WEST LAFAYETTE – Walking into Mackey Arena came almost out of habit for Purdue guard Madison Layden-Zay who watched the 2024-25 season from the bleachers after playing for four years between 2020 and 2024.
Mackey Arena and the team practice facility Cardinal Court had been where she met her husband Rees Zay, a former practice player and the newlyweds would attend games during the 2024-25 campaign to watch her younger sister McKenna Layden play.
Advertisement
“I just felt like there was something me, like I should be out there,” Layden-Zay said.
The urge to play college basketball again began gnawing at Layden-Zay even tighter in January and February.
“I don’t want to look back in five years and regret that I didn’t take that extra year,” Layden-Zay said she remembered thinking to herself.
Now she’s returning to Purdue as a graduate senior in 2025-26 and has received a warm welcome from coach Katie Gearlds.
More: Former Miss Basketball returning as Purdue women’s basketball coach
“I was intrigued,” Gearlds said when first approached about Layden-Zay playing.
Advertisement
So what motivated Layden-Zay to return to Purdue? Here’s an inside look:
Purdue guard Madison Layden (33) goes up for a 3-pointer during the first quarter of an NCAA women’s basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
Return and relationships rooted in history
Layden-Zay formed a close bond in 2021 when Gearlds, the former All-American point guard became an assistant and then thrust into the head coaching position when Purdue and Versyp parted ways amid an investigation into alleged verbal abuse by players.
Layden-Zay approached Gearlds about returning to play at Purdue, a day before Senior Night when the Boilermakers were scheduled to host Indiana on March 2.
She lives in Carmel with Rees working in financial services and seemed content with her life after getting married in September. And it’s why Gearlds was struck when approached by Layden-Zay about wanting to play basketball again.
Advertisement
More: Former Purdue women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner retires
“You think about a kid that played four years and gave blood, sweat, and tears to the university,” Gearlds said. “To be able to go start a life and realize how much she missed the game but also how much she wanted to help Purdue get back to winning.”
Gearlds scheduled a workout for Layden-Zay with her staff and saw the same player who had been heavily recruited out of Northwestern. Her knowledge of basketball hadn’t waned, her conditioning and jump shot were still at a college-caliber level.
“Once a shooter, always a shooter and she’s in a place where she wants to help Purdue and for me to play for me for three years and to realize ‘I love this game, I love Purdue, let’s get it back together,’ is pretty cool,” Gearlds said.
Purdue Boilermakers guard McKenna Layden (11) grabs a rebound Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025, during the NCAA women’s basketball game against the USC Trojans at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. USC Trojans won 79-37.
Layden sister combination
Playing with McKenna was another factor for Layden-Zay.
Advertisement
Layden-Zay and Gearlds watched McKenna grow after battling through foot injuries her in freshman and sophomore years. McKenna racked up 12 points in consecutive starts against Wisconsin on Jan. 30 and Nebraska on Feb. 2, started the final four games of 2024-25 and grabbed a season high 10 rebounds against Indiana.
“Once we got (McKenna) healthy enough to be competitive for us it showed the way she can rebound the basketball and shoot the basketball,” Gearlds said. “She’s had some offseason surgery to fix what she’d been playing through. So the idea is to get her back playing to full strength and like Madison has high IQ and can shoot it. High IQ and good shooters fit my bill of what I want to build around.”
Purdue Boilermakers guard Madison Layden (33) walks with her mom after the NCAA women’s basketball game against the Penn State Nittany Lions, Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Penn State won 93-88.
Layden opens up about mental health struggles
Layden-Zay shared the mental health problems she endured during her last two seasons.
Advertisement
She wasn’t available for Purdue when it reached the Great Eight of the WNIT in 2024. Layden-Zay said she didn’t touch a basketball for three to four months and it seemed like her basketball career had reached its end.
“I struggled with a lot of anxiety and just a lot of issues where I wasn’t in a good place my last few years of players and I think you could tell I wasn’t having as much fun with it,” Layden-Zay said. “But this last year has helped me work through that and help me get through the anxiousness and problems I dealt with. I’ve done a lot of self-reflection, working on myself and I’m in a much better place now.”
