WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – After piecing together back-to-back solid victories in the BTI Invitational, Wright State struggled Sunday in a 70-46 loss at Purdue to finish as the tournament’s runner-ups.
The feel after the Raiders’ loss on Sunday was similar to Wright State’s last visit to the state of Indiana when the Raiders lost at Butler 57-49 on Dec. 5. WSU head coach Mike Bradbury was not happy with his team’s performance after that game and challenged them to perform better. The team responded by winning four-in-a-row up until the loss Sunday.
“This is now the second time we shot 22 percent,” Bradbury said. “It is a problem, it has been a problem all year. We struggle to score at times and you are not going to beat a good team, and Purdue has a chance to be good, when you’re shooting 22 percent.”
The Raiders were led by Tay’ler Mingo who scored 23 points and named to the All-Tournament team. WSU center Tayler Stanton set her career high with 19 rebounds. Of her 19 rebounds, 11 were off the offensive glass.
Wright State entered the game 8-2 and off to its best start in school history. After winning by 38 yesterday to UC Irvine, it appeared the Raiders could go up against one of the powerhouses from the Big Ten Conference.
“The coach prepares us well enough to have that confidence,” Mingo said.
The Boilers started three players taller than Stanton, who stands 6-foot-0, which caused problems according to Bradbury.
“Once you miss a few, it has an affect on you,” Bradbury said. “They had a quickness advantage, and an athletic advantage but they neutralized us because they stay in the paint and contest and that caused us some problems.”
Purdue did what it could to take Stanton out of the paint and kept her at just two points for the game.
“They were physical but it wasn’t any different from any other game,” Stanton said. “It was just they were taller. And getting 11 offensive rebounds and not finishing is like a null and void.”
After Stanton’s 11 offensive boards, she is leading Division 1 in offensive rebounds, and is among the leaders in overall rebounding. With WSU missing 59 shots Sunday, Stanton had plenty of opportunities to pull in boards.
“She is a good rebounder, she is a good defensive rebounder,” Bradbury said. “She is on the perfect team to lead the nation in offensive rebounding.”
Wright State got off to a good start going on an early 6-0 run to lead 6-4. That was the Raiders’ only lead of the game as Purdue went on an 11-0 run due to WSU missing 16 shots in a row.
The Boilermakers had a 31-16 lead at halftime. The 16 points the Raiders scored was their lowest since late in the 2012-13 season.
Wright State struggled once again in the second half despite scoring 30 points. The Raiders shot 9-of-40 from the field and minus Mingo’s performance, the squad shot 17 percent from the field in the entire game.
“They made some pretty good adjustments watching our film,” Mingo said. “Once again, it would have been nice if we could have made just a few of our shots. I think it would have made things interesting.”
Wright State will take a few days off before returning to practice on Dec. 26 to prepare for its next game on Dec. 29 versus Chicago State.
