WATCH: Purdue Players Ethan Morton, David Jenkins Jr. Preview Game Against Iowa
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Following a 79-74 road loss to in-state rival Indiana, No. 1 Purdue basketball is 22-2 overall, including an 11-2 mark in the Big Ten, and is set to welcome Iowa to Mackey Arena on Thursday night.
Before the matchup, Ethan Morton and David Jenkins Jr. spoke to the media to preview the game against the Hawkeyes, who enter the contest leading the Big Ten with 81.5 points per game.
"It's going to be essential for us to be able to sit down and guard the whole game," Jenkins said. "One thing that I've noticed about Iowa is they can get up 20 quickly or they can get down 20 quickly because they're so offensive based.
"So I just think we have to make sure we get stops, put a lot of kills together, which is three stops in a row for us. I think that's all going to be important going into this game."
Iowa, at 15-8 and 7-5 in conference play this season, has five players averaging double-digit scoring per contest. At the forefront of the team's high-scoring offense is junior forward Kris Murray, who ranks second in the Big Ten by putting up 20.5 points per contest.
"Unbelievable player," Morton said of Murray. "I have a lot of respect for him. Just the way he plays the game. He seems like a great person, pretty humble, just plays hard and goes to work every day. But the way he scores the ball in a variety of ways I think has been pretty impressive with how he's evolved."
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN2. It is the only meeting of the regular season between the two teams.
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D.J. Fezler is a staff writer for BoilermakersCountry.com. Hailing from The Region, he is from Cedar Lake in Northwest Indiana and has spent the last two years covering Purdue football and basketball.