Purdue @ Iowa preview

Purdue at Iowa

Last Meeting ( Mar 3, 2020 ) Purdue 77, Iowa 68

Fourth-ranked Iowa aims to bounce back from its first blemish of the season when it opens Big Ten play against Purdue on Tuesday at Iowa City.

The Hawkeyes (6-1) won their first six games by an average of 32 points before being outclassed by top-ranked Gonzaga, 99-88, on Saturday at Sioux Falls, S.D.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery opted to find the silver lining in a setback in which his club trailed by as many as 20 points.

"This was a great game to play before conference play," McCaffery said afterward. "You have to learn from it. We made some mistakes. We did some good things. You have to look at where can we get better collectively and individually."

Purdue (6-2, 1-0 Big Ten) will be seeking its fifth consecutive victory over the Hawkeyes.

The Boilermakers enter the clash with the momentum of three straight victories. Included in the wins was Wednesday's 67-60 home triumph over then-No. 20 Ohio State in its Big Ten opener and Saturday's 78-68 victory over Notre Dame on a neutral floor in Indianapolis.

Most pleasing to Boilermakers coach Matt Painter after the win over Notre Dame was this: His club committed just six turnovers.

"We didn't have any turnovers from our guards -- that's quite an accomplishment," Painter said. "It's a good team win. You're going to have success when you outrebound people and don't commit turnovers."

Purdue held a 40-31 edge on the boards and was also made 14 of 28 attempts from 3-point range.

Sasha Stefanovic was 5 of 7 from behind the arc and Eric Hunter Jr. made 4 of 7. Both players had 18 points with Hunter also contributing eight assists and three steals.

"It's about trusting each other, passing and catching," Hunter said afterward. "It's that simple.

"If we keep taking care of the basketball, how good we are on offense will show."

Hunter leads the Boilermakers with a 14.3 scoring average. Trevion Williams (13.8 points, 9.8 rebounds), Stefanovic (12.5 points, team-high 26 3-pointers) and Zach Edey (11.3) are also scoring in double digits.

Purdue is allowing just 65 points per game as it attempts to slow down an Iowa attack scoring 98.7 per outing.

The Hawkeyes have topped 100 points three times already and the 88 against Gonzaga represents a season low.

All-American Luka Garza is averaging 29.3 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots while shooting 69.6 percent from the field. He had 30 points on 13-of-18 shooting, 10 rebounds and three rejections against the Bulldogs.

Garza has four 30-points efforts this season with a high of 41.

Joe Wieskamp, who averages 15.9 points, also played well against Gonzaga with 20 points, nine rebounds and three steals. He said his club can play better than it showed against the Zags.

"I think overall (Gonzaga) did a good job defensively on us," Wieskamp said. "They shot it really well from three and we needed to do a better job finding their shooters. The defensive end is where we need to improve. They were getting in transition too much."

Garza was disappointed that Iowa was outworked on the boards as Gonzaga held a 49-37 edge.

"We are a better rebounding team than what we showed," Garza said. "For us to win, we need to be tougher and get the 50-50 balls."

Addressing the rebounding will be a priority for the Hawkeyes as they face a Purdue squad outboarding its foes by 9.8 per game.

Purdue got a lift from Mason Gillis against the Irish as the freshman had career highs of 12 points and nine rebounds. He made both 3-point attempts.

"We had talked about his effort, that it wasn't always leading to production," Painter said. "But as he slowly starts to figure it out, his ability to rebound will help and he's a good 3-point shooter."

--Field Level Media