits atop the Big Ten standings with an 8-1 record, but the Huskers will be the first ranked-league foe the Boilermakers have faced.  Purdue had an 11-game win streak snapped and suffered their first conference loss at Iowa 59-42 last Saturday. The Boilers are 18-4 overall with losses to two top 10 teams (Duke and Notre Dame) and a 75-62 setback at Central Michigan. 

Purdue defeated defending national champion Texas A&M 60-51 on Dec. 4.  One of the toughest defensive teams Nebraska will face this season, the Boilermakers are 17-1 when holding opponents to 60 points or less, and have allowed only two teams to score more than 66 points. They lead the Big Ten in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, blocked shots and steals. 

Purdue has struggled offensively, ranking in the bottom three in scoring, field goal percentage and three-point field goal percentage. They also are ninth in rebound margin (-0.4) and three-point field goals (4.2 per game).  In Saturday's loss at Iowa, Purdue had several early leads, but the Boilermakers were outscored by the Hawkeyes 50-25 in the final 25 minutes of the game.

Senior guard Brittany Rayburn has been Purdue's leading scorer each of the past two seasons. She tied a 17-year old NCAA record when she scorched Minnesota for 12 three-pointers on Jan. 12 in Minneapolis.  Rayburn's 38-point effort is a Big Ten conference individual-game high this season. However, since tying the record, the senior is shooting only 3-of-21 from beyond the arc. In fact, if you take away the 12-of-16 shooting night for Rayburn at Minnesota, she's made a combined four three-pointers in the other eight games and her percentage from beyond the arc is .133.  In Purdue's last two games against Northwestern and Iowa, she is a combined 2-for-23 from the floor on all field goal attempts. 

Still, Rayburn  leads Purdue in scoring (14.1 ppg), and three-pointers (40) on the season. She also is one of the deadliest free throw shooters around.  Rayburn had made 20 free throws in a row heading into last Saturday's game at Iowa, but had the streak snapped in a 5-for-6 effort against the Hawkeyes. Rayburn set a Purdue school record as a sophomore with 38 consecutive made free throws.

Sophomore Courtney Moses, a 5-6 guard, has led the team in scoring six times this season and has hit two game-winning shots. Moses made a buzzer-beating three-pointer at Illinois and a layup with 11 seconds left at Bowling Green for the win. She set a school record for three-pointers by a freshman with 54 last season. Moses is currently second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg). 

A name familiar to many around Lincoln and the state of Nebraska is KK Houser, a 5-6 redshirt sophomore point guard.  The former Southeast High Knight won a Nebraska State Championship during her junior season as a prepster. Houser missed last season with a knee injury, but has come back this season to average 9.7 points per game.  Houser leads Purdue in assists and steals. 

Forward Sam Ostarello, a 6-2 junior, is the only Boilermaker to play in and start every game this season. She leads the team in rebounding (8.0 rpg) and adds 7.5 points per game. Senior Chelsea Jones, a 6-4 center, rounds out Purdue's probable starting lineup.  She adds 3.4 points per game. 

Sixth-year Purdue Head Coach Sharon Versyp is a former Boilermaker point guard.  She returned to her alma mater after five successful years at Maine. Versyp led Indiana to a 19-14 record in one season with the Hoosiers before taking over at Purdue.  She has averaged 22 wins per season in West Lafayette and has led Purdue to two Big Ten Tournament championships and two NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances.  The Boilermakers were picked to finish second in the league in both pre-season Big Ten polls this year.

Purdue has a rich tradition in women's basketball, holding a winning record against every Big Ten opponent except Ohio State (26-39) and Nebraska, whom the Boilermakers have never faced. Purdue won the 1999 NCAA Championship and has captured seven Big Ten regular season and seven conference tournament titles.  They have advanced to 21 NCAA Tournaments, including 17 of the last 18.

I cordially invite you to join Jeff Griesch and me for Nebraska women's basketball on the Husker Sports Network. Our radio broadcast Thursday night begins with the Husker Courtside pre-game show at 5:45 a.m. (central) with the tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. on the Husker Sports Network, including Lincoln affiliate KBBK 107.3 FM (B107.3), KTWI 93.3 FM (The Wolf 93.3) in Omaha, KCOW 1400 in Alliance, KWBE 1450 in Beatrice, KHAS 1230 in Hastings, KNEB 94.1 FM in Scottsbluff, and available to our entire 25 network stations.  All Husker women's basketball broadcasts are also available for free worldwide on the internet at www.huskers.com.  I hope you can join us. 

There are a number of ways to get enhanced information about our broadcast and Husker women's basketball via social media.  You can learn more about the team on the Nebraska Women's Basketball Facebook  page or follow the team on their official Twitter page @huskerswbb.  I also invite you to friend me on Facebook (Matt Coatney) or follow me on Twitter @coatman1.

Go Big Red! 

Matt