Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady and assistant Frank Kendrick committed an "inadvertent violation" of NCAA rules by making telephone calls to the home of a prospective recruit, the university said Tuesday in West Lafayette, Ind.

   Purdue, which plays Illinois on Thursday in Champaign, has informed the NCAA and will take "appropriate steps" to prevent future violations.

   In a statement released by athletic director Morgan J. Burke, the department acknowledged Keady and Kendrick had returned 15 telephone calls to the home of a high school prospect. The initial calls were made by the parents of the athlete.

   NCAA rules prohibit coaches from calling prospects before July 1 after the athletes'' junior year. The calls in question were made between November 1995 and February 1996.

   Parents may call an athletic department to arrange for free game tickets, but the calls must not involve recruiting. The institution cannot return calls.

   "The fact that the coaches openly returned the calls from their office phones indicates there was no intention on their part to violate rules," Burke''s statement said.

   The Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette had reported that 12 calls were made to the home of Merrillville High School player Jamaal Davis from phone numbers and a calling card assigned to Kendrick.

Women''s cager leaving Purdue

   Diamond Desmond, a freshman center on Purdue''s women''s basketball team, has decided to withdraw from school.

   "Diamond has made the decision that she doesn''t want to play basketball anymore," Boilermakers coach Nell Fortner announced Tuesday. "She wants to stay home in Alabama."

   Desmond, who lives in Gadsden, Ala., graduated from Wakefield High School in Virginia. In three games with Purdue this season, she averaged 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds.

   Desmond was recruited to Purdue by former Boilermakers coach Lin Dunn.