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ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 2 35 f BY STACY CLARDIE SClardie@GoldandBlack.com T he shooting stands out. The way Kendall Stephens has never met an attempt too far, never felt a situation too pressure-packed, never had an angle not worthy of launching a high-arcing shot. Stephens is known for his three- point shooting exploits for a reason, after all. He'll stroke it from anywhere but can just as easily make it from any- where. He attempted more threes than any other Purdue player last season — more than any Purdue freshmen in the history of the program. But he also shot a better percentage than anyone on the team last season — and nearly everyone who attempted that many in a first season, too, with only E'Twaun Moore being better. So it makes sense, then, that when Stephens is mentioned, shooting quickly follows. But a deeper look at the Purdue leg- acy's rookie year shows much more than just a kid who can stick it from long range. It shows someone with toughness, a fierce work ethic, with a maturity. Someone who earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team with so much more than shooting. Someone who is hoping to turn all the lessons learned from playing through a nagging groin injury all season and going through the Big Ten grind in Year 1 into a more-impressive Year 2. "He stuck with it," Coach Matt Painter said of Stephens' first inju- ry-plagued season. "He didn't make an excuse and just kept plugging. We didn't give him any time in terms of talking about it. You could see where it hampered him. It slowed him down a bit. He was able to fight through it. "He's healthier, bigger, stronger, and I think he'll be more productive." NO EXCUSES When Kendall Stephens got shots as a kid, he never cried. When he got the chicken pox, he kept smiling. When he had hernia surgery in fourth grade, he never whined about the pain. When he tore the labrum in his right shoulder his senior year in high school, he continued to play until sur- gery was absolutely necessary. "I didn't think of him being, like, this tough kid because he's so scraw- ny," mom Kay Stephens said, laugh- ing, "but he really was. He's just never a complainer, ever." He had the ultimate test, though, last year. In his first season with the Boiler- makers, Stephens "tweaked" his groin at the start of the season, and it never got better. The pain varied, but when it was bad, it was bad. "It was tough to come off screens, defend, slide your feet laterally. It hurt to push off of it, jump, run full speed, things like that," Stephens said mat- ter-of-factly, no trace of the weight of the statement, in that it's kind of im- portant for a basketball player to be able to run and jump. But Stephens never asked for a day off. Other than the practice in which he initially got hurt, he never missed another. It certainly would have helped to sit and allow the injury to heal. A week, maybe two, probably would have done it, and the thought crossed Stephens' mind: "Do I need time off in order to M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L F E A T U R E : K E N D A L L S T E P H E N S Tom Campbell Kendall Stephens showed toughness last year playing despite a nagging groin injury. He already had overcome shoulder surgery from high school. Breaking Through Stephens better for freshman Big Ten grind