Peter Jok and his young Hawkeye teammates weren’t interested in a moral victory in their rematch against No. 17 Purdue a few weeks after losing to the Boilermakers by 22 in West Lafayette, Indiana.

It showed in the Jan. 12 rematch in Carver-Hawkeye; the Hawkeyes (11-7, 3-2 Big Ten) took swing after swing from the Boilermakers, yet prevailed, 83-78.

In a game with 20 lead changes, Iowa took a late lead at 79-78, then got two stops on defense to pull off the upset.

Five freshmen took the court for Iowa, including the four regular starters (Tyler Cook, Cordell Pemsl, Jordan Bohannon, and Isaiah Moss.) Ryan Kriener, the fifth freshman to see playing time, had 6 points and 2 rebounds off the bench.

Combined, the frosh group scored 40 of Iowa’s 83 points.

“They’re figuring it out,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “It’s a mindset you have to have … they’re getting there.”

The game went back and forth the entire first half, until Purdue went on a mini-run with around two minutes left to stretch its halftime lead to 9. Iowa came out hot in the second half, however, and earned the lead with 14:36 to go.

Jok took over from there, scoring 17 of his 29 points in the second half, willing his team to victory.

— Blake Dowson