Purdue remained at No.1 after their loss to Indiana last weekend. Tonight, they would welcome the Iowa Hawkeyes, the two team who met in last year's Big Ten tournament championship. Anytime you play at Mackey arena it will never be easy. It is talked of as the top arena in the conference for a reason. Painter seems to have a special group this year mainly in part because of Edey but as tonight would prove his whole team fits his mold. Murray and the Hawkeyes walked into this game (15-8, 7-5) right in the heap of that mess of teams in the middle of the conference standings. From a night of basketball in West Layfette here is how action went down.
All Boilers first half
In a lot of games I've covered recently the starts were usually back and forth or slowly starts. This would not be one of those games. There was a clear favorite from the start and never let go of the hold they had in the first twenty minutes. Iowa would score the first basket of the game within 15 seconds of tipoff. From that point on Purdue would run the score up to 19-4 before Iowa could respond. The first 13 points that Purdue scored would be from the star freshman guards of Smith and Loyer. Purdue started out 4-8 from deep and helped them maintain a double digit lead the whole way after they took that big lead. The best part of this game for Purdue was they didn't see or need Edey to do anything special. He only scored four first half points. That is a scary thought for opposing teams if this is how this team will look. Iowa really struggled in the early goings just 2-9 from the field. While it was not pretty Iowa was able to get within 10 points. To close the final three minutes though, Purdue would extend the lead to 17, 38-21 at halftime.
Iowa makes it interesting
In the final minutes of the first half a team that is trailing has to find a way to close the gap. Iowa was unable to do so, and it only seemed to get worse in the second half. Purdue and specifically Braden Smith would just have their way. Smith would score 12 points alone in the first seven minutes of action the second half. Iowa would hit seven of eight shots in the opening minutes of the second stanza but still would leave them trailing 57-39 at the first media break with 13:06 left in the game. Before action could slow down both teams would score 18 points apiece leaving them right where they were at halftime. Murray was doing what he could to keep Iowa in it, but this Boiler team just kept coming. After being down by 21 at one point early in the second half, Iowa would settle in and go bucket for bucket with Purdue. Up until the 7-minute mark left in the game the Hawkeyes shot 17/21 on FGs in the half! Iowa would climb to make the score 70-64 with just over five minutes left. Led by Rebraca and Murray this became a ball game once again. After hitting just one three in the first half the Hawkeyes were able to hit four of five to start the second. The Boilermakers made sure this didn't have an impact after that and closed the game out nicely winning by 10 plus points.
Career night for Freshman guard
Everyone knows if you have seen Purdue this year that Smith isn't your traditional freshman. Tonight, he put on display just what other schools were missing. Smith would be the only player in double figures in the first half and that was because he was able to hit a couple threes. In the beginning minutes of the second half Smith would have 12 points and set him out to a career high night. It is such a plus for a team and coach when he knows he has freshman he can rely on. Him and Loyer are quite the pair for the Boilermakers. The run would not last long as Purdue would take a 8-0 late to seal the game.
Closing
In a game that Iowa needed more than Purdue, would not look like it tonight. Nothing against Iowa as only one team this season has been able to take down the Boilers in Mackey and that would be Rutgers earlier in the year. They dominated Michigan State a couple weeks ago and did the same to Iowa tonight. When your guard is going for a career high and Edey doesn't even need to score 20 points to create 15 plus point leads, its a good night for Painter. Purdue now 23-2 and do not look to be slowing down. Leading scorers tonight Murray for Iowa 24 points and Smith for Purdue 24 as well. Loyer would tally 17 for the Boilers as well. Final Score Purdue 87 Iowa 73.