By Pat Harty

This will go down as a double-digit loss in which the Iowa men’s basketball team trailed almost from start to finish, and fell to 7-6 in the Big Ten.

But there is a bright side to Iowa’s 87-73 loss at Purdue on Thursday in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Purdue is ranked No. 1 in the country for lots of reasons, and those reasons were on full display during Thursday’s game at sold out Mackey Arena, most notably the career high 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field by freshman point guard Braden Smith, and the 14 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocks from 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey, who faced a double-team throughout the game.

Trailing by 17 points at halftime on the road against the top-ranked team in the country, Iowa could’ve easily unraveled in the second half and lived to fight another day.

But instead, Kris Murray and his cohorts shot nearly 60 percent in the second half and unleased a full-court press that confused and frustrated the Boilermakers, and that forced 17 turnovers, including 12 in the second half.

Murray finished with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, while senior forward Filip Rebraca scored 17 points and had five rebounds despite facing a seven-inch height disadvantage against Edy.

Another positive storyline for Iowa was the performance of 6-9 junior forward Patrick McCaffery, who finished with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field, and he also had five steals while running the front of Iowa’s full-court press.

Purdue struggled against the press mostly because of Patrick McCaffery’s length and aggressiveness.

This was clearly his best performance since having returned from a leave of absence because of issues with anxiety, and that is an encouraging sign as Iowa (15-9, 7-6) enters the stretch drive looking to improve its status for the NCAA Tournament.

“I’m very proud of the fight in the second half,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on the Learfield post-game radio show. “I’m a little disappointed in the beginning of the game. We seemed to be not as sharp at either end.”

Purdue looked like the top-ranked team in the country in the first half as it bolted to a 19-4 lead and led 38-21 at the break.

The Boilermakers pretty much had their way in the first half despite Edey scoring just four points and only taking five shots in the first 20-minutes.

He impacted the game in other ways, however, by grabbing eight rebounds and blocking two shots in the first half.

Iowa only made one of its 10 shots from 3-point range in the first half, and shot just 29.4 percent from the field, making just 10-of-34 field-goal attempts in the first half.

“It’s hard when you go one for ten from three,” Fran McCaffery said. “He took a couple that were hurried, but the other ones were all good.”

Purdue also had a 26-17 advantage on the boards in the first half, and no player for Iowa scored more than six points in the first half.

What appeared to be an easy win for the Boilermakers at halftime turned into a hotly contested battle in the second half as Iowa just kept pressing and making shots until finally breaking down in the closing minutes.

“I thought we had them really scrambling with the press,” Fran McCaffery said. “We turned them over 17 times and that really made a difference in the game.”

Iowa will stay on the road with a game at last-place Minnesota up next on Sunday.