No. 2 Purdue will try to close out a regular-season sweep against Iowa when the teams meet Saturday afternoon in a Big Ten clash in Iowa City.
Purdue (16-2, 5-2 Big Ten) can pick up its third win in a row after knocking off Penn State at home and Indiana on the road in its last two contests. The Boilermakers won those two games by an average of 19 points.
Next is a visit to Iowa (11-6, 3-3), which is riding a three-game winning streak with victories at home against Rutgers and Nebraska and a road win at Minnesota.
In the teams’ first meeting of the season on Dec. 4 in West Lafayette, Ind., Purdue cruised to an 87-68 win. The Boilermakers jumped to a 45-24 lead at the half and never looked back.
Purdue big man Zach Edey scored 25 points on 9-for-10 shooting, and added 12 rebounds and three blocked shots in the first meeting against the Hawkeyes. Lance Jones scored 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and Fletcher Loyer and Mason Gillis chipped in 12 points apiece.
Iowa struggled offensively in the first go-round against Purdue, with only two of its players scoring in double digits. Ben Krikke had 16 points and Tony Perkins scored 12.
The Hawkeyes hope to fare better on defense after allowing the Boilermakers to shoot 52.3 percent (34 of 65) from the field in the first meeting. By comparison, Iowa shot 38.5 percent (25 of 65).
Iowa is far from the only team that has had difficulty stopping Edey. In Purdue’s most recent game, Edey finished with 33 points and 14 rebounds against Indiana.
Purdue coach Matt Painter said his 7-foot-4 center combines talent with tenacity.
“He causes a lot of attention, and you see when he goes one-on-one, he’s going to draw some fouls,” Painter said. “It’s difficult to see someone at 7-4, 300 pounds, that plays hard every single point. It just kind of shows you who he is.”
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said he is feeling better about his team after its recent success. McCaffery earned his 272nd career win at Iowa in his most recent game, which moved him past Tom Davis as the winningest coach in program history.
McCaffery put the spotlight on his players for getting him the milestone win.
“There is no question (that the team is growing),” McCaffery said. “We’ve had some really good wins. We’ve played well at times in our losses.
“You’d like to think you’re going to win at home, but we lost to Michigan — (an) incredibly well-coached team with really good players. At Purdue, a lot of teams are going to lose there. At Wisconsin, a lot of teams are going to lose there. So, what you do is learn in those games what you did well and what not to do.”
This will be the 175th meeting between the programs. Purdue leads the all-time series 96-78, and it has won nine of the past 12 contests.
–Field Level Media
