No. 2 Boilermakers Too Much for Iowa

Big Ten Favorite Fights Off Hungry Hawkeyes, Great Crowd at CHA

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Zach Edey wasn’t about to be moved.

Oh, Iowa tried in Saturday’s game against No. 2 Purdue at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It was a rotation of bodies on the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-4, 300-pound center who is the reigning national player of the year. The Hawkeyes would come at him with players of various size and experience, and nothing worked.

Edey’s 30-point, 18-rebound day in Purdue’s 84-70 win was just part of the way the Boilermakers exhausted the Hawkeyes.

Purdue had a 50-24 rebounding edge. The Boilermakers got 19 offensive rebounds, leading to longer offensive possessions by a team with so many offensive choices, it leaves opponents in a consistent scramble.

It was Edey, though, who was the biggest grinder.

“Honestly, I thought we did the best we could,” Iowa guard Tony Perkins said. “Sometimes we played excellent defense. It’s hard. You shoot the ball, he’s going to go get it. Two hundred eighty-five, 300 pounds? It’s hard to prepare. That’s a big fella.”

The Hawkeyes (11-7, 3-4), who had their three-game winning streak snapped, were chasing the Boilermakers (17-2, 6-2) all day after a 19-2 first-half run put Purdue in command.

“We knew we couldn’t play from behind,” guard Payton Sandfort said.

It was a consistent glass cleaning by the Boilermakers. They played nine players, and every player got at least two rebounds.

The 19 offensive rebounds, though, were the killers.

“That’s the game right there,” Perkins said.

“Obviously it was a huge focal point going into the game,” Sandfort said. “We knew we had to (rebound) to win. Obviously we didn’t execute that to the best of our ability. We were fighting, and then we didn’t get the bounces. Sometimes that’s the way it goes, but sometimes we need to be more locked in, be more physical.”

Edey’s dominance just added to the complexity that comes with defending the Boilermakers, who had nine 3-pointers, including four from Lance Jones.

“They run great stuff,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “They have great shooters. So it’s not like, ‘Let’s chase these guys and leave (Edey) open. They’re all out there hitting threes.”

Iowa, fueled by the near-sellout crowd, led 18-14 with 12:32 left in the first half before Purdue went on its big run, with most of those points coming with Edey on the bench.

“It was just attention to detail,” Sandfort said. “Obviously we missed some shots, but they got a lot of offensive rebounds. And they got a lot of wide-open shots.

“We knew we couldn’t get behind in this game. But we let down for three or four minutes there, and we couldn’t get it done.”

Iowa later answered with a 7-0 run before the Boilermakers closed the half with a 9-3 run to lead 47-34 at halftime.

The Boilermakers would maintain that double-digit lead for most of the second half, leading by as much as 19 points before the Hawkeyes rallied. They got to within 78-70 with 4:22 to play after two free throws from Josh Dix, then had three consecutive possessions when they missed open looks that could have cut further into the lead.

“I think everybody was just gassed at that point,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said.

Purdue’s Lance Jones, who had 17 points, then hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to double digits, and the Hawkeyes wouldn’t score again.

Perkins led Iowa with 24 points. Sandfort had 16, and Ben Krikke had 10.