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.
"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.
"I was intrigued," Gearlds said when first approached about Layden-Zay playing.
So what motivated Layden-Zay to return to Purdue? Here's an inside look:
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.
"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 ...
