Prior to Tuesday’s game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the Iowa men’s basketball team hadn’t defeated Purdue since January of 2017 and hadn’t won its Big Ten opener since 2015.

So much for those droughts.

The No. 4 Hawkeyes defeated the Boilermakers, 70-55, in their first conference game of the season to improve to 7-1. After losing his first four matchups against Purdue as a member of the Black and Gold, the game had an extra meaning to Iowa guard Joe Wieskamp.

“My first two years they’ve embarrassed us,” Wieskamp, a junior, said. “Every time I’ve played them, they’ve out-hustled us, destroyed us on the glass. So this is one we really wanted to come in and send a message. First game in the Big Ten on our home court, against a good Purdue team — we wanted to send a message.

“No one wants to start 0-1 in the Big Ten.”

That’s especially true this season.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said throughout last season that the Big Ten was as deep as he’d ever seen it in his tenure as head coach. Now in the 11th year of the McCaffery era, the conference may be even deeper.

Just on Sunday, Michigan State and Illinois, two of the top 15 teams in the country, lost to other solid Big Ten opponents. Seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the Associated Press poll. Every matchup in Iowa’s 20-game conference schedule is going to matter to win the Big Ten regular season crown.

Securing win No. 1 was key, and it was even sweeter for Iowa to do it against Purdue.

“In the past we’ve been out-hustled and out-rebounded,” Luka Garza said. “They are a team that prides itself on winning the war on the boards and getting the 50/50 balls… I thought we had a solid overall effort tonight. We communicated and had the edge on the boards. Getting second shots fuels their offense and we were able to limit them to one shot tonight.”

Last season, Purdue embarrassed Iowa with a 104-68 win in West Lafayette. In a rematch, the Boilermakers took down the Hawkeyes again at Carver. Tuesday’s victory was a chance for some Hawkeye revenge, and an opportunity for the team to move into the win column in conference play.

Garza led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Wieskamp with 17. Iowa took a 10-point lead into halftime, and kept a comfortable lead for the entire second half.

Whenever Purdue cut into its deficit, Iowa responded.

“You have to go down and get stops or that lead is going to be gone, and we got stops and we didn’t panic,” McCaffery said. “We missed a couple in a row. It’s not like we’re never going to score again. We’re going to score. And we did. So that’s I think what these guys know and understand, and that’s the approach that they take on a daily basis themselves.”

Iowa, by some metrics, is the best offense in men’s college basketball this season. In their first seven games of the season, the Hawkeyes scored 90 or more points in six of them, and 88 in the other.

But Tuesday, Iowa grinded out a victory with its defense leading the way.

“We didn’t shoot the ball that great,” Garza said. “But we were able to get stops and get in transition and score. We can play in different ways.”

And, judging by Tuesday’s performance, the Hawkeyes can win in different ways, too.