By Hawk Fanatic

Ben McCollum isn’t used to losing basketball games as a head coach, especially three in a row.

But that’s the situation he’s in right now in year 1 as the Iowa men’s basketball coach as Purdue handed Iowa its third straight loss on Wednesday, winning 79-72 before a sellout crowd at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Iowa fell to 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, while Purdue improved to 16-1 and 6-0.

This marks the first time that McCollum has lost three straight games since 2012-13 season when as the head coach for Northwest Missouri State he lost three games in row to Fort Hays State, Washburn and Fort Hays State.

Iowa led for large chunks of Wednesday’s game, but the Boilermakers closed the game on a 15-8 scoring run after the score was even at 64 with five minutes left to play.

The game included 14 lead changes and nine ties.

“I think we corrected some things that we needed to fix, but the problem is we made so many losing plays down the stretch,” McCollum said on the Learfield post-game radio interview. “Our ball-screen coverage was non-existent, which was disappointing.

“But obviously for about 30 minutes, I thought we played great. I thought we played with some poise, with some patience, and we got up in coverage and we just stopped doing it and you can’t do that if you want to win. We’ve got to do better. You’ve got to go further and you’ve got to do more. And hopefully, we can continue to get better.”

The Hawkeyes will stay on the road, and in the state of Indiana for their next game as they will face the Indiana Hoosiers Saturday in Bloomington.

Iowa scored 10 straight points in the second half and led 48-39 when Purdue head coach Matt Painter called a timeout with 14 minutes, 45 left to play.

The Boilermakers were in the unusual position of trailing at home in the second half, but there was also plenty of time to shift the momentum, which they eventually did with help from the sellout crowd.

Senior point guard Bennett Stirtz led Iowa in scoring with 19 points, while junior guard Kael Combs and junior forward Cam Manyawu finished with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

Combs made 4-of-5 shots from 3-point range and Iowa made 12-of-25 threes overall.

“He knocks that down, he’s a different kind of player in this league,” McCollum said of Combs making threes.

Combs and Stirtz are among six former Drake players that followed McCollum to Iowa after McCollum was hired as head coach late last March.

“I’m just getting more and more confidence every game,” said Combs.

Combs also spent most of the game guarding Purdue star point guard Braden Smith, who didn’t score in the first half, but had 16 points in the second half.

Iowa senior forward Tavion Banks made all three of his shots from 3-point range, including two in the first 1:11 of the game. But he only scored three points after making two early threes and fouled out of the game after playing 22 minutes.

Stirtz picked up his second foul with 15:47 left in the first half, and with Iowa leading, 11-6, after having made its first three shots from 3-point range.

He was replaced by freshman Tate Sage, while Combs took over the point guard responsibilities.

But Purdue then scored six straight points and that caused McCollum to insert Stirtz back in the game with 14:00 left in the first half.

McCollum took a chance that Stirtz could avoid a third foul