The Iowa men’s basketball team improved to 7-0 in the Big Ten after completing a season sweep of the Boilermakers.

By Ian Murphy  |  [email protected]

The Iowa men’s basketball team took a 7-0 lead before Purdue even took a shot on Sunday en route to an 83-71 win in Carver-Hawkeye.

But the flashy offensive efficiency for the Hawkeyes, who jumped out a 10-4 lead, dissipated, and they wound up in a dogfight in the first half.

Iowa’s shaky play on offense coupled with the matchup nightmare Purdue presents on the defensive side — the Boilermakers outrebounded the Hawkeyes 21-14 in the first half — led to a 35-33 deficit for the Hawks at the half. And it should have been worse.

Jarrod Uthoff, who was honored pregame for reaching 1,000 career points, led all scorers with 13 at the half. Peter Jok added 7.

P.J. Thompson led Purdue with 9 points.

“I don’t think we were as sharp as we needed to be with our defensive game plan,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We were close in the first half. We were not putting as much pressure on the ball. We were not over. We were not reacting.”

In both games against Purdue, the Hawkeyes took an early lead and trailed at halftime before opening the second half like a team poised to make a deep run in March.

Although down, the Hawkeye deficit was much more surmountable than the 17 point halftime-deficit the Hawkeyes faced in their first game with the Boilermakers on Jan. 2.

From the start of the second half on, the Hawkeyes, led by their Big Ten Player of the Year candidate in Uthoff controlled everything.

Seven Hawks scored in a 23-6 run to open the half, with five Hawkeyes hitting 3-pointers, and Purdue was held to two separate scoring droughts of around four minutes each.

“I think that’s the beautiful thing about this team, and that’s what I said after the game,” McCaffery said. “To see Nicholas Baer, Brady [Ellingson] and Dom Uhl do what they’re doing, we got great play from Ahmad [Wagner].”

But the starters can’t be overlooked.

Uthoff finished with 22 points to lead all scorers. Junior Peter Jok logged 13 points despite voracious defending from Purdue’s Rapheal Davis.

The unsung hero of the day was senior Adam Woodbury.

The only center on the Hawkeye roster, Woodbury outscored Purdue’s twin towers, AJ Hammons and Isaac Haas. The Purdue tandem combined for 11 points; Woobury had 13.

“That’s our leader, man,” Jok said. “He talks, he’s vocal on defense, he gets me open all the time, he does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

Woodbury certainly showed up on the stat sheet Sunday, as the senior, in addition to his 13 points, pulled down 10 rebounds to log his second straight double-double.

The Hawkeyes, who are 7-3 against RPI top-50 teams this season, are getting more national attention than ever, and deservedly so after their performance against Purdue.

But Woodbury and Company said they are more focused on their looming date with Maryland and reaching 8-0 in the Big Ten than a potential top-five ranking, which is likely coming today.

“Doesn’t mean anything right now; hopefully, we’re top five at the end of March,” Woodbury said. “It’s just a little number next to our name.”