A newly expanded Big Ten Conference has presented the same old challenges for longtime coaches such as Fran McCaffery of Iowa.
“I’d say in many ways it’s as tough as it’s ever been,” McCaffery said. “Whether we have 12 teams, 14 teams, 16, 18 — they’re all really good teams. It’s not like you can ever look at anybody and say, ‘That’s an easy win’. Because it’s not.
“Every team has really good players, and every team has a really good coach.”
The grueling test will continue for Iowa (13-8, 4-6) as it tips off against No. 7 Purdue (17-5, 9-2) on Tuesday evening in Iowa City, Iowa.
The terrain got even tougher Monday for the Hawkeyes when it was announced leading scorer and rebounder Owen Freeman would have season-ending surgery to repair a finger on his right hand.
McCaffery said Freeman, who averages 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds, recently sustained the injury.
“Obviously, it’s serious enough to have surgery. And he needed it. It’s unfortunate timing — for him and for us,” McCaffery said. “But it’s one of those things where, as we said in the release, the risk of permanent injury was there. And that’s not something we’re going to deviate from. His health and welfare is the most important thing.”
Winners of nine of their last 10 games, the Boilermakers will look to stay hot after holding off Indiana 81-76 on Friday night. Purdue will hit the road for the first time since Jan. 18, when it knocked off then-No. 13 Oregon.
Purdue is led by Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is averaging 18.4 points and 6.2 rebounds in 22 games. He is shooting 60.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from 3-point range.
Braden Smith is second on the team with 15.8 points per game to go with a team-high 8.8 assists. He will try to stay hot after scoring 24 points in back-to-back games.
Fletcher Loyer rounds out the Boilermakers’ big three on offense. He is averaging 14 points per game and is shooting 46.3 percent from beyond the arc.
Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said other players have stepped forward in recent games, as well. That group includes Gicarri Harris, a freshman guard who scored nine points in 22 minutes against Indiana.
“He’s always made plays at the end of games, whether it’s AAU or (high school),” Painter said. “He’s always a guy that has wanted the basketball and made plays. You can see how he’s starting to get more comfortable out there on both ends of the court.”
Without Freeman, Iowa will look for Payton Sandfort (16.0), Josh Dix (13.3) and Drew Thelwell (10.7) to pick up the slack.
Freeman was coming off a 14-point, eight-rebound performance in his team’s most recent game, an 82-65 loss to Ohio State on Jan. 27.
McCaffery said there was no way Freeman could play through the injury.
“The kid wants to play basketball for a long time and we want him to play basketball for a long time,” McCaffery said. “That would be in jeopardy were he to play.”
This will be the 176th meeting between the conference rivals. Purdue leads the all-time series 97-78, including wins of 87-68 and 84-70 a season ago.
Iowa will look to beat a ranked opponent for the first time since Feb. 17 of last season, when it knocked off No. 20 Wisconsin in overtime.
–Field Level Media
