Video: Big nights from Dix and Sandfort not enough as Iowa falls 90-81 to #7 Purdue
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Hawkeyes were presented with a tall task Tuesday night as they hosted the likely Big Ten player of the year Braden Smith and the seventh ranked Purdue Boilermakers. This is Iowa’s first contest since it was announced that Sophomore Owen Freeman (16.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg) would miss the rest of the 2024-25 season with a hand injury.
The Hawkeyes got 50 points combined from their top two scorers in Josh Dix (27) and Payton Sandfort (23), but 31 points from Braden Smith propelled the Boilermakers to victory. Here is how it happened.
1st half: Two Hawkeyes made their first career starts in Iowa jerseys as Seydou Traore and Riley Mulvey joined Drew Thelwell, Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort in the opening group.
The Hawkeyes got off to the start they wanted as threes from Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort gave them an early 10-3 lead. Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn answered as he scored 12 of the Boilermakers first 18 points. Iowa bounced back defensively after Kaufman-Renn picked up his second foul of the half, forcing an almost three minute scoring drought for the Boilermakers at the 7:40 mark.
They continued to play high level defense throughout the half as with five minutes to play Purdue had turned the ball over five times and shot just 2-8 from the three point line. Iowa’s Payton Sandfort showed up and showed out early with 13 first half points and after his third three of the half, Iowa led 33-27.
Even though the Hawkeyes executed their defensive game plan as well as they could hope, the game was tied at 36 a piece at the break.
2nd half: Purdue Head Coach Matt Painter gave his team quite the halftime speech as they came out of the break firing on all cylinders. They scored 11 points in the first 2:31 of play in the period and took a 47-41 lead after a three from Fletcher Loyer.
Braden Smith continued to show why he is one of the nations best with 11 points in the first 4:49 of the half. His third three of the half gave Purdue their largest lead of game at 12, 58-46.
The Hawkeyes would bounce back, immediately making five of their next six shots and cutting the lead down to seven. As their offense surged, their defense plummeted. At the 9:35 mark, Purdue had put up 32 points, just four shy of their total from the entire first half.
Iowa kept the game between seven and ten points for most of the second half, but Purdue seemed to answer every run the Hawkeyes tried to start. Josh Dix took over late in the game, sparking an 8-0 run that cut the lead to just three points with 2:18 to play at 80-77. Purdue answered with a 7-0 run themselves as Iowa went on a stretch of over two and a half minutes without a point.
Purdue once again showing why they are the cream of the crop in the Big Ten as they take a nine point win back to West Lafayette, here from Purdue Coach Matt Painter, as well as Fran McCaffery and a couple Hawkeyes postgame here: