Purdue Sports Update: Jan. 3

Purdue Falls at No. 24 Iowa, No.21 Michigan State

The women’s basketball team dropped its final game of 2024 in a 84-63 loss on the road at No. 24 Iowa.

The Boilermakers (7-6, 0-2) were led by Destini Lombard’s 12 points, her 11th game in double figures this season. Purdue finished the afternoon shooting 41% from the field and made a season-high nine 3-pointers. Sophie Swanson led the way on the perimeter with a trio of triples.  

Purdue flipped 16 Iowa turnovers into 18 points. Lombard matched her career high with six steals, the most by a Boilermaker since Jeanae Terry swiped six against Penn State during the 2022-23 season.

Iowa (10-2, 1-1) shot 55% from the field and went 8-of-24 behind the arc. Addison O’Grady was the lone Hawkeye in double figures with 12 points. The Hawkeyes won the rebounding battle 42-27.

Afirst half deficit proved too much for the women’s basketball team to overcome in a 77-59losson the road on New Year’s Day to No. 21 Michigan State. The Boilermakers (7-7, 0-3) outscored the Spartans (12-2, 2-1) 38-29 in the second half but could not rally from a 27-point gap at the break.

A pair of Boilermakers led the way with 10 points. Lombard finished in double figures for the 12th time this season, going 4-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Lana McCarthy was an efficient 5-of-7 from the floor to reach double figures for the sixth time.

For the game, the Boilermakers shot 41.4% from the field and went 7-of-18 from distance. Ella Collier connected twice from the outside, while Rashunda Jones, Mahri Petree and McKenna Layden each added a 3-pointer.

After the Spartans built up their lead in the first half, Purdue found its rhythm over the final 20 minutes. The Boilermakers shot 47% overall and tallied 11 of their 16 assists for the game in the final two quarters. Defensively, Purdue held Michigan State to 24.3% from the field and 1-of-16 from behind the arc.

Michigan State put four players in double figures on the night, led by Jocelyn Tate’s 19 points. The Spartans shot 37% from the field and went 7-of-31 from behind the arc. The hosts jumped out to an early lead with an even 50% clip in the first half with six 3-pointers and converted 18 Purdue turnovers into 18 points.

The Boilermakers will be back in Mackey Arena for the next two outings against No. 1 UCLA on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on BTN, before a Jan. 11 matchup against No. 24 Michigan at 2 p.m. on B1G+.   

Shondell Welcomes Bianka Lulic

Middle blocker transfer Bianka Lulić signed with Purdue, announced by head coach Dave Shondell. Lulić, a 6’5″ middle will be a redshirt sophomore next fall for the Boilermakers.

Lulić and the Miami Hurricanes are coming off an NCAA Second Round appearance and a season in which she played 64 of the team’s 121 total sets. In her redshirt freshman campaign, she produced high efficiency marks against multiple top programs, including a .444 clip vs. Stanford and a .500 attack % vs. Texas with five block assists.

Purdue has signed four transfers over the off season with an average height of over 6’3″, with Lindsey Miller (6’4 middle from USC), Akasha Anderson (6’3 outside hitter from Michigan State), Nataly Moravec (6’3 outside hitter from Iowa) and Lulic.

The Boilermakers finished No. 9 in the AVCA final Coaches’ Poll, marking the third time in the last five years the program has finished in the top-10 in the nation.

2024 / AS A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN AT MIAMI

• Played in 64 of the team’s 115 sets
• Averaged a .345 attack % with 73 kills on 165 attacks through the regular season
• Produced 61 total blocks (.95 per set)
• Set a career-high 12 kills on a .527 clip (12-1-21) vs. Wright State (9/14)
• Recorded a career-high nine blocks vs. FIU (9/21)
• Hit an errorless four kills on nine attacks (.444%) with four blocks and a dig in Miami’s 3-2 victory over No. 4 Stanford (11/1)
• Recorded a .625 hitting clip (6-1-8) vs. Cal (11/3)
• Produced an .800 attack % with an errorless four kills on five swings with three blocks at Virginia Tech (10/4)
• At then-No.1 Texas, registered an errorless four kills on eight swings (.500%) and six block assists (9/7)
• Recorded five block assists vs. then-No. 25 Arkansas (9/19)

2023 / AS A FRESHMAN AT MIAMI

• Redshirted the season

HIGH SCHOOL

• Lulic was tabbed the Most Improved Player, MVP, All-Conference and team captain during her junior campaign
• Helped Team Croatia to fifth place at the World Championships
• Was the No. 1 Middle Blocker in California and was tabbed a top-three prospect of the class of 2023
• She also played in the European Championships for Team Croatia and placed sixth
• With the Coast Volleyball Club, Lulic took third at nationals with her age group
• Played in the Salt Lake City Showdown Girls 18s Qualifier where the squad claimed second and third in the SCVA her junior year
• The previous year, she played at the SCVA Girls 17s tournament in Las Vegas, taking third with her team

#25 Purdue Opens 2025 With Road Dual at Kent State

No. 25 Wrestling will travel east for one more non-conference road dual at Kent State on Friday.

The 10-match dual will start at 6 p.m. ET at Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center in Kent, Ohio. A free live stream will be available here.

After six non-conference duals and two tournaments, the Kent State bout marks Purdue’s final trip before making its season debut at home in Holloway Gymnasium. The team will open Big Ten Conference season when it hosts Northwestern on Friday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. ET.

Purdue (5-1, 0-0 B1G) has squared off with the Golden Flashes nine times before, and the Boilers hold a 6-3 advantage in the all-time series.

The series dates back almost 100 years, when Purdue first beat Kent State 22-6 on Feb. 28, 1930. That was also the last time the Boilermakers competed in a dual in Kent.

Kent State edged Purdue in the most recent meeting, 17-15 in Ashland, Ohio, on Jan. 15, 2011.

The Golden Flashes enter the dual with a 1-7 record. They regularly compete in the MAC, in which they went 1-8 last season.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

10 – Matt Ramos leads the nation with an astounding 10 technical falls this season. He earned another one his last time out, beating Cleveland State’s Ben Aranda 17-1 (6:12).

7 – Joey Blaze climbed to the No. 7 spot at 157 pounds in the latest InterMat rankings, the highest ranking of the sophomore’s career.

2:06 – Brody Baumann sprinted to Purdue’s fastest technical fall of the season at Cleveland State, beating Gavin Ricketts 19-3 in just 2:06. The redshirt sophomore from Evansville, Ind., has scored 19 or more points five times in just 14 matches.

5 – Stoney Buell leads the team with five major decisions this season, tied for the fifth-most nationally.

RANKINGS REVIEW

Entering the new year, the Boilermakers have a season-high seven wrestlers listed in the latest InterMat rankings.

Matt Ramos maintained his spot at the top of the 125-pound division. He has owned the consensus No. 1 ranking since winning the prestigious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational crown on Dec. 7.

Joey Blaze continued to climb up the 157-pound class with a career-best ranking of No. 7 this week. James Rowley is the next-highest ranked Boilermaker, checking in at No. 21 (184 lbs).

No. 26 Brody Baumann and No. 31 Stoney Buell have each been ranked every week so far through the 2024-25 season.

No. 33 Greyson Clark earned his way back to the rankings after a commanding 18-3 tech fall victory at Cleveland State, beating his opponent in just 3:45.

For the first time since competing at 184 lbs in 2022, Ben Vanadia appeared in the national rankings at No. 32. The 197-pounder has won four of his last five matches, most recently notching a 17-1 tech fall (5:38) at Cleveland State.