IOWA CITY, Iowa – A chance for a signature win before a near-capacity crowd, and to climb above .500 in Big Ten play turned into a lost opportunity for what had been the surging Iowa men’s basketball team.

Second-ranked Purdue, led by Zach Edey’s 30 points and 18 rebounds, withstood a late Iowa run and prevailed 84-70 on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena

Purdue guard Lance Jones made a three-point basket with 1 minute, 31 seconds remaining to give his team an 81-70 lead.

Iowa cut a 19-point second-half deficit to single digits down the stretch, but just couldn’t get over the hump.

Purdue turned ice cold in shooting in the final minutes, and that allowed Iowa to chip away at the deficit.

But the Hawkeyes missed multiple three-point shots down the stretch that could’ve cut the deficit to as few as five points, and the 7-foot-4 Edey was just unstoppable in recording his latest double-double.

The Boilermakers swept the season series and have won 10 of the last 13 games against Iowa, which fell to 11-7 and 3-4 in the Big Ten.

Iowa entered Saturday’s game on a three-game winning streak, and with growing confidence, but with Saturday’s loss, Iowa fell to 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents this season.

That is obviously a problem.

The good news is that Iowa still has 13 conference games to play, and Iowa also has senior guard Tony Perkins playing arguably his best basketball.

The Indianapolis native led Iowa with 24 points and he also had five rebounds and four assists in Saturday’s loss.

Perkins has scored in double figures in all but two games this season, but his impact goes beyond just scoring points. He leads the team in steals and assists.

Purdue led 47-34 at halftime as Edey scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field.

The Boilermakers also had a 26-13 rebounding advantage in the first half and had nine players that grabbed at least two rebounds.

Iowa assisted on 10 of its 14 baskets in the first half, but it also had foul problems as freshman forward Owen Freeman, graduate transfer forward Ben Krikke and junior forward Payton Sandfort all had two fouls before halftime.

The Hawkeyes faced an uphill battle in the second half, but Fran McCaffery’s teams also have shown the ability to score points in a hurry, and to go on scoring runs.

The opponent on Saturday, however, was ranked second nationally and has arguably the most dominant college player in the country in Edey.

Iowa made some runs in the second half, cutting a double-digit deficit to single digits.

But Purdue is ranked No. 2 nationally for lots of reasons, including the big guy in the post, whose presence led to 6-10 Freeman being in foul trouble throughout the game.

Freeman only played 20 minutes and scored six points.

However, he also chose to play just one day after his grandmother passed away, earning the respect from Fran McCaffery.

“Obviously, very upset, very close,” Fran McCaffery said of Freeman’s emotions. “He didn’t practice yesterday. I’m really proud of him today. He came out and played hard and made big bucket early. And our thoughts and prayers are with the Freeman family.”

Tony Perkins also lost his grandmother earlier in the season, so he knows the pain and suffering that Freeman is experiencing right now.

“Yesterday after practice and before the game I told him, I was in the same position that he was in,” Perkins said. “I love you and we’ve got your back. Whatever you need, let me know.

“You had my back when I was going through the same situation, and now I can do the same thing for you. And when you go on that court, just leave it all out there.”

With Freeman in foul trouble, Edey and his cohorts were able to assert their dominance on the boards as Purdue finished with a 50-24 rebounding advantage and had 19 offensive rebounds.

Iowa will face Maryland in its next game on Wednesday at home.