Purdue completes series sweep vs Iowa men in 84-70 victory Saturday afternoon
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IOWA – The Hawkeyes returned to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to face the reigning National player of the year Zach Edey and Purdue on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes are 8-1 at home this season and looked to even the season series with the Boilermakers as they lost by 19 in West Lafayette early this December.
1st half: As expected, the size of 7’4″ Zach Edey and the rest of the Boilermaker team caused trouble early and often.
Within the first ten minutes of the game, Purdue already held a seven rebound advantage. Iowa’s starting bigs Owen Freeman and Ben Krikke combined for just one single rebound in the first half.
They also put together a 12-2 run immediately after Edey stepped off the floor in the first half. Giving them their biggest lead of the game at 13.
If you can’t win those minutes, Purdue becomes almost impossible to beat. Foul trouble was another huge factor in the first as Iowa’s entire starting front court (Payton Sandfort, Ben Krikke, Owen Freeman)tallied two fouls each in the first half.
It was the offensive play from Tony Perkins (9) and Payton Sandfort (10) that kept Iowa in the game in the first half.
The Hawkeyes trailed 47-34 at the break.
2nd half: The second half did not start the way the Hawkeyes planned as not even a minute into play, Freshman Owen Freeman picked up his third foul of the game.
The Boilermakers then continued their dominant play, extending the lead to 19 seven minutes into the half. The Hawkeyes with their own run soon after. Zach Edey picked up his 3rd foul at the 13:41 mark, sending him to the bench. Iowa immediately went on a 8-0 run and cut the lead down to ten.
They game would stay between a ten to 15 point lead for Purdue for much of the second half until the 4:23 mark when Iowa finally cut the lead to single digits at 78-70. Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they wouldn’t score another point thanks to missed open looks and a lack of rebounding on the other end of the floor.
Zach Edey finished with 30 points and 18 rebounds. Purdue out-rebounded Iowa 50-24 with 19 offensive rebounds.
Iowa moves to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten with Maryland coming to town Wednesday night.
Postgame comments from both coaches and a couple Hawkeye players here: