2025-26 Team Preview: Purdue

It has been a big past few days for a long list of Big Ten players, both current and former! First, the US defeated Brazil 92-84 in the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup. Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes led the way with 22 points, but four in-conference players saw action in the win. Michigan State’s Grace VanSlooten (8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke (7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block) made sizable impacts, while Kennedy Smith (USC) and Gianna Kneepkens (UCLA) played 16 and nine minutes, respectively.

In the WNBA, seven Big Ten “alums” made All-Star teams, though only three of the players legitimately played in the conference while in college. The names that made it are Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon), Kiki Iriafen (USC), Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State), Kelsey Plum (Washington), Satou Sabally (Oregon) and Alyssa Thomas (Maryland). A specific shoutout again to Iriafen, who earns the all-star bid as a rookie and continues to exceed my first-year expectations for her by wide margins.

Last Week’s Preview

Table of Contents

• 2024-25 Overview

• Departures

• Returnees

• Incoming Players

• Outlook

2024-25 Overview

It’s been a troubling trend downwards for Purdue over the past two seasons after a promising 2022-23 campaign. That year, head coach Katie Geralds found a well-balanced, efficient attack, and the result was 19 wins and a NCAA Tournament First Four appearance.

Since then, Purdue dropped to 15 wins in 23-24, and then fell even further down last season.

The Boilermakers avoided a last-place finish in the standings, but nearly every major statistic would say that Purdue was the Big Ten’s worst team in 2024-25. The group held the worst scoring output, scoring defense and rebounding rate in the conference, and were the only Big Ten team to finish with a negative Her Hoop Stats team rating.

Geralds increased the team’s pace last season to the highest in her tenure. While the ball continued to move relatively well (14.4 APG, 88th in NCAA), Purdue’s shooting woes compared to the rest of the Big Ten, and their lack of ability to get to the line (354th in FT rate) did them no favors.

Defensively, Purdue couldn’t stop anyone. The Boilermakers had the sixth-worst Points Per Play allowed (0.90) in the entire country, allowed teams to shoot a solid percentage from the field and could not force turnovers, finishing with a 15.7% opponent turnover rate that ranked in the bottom 20 nationally.

It was a rough season all around for this Boilermakers squad, who lost more games by 20+ (12 games) than they won. It was a roster that left some room to grow in the future, but the transfer portal has made it even harder for Geralds to build that momentum.

Here's last year’s Purdue roster, sorted by Her Hoop Stats win shares:

Departures

Purdue hit double-digit exits this offseason, with 11 players leaving overall. More concerning, over half (six) of those exits were through the portal, including Rashunda Jones, who had an extremely promising first two seasons and who Purdue will be seeing again as an opponent at Michigan State.

Sophie Swanson is also a large transfer exit, as she showed a lot of potential as a perimeter weapon in two year with the team. Jordyn Poole leaves after just one season, and while she didn’t have significant opportunity in year one, you hate to lose a Top-60 prospect out of high school that early on.

Finally, this offseason saw both the Reynolds’ sisters — Amiyah and Mila — leave to UT Arlington. These were two highly touted gets for Geralds at the time, and neither panned out for the program whatsoever.

As far as the graduating exits go, Destani Lombard and Reagan Bass were two of the most consistent contributors for last year’s team. Lombard was one of their best three-point weapons and Bass was their top rebounder, so the Boilermakers will need even more help in areas that already weren’t strengths.

Returnees

Only three players from last year’s Purdue roster are back again, but a fourth returnee could be a real difference maker.

Madison Layden-Zay, returning with her new married name, is using the extra year of COVID eligibility to play one final season with Purdue after taking last season off. She brings over 100 games of experience to the table, and something similar to her 23-24 stats would be a welcome addition to the roster:

• 9.8 PPG

• 1.8 APG

• 39.3 3PT%

• 64 3PT made

She’s a knockdown shooter and has plenty of experience in a Geralds offense to work with. That will be significant, as the other three returnees are two rising freshmen and Madison’s sister, McKenna, who is entering her junior season.

McKenna Layden is another high-volume perimeter option, and her three-point percentage improved by 4.5 points up to 32.5% last season. She’s also a great rebounding guard and can help to improve that area of issue for Purdue last season.

Both returning second-year players are forwards, and both will also be able to held the rebounding deficiencies. Kendall Puryear showed more immediate potential as a scorer, but did almost all of her damage off the bench. Lana McCarthy earned 26 starts and was far and away Purdue’s best offensive rebounder.

I expect both Puryear and McCarthy to see significant action this season, but to do so, both will need to get better at avoiding fouls and converting at the line: Puryear was the second-worst on the team in fouls per game (2.7) and shot 58.3% at the line. McCarthy was worse, averaging 2.9 fouls per game and hit just 43.6% from the stripe.

Incoming Players

It’s a huge incoming group for Purdue — six transfers and three freshmen — but more than the sheer quantity of names, there’s a lot to appreciate with how Geralds has built out the roster.

Starting with the transfers, Taylor Feldman is the name that immediately stands out. Feldman had a legitimately monstrous breakout last season after averaging just 6.6 PPG as a sophomore. That leap has led her to the Big Ten, and her impact should be felt right away, specifically with her ability of getting to, and converting, at the line (18th in the NCAA in FT makes).

Both Smiths — Kiki and Nya — are terrific adds to a Purdue team that, all of a sudden, has quite a bit of three-point options. Kiki Smith was the NJCAA Player of the Year before having a productive season in Arkansas. She put up solid numbers for a lackluster Razorbacks team, but she should be more than ready for Big Ten action after facing SEC competition all season.

Nya Smith was the leading scorer for a 21-win UNC Greensboro squad, and did so as a true freshman off the bench. She nearly made double the amount of threes of anyone on the roster, and will likely be asked to do a similar role for Purdue this season. Saige Stahl is coming from an Indiana State team that struggled mightily last year, but offers more rebounding help, especially on the offensive glass. Tara Daye should help there as well, as she’s averaged more than six rebounds per 40 minutes each season of her career.

Finally, Taylor Henderson is a name I am watching for. She put up very strong numbers for UNCW, who won 12 games last season, its most as a program since 2018-19. Henderson’s PPG went down, but her efficiency took leaps and bounds as a sophomore. She also dropped her turnovers by two per game, from 5.5 to 3.5. After a season as one of the least valuable players in the country in 23-24 (-1.8 win shares), she was tied for third-most valuable last season for the Seahawks, and comes to the Boilermakers with a ton of positive momentum.

It’s a really solid transfer group, and the three freshmen entering the fray should also bring excitement. Both Keona Douwstra and Hila Karsh have been high-impact international players, and that often translates well to early success in the college game. That being said, the big prize of the class is in-state prospect Avery Gordon, who at 6-7, could completely change Purdue’s style of play from the get go if they fully commit to building around her.

Outlook

Projected Starters

• Taylor Feldman - G

• Kiki Smith - G

• Madison Layden-Zay - G

• Lana McCarthy - F

• Avery Gordon - F

Big Ten Finish: 17th

Last season felt like a bottoming out for Purdue in many ways. It was the first season after a massive graduating class, so while a regression was somewhat expected, I’m sure Geralds was hoping for some more positive takeaways — and a larger returning class — than what the Boilermakers are now faced with.

That said, there is a whole lot to like with the new faces entering the fray, and it gives Purdue a chance to build a really intriguing core group to move forward with. Feldman and Kiki Smith feel like the type of transfers that should start from Day One, and Layden-Zay is a key vet that immediately adds spacing to the lineup.

McCarthy started over Puryear last season, so I am anticipating a similar look to start next year, and I fully believe Geralds should start Avery Gordon immediately to get her solid game action. Purdue started McCarthy last year and Mary Ashley Stevenson in 23-24, so Geralds is not shy in starting freshman if the talent is there.

Purdue struggled in just about every category last season, and it appears they have made strong adds to improve in the largest areas of weakness, namely perimeter shooting and rebounding. It’s hard to trust a unit with so many new faces, but sometimes an injection of this much new talent is what a struggling team needs.

Geralds likely needs to show real progress to hold onto her position for 26-27, and I think this roster has the potential to maybe do so, despite where I have them placed. I don’t think Purdue fans should anticipate a postseason run this season, but I do think this incoming haul makes the Boilermakers a little bit of a wild card with a higher ceiling than most of the other teams toward the bottom of last year’s standings.

Photo Credit: Purdue Athletics

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