PREVIEW: Kentucky WBB searches for first road win against Purdue

Kentucky will be on the hunt for its first road win of the season when the Cats take on Purdue in West Lafayette. This is a must-win game for Kentucky because a loss would go down as a Quad 4 on the NCAA Tournament resume — the worst type of loss a team can have. At the same time, this is no cake walk. It’s still a road game against a major conference opponent, after all.

Read up on what the Purdue Boilermakers bring to the table.

Bio Blast

After falling to North Carolina on the road last week, Kentucky Women’s Basketball has the opportunity to earn its first road win of the season before heading into conference play. The Purdue Boilermakers are currently second to last in the Big 10 with a 5-4 (0-1 Big 10) record. Their four losses come from three ranked opponents and a good Middle Tennessee team. After losing to No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 3 South Carolina, and No. 7 Maryland, the Boilermakers are looking to bounce back against the ‘Cats.

Currently, Purdue leads the series against Kentucky, 2-0. This is the first time these two teams will meet up at Mackey Arena. Kentucky’s associate head coach Lindsey Hicks played for Purdue from 2001-04, and played in 126 games, including the games in four NCAA Tournaments. The Boilermakers currently 43.7% from the field, and allow an average of 71.9 points per game. Kentucky, on the other hand, shoots 44.3%, and allows 53.9 points per game. While Kentucky’s defense is strong, the Boilermakers are going to provide the ‘Cats with tough competition, thanks to fifth-year senior Destini Lombard and senior Reagan Bass.

Saturday’s matchup is a must win for the ‘Cats if they want to head into SEC play with only one loss.

Projected Purdue Starting Lineup

• #4 – Destini Lombard, 14.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.8 APG
• #13 – Ella Collier, 6.6 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.1 APG
• #31 – Sophie Swanson, 7.8 PPG, 1.1 RPG, 2.3 APG
• #34 – Reagan Bass, 13.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 0.7 APG
• #35 – Lana McCarthy, 7.3 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.0 APG

Scouting Report

Senior guard Destini Lombard is the leader of the Purdue offense, scoring 14.1 points per game on 53.6% shooting from the field and 38.5% shooting from three-point range. Needless to say, Lombard is an efficient and effective scorer. Arguably, her best game of the season came in a loss against No. 3 South Carolina. She had 24 points on 9-17 (4-5 3PT) shooting against the Gamecocks.

Then, it’s senior forward Raegan Bass who makes for a dynamic 1-2 punch alongside Lombard. The 6-foot-2 Akron transfer averages 13.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. She does shoot 29.4% from deep, which isn’t a great clip, but that means that Bass is certainly capable of knocking down the three.

Purdue runs a pretty consistent 10-man rotation, which, again, could serve as a bit of a disadvantage for Kentucky. The Boilermakers have some size and length that could be bothersome, but hopefully, Kentucky’s apparent talent advantage will end up being enough to carry them to a win.

Projected Kentucky Starters

#3 – Georgia Amoore

5-FOOT-6 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT

15.0 PPG – 7.8 APG – 2.3 RPG

#7 – Teonni Key

6-FOOT-4 – FORWARD – JUNIOR

11.7 PPG – 9.8 RPG – 2.9 BPG

#10 – Dazia Lawrence

5-FOOT-8 – GUARD – REDSHIRT SENIOR

13.0 PPG – 1.7 RPG – 1.4 APG

#13 – Clara Strack

6-FOOT-5 – CENTER – SOPHOMORE

16.4 PPG – 9.7 RPG – 3.6 APG

#32 – Amelia Hassett

6-FOOT-3 – FORWARD – JUNIOR

9.6 PPG – 9.9 RPG – 1.6 APG

How to Watch/Listen

Place	Tipoff	TV	Radio	Live Stats
Mackey Arena (West Lafayette, IN)	5 p.m. EST	Big Ten Network (Sloane Martin, Christy Winters Scott)	98.5 ICONS, 1080 WKJK, SiriusXM Channel 162 or 192 (Darren Headrick)	StatBroadcast

Follow Along with KSR’s LIVE BLOG

Unable to watch the game? Don’t worry — we’ll be providing real-time updates throughout to keep you informed on the action. Follow along with KSR’s LIVE BLOG, which will get rolling on the website an hour before the game starts.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during tonight’s game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).