More: Purdue coach Katie Gearlds finds encouragement from UCLA coach Cori Close
Passion, love for basketball and encouragement came from Rees who battled Layden-Zay on the court for two seasons as a member of the all-male practice squad the Purdue women’s basketball team competes against as a scout team.
Advertisement
“He just wanted me to be happy and he obviously loves watching me play basketball,” Layden-Zay said. “He was super excited when I came to him with the idea.”
Gearlds believes the time off has allowed Layden-Zay to rediscover her competitive flame.
“She’s at that point of ‘I don’t (care) what people think about me,” Gearlds said. “This is who I am, this is what I want to be and I’m going to give everything I can to this university and I think that’s what Madison is hungry to do. It’s to find a way to help us get back to winning and really leave on a note she wants to leave on.”
Purdue guard Madison Layden (33) goes up for a three pointer during the first quarter of an NCAA women’s basketball game, Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021 at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
Rediscovering love for basketball
Layden-Zay has reconnected to basketball and the sport that tied her family together. Her mother Kathie spent 23 seasons as head coach at Northwestern and her father Jeff was an assistant.
Advertisement
More weights were being lifted in preparation for 2025-26 and has been using Northwestern’s gym to practice. Layden-Zay has the fifth most 3-pointers in Purdue history with 206 and is 38 makes from tying 2021 alum Karissa McLaughlin for the most in program history.
More: Purdue women’s basketball guards revel in Seattle Storm experience on weekend road trip
She entered the transfer portal on March 14 but opted to stay in West Lafayette.
“Madison had a really good career here and she could’ve gone anywhere,” Gearlds said. “Her phone was ringing off the hook as soon as she went into the portal and for her to want to come back and ride with me one more time for her last year is pretty special.”
Purdue Boilermakers guard Madison Layden (33) pushes the ball up the court during the NCAA women’s basketball game against the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Ind. Purdue won 83-57.
Transfer portal, NIL and looking ahead to 2025-26
Layden-Zay rejoins Purdue with the program looking to fill its roster after sophomore guard Sophie Swanson, and freshman guard Jordyn Poole entered the transfer portal with South Bend Washington high school graduates sophomore guard Rashunda Jones, redshirt freshman Amiyah Reynolds, and junior forward Mila Reynolds.
Advertisement
Purdue lost 4-star Kira Reynolds who decommitted after her older sisters left the Boilermakers.
What’s left on the active roster is incoming sophomore forwards Kendall Puryear, Lana McCarthy, McKenna, and Madison Layden with 4-star 6-foot-5 center Avery Gordon from Brownsburg and 5-foot-8 guard Keona Douwstra expected to join Purdue in 2025-26.
“It’s such a weird situation with everything and the portal and NIL,” Layden-Zay said. “It’s definitely not the same from when I was when I started in college and now kind of being in it for my last year, it’s fun and exciting.”
Purdue will look to show it can continue its historic trend of bouncing back in the new era of transfer portal and NIL.
Advertisement
More: Sibling bonds motivate Purdue women’s basketball freshman Kendall Puryear
The Boilermakers finished with a 10-19 record, including 3-15 during Big Ten Conference regular season play, and missed the Big Ten Conference tournament in 2024-25. A similar result when Versyp ran the program when Purdue went 11-21 and 3-15 in the Big Ten Conference in 2015-16.
A season later, Purdue went 23-13 including 10-6 during Big Ten Conference play, and made the NCAA Tournament in 2017.
“I think we can still be good,” Layden-Zay said. “I think we can move in the right direction and that just takes time. I’m excited to get there in the summer, start working out and see what the coaches pick up in the portal and do the best we can.”
Advertisement
Layden-Zay’s return provides Purdue with proven veteran experience. She was a prominent figure on Purdue that was part of the First Four of the NCAA tournament in 2023 and averaged per game and 4.2 rebounds per game in 13 starts.
More importantly, she bridges the gap that for the moment. The roster is comprised of six players including one senior, one junior, two returning sophomores and two incoming freshmen.
“I know what Purdue is all about being there for four years and I’m really excited to get to know them better and play with them,” Layden-Zay said.
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue women’s basketball guard Madison Layden returns
