Sunday’s Iowa/Purdue game was a collision of two stylistically different teams.
By Kyle Mann | [email protected]
Basketball is very much a matchup sport. The No. 9 Iowa men’s basketball team entered Sunday’s game against No. 22 Purdue in Carver-Hawkeye riding an eight-game winning streak and playing as crisp of basketball as could be asked. Still, fans had some question about how well Iowa could handle the physical Boilermakers.
Two of those eight wins were a 13-point victory over then-top ranked Michigan State and a 17-point drubbing of the Spartans in East Lansing.
Another was a comeback victory at Purdue, in which the Hawkeyes overcame a 17-point halftime deficit. The Hawkeyes won, but clearly struggled with the Boilermakers much more than any other Big Ten opponent this season, even the Spartans.
So when Purdue arrived in Iowa City, despite how well they’ve been playing of late, the Hawkeyes knew they would be in for a battle.
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Iowa was the second-best scoring offense in the Big Ten. Purdue was the best scoring defense. Iowa, the third-best 3-point shooting team, versus the best field-goal percentage defense. Iowa, boasting both the best turnover margin and assist to turnover ratio, and Purdue, the leader in rebound margin.
It was a classic power versus finesse matchup. As they say: Something’s gotta give, and something did in the Hawkeyes 83-71 victory over Purdue.
Seven-foot senior AJ Hammons has given the Hawkeyes trouble in the past, and 7-2 sophomore Isaac Haas presents the most size Iowa’s seen since Florida State. The real troublemaker, however, was five-star freshman Caleb Swanigan, standing 6-9 and weighing at least 250 pounds (or perhaps 280).
“Obviously, they’ve got a very big team, a very talented team, so defensively, we do a little bit different than some other teams,” Hawkeye senior center Adam Woodbury said. “But it’s all the same; we’ve got to play defense and rebound.”
With the Boilermakers, teams have two choices: match up with their size or use tempo and outside shooting to negate it. On Sunday, Purdue’s size and Iowa’s shooting were on display.
And so it was.
Peter Jok kicked off the scoring with two aggressive looks near the elbow, which was followed by two catch-and-shoot 3s by Jarrod Uthoff. Iowa was firing on all cylinders in jumping out to a 10-4 lead, but it didn’t last.
Swanigan blocked a turnaround jumper by Uthoff and went coast-to-coast for an easy lay-up. A 9-0 run put Purdue ahead 13-10 and began a half that ultimately belonged to the Boilermakers.
Purdue held a 21-14 rebounding advantage and limited Iowa to 41 percent shooting. Even more concerning, Purdue shot 54 percent from 3. Power prevailed in the first half, and the Boilermakers led, 35-33, but Iowa had come back on Purdue once before this season (from 17 down).
The Hawkeyes started the second half by dictating the tempo where they wanted it, thanks largely to full-court pressure on defense.
“I don’t think we were as sharp as we need to be with our defensive game plan,” Fran McCaffery said. “We were close in the first half. We were not putting as much pressure on the ball.”
McCaffery dialed up a defense to slow the Boilermakers, and with Purdue struggling to score, Iowa’s shooters found a rhythm.
A 23-6 run blew the game open for the Hawkeyes, and consecutive 3s by Brady Ellingson, Nick Baer, and Dom Uhl put the Hawkeyes ahead, 56-41. Iowa shot 5-of-8 from distance in the second half and 60 percent from the floor.
Uthoff led the Hawks with 22 points and was his typical dependable self, but the second-half performance featuring several bench players highlighted what makes this Iowa team so dangerous.
“We’ve got a lot of weapons, so you never know who’s going to go off,” Jok said. “You can play me and Jarrod however you want, but other guys are going to step up.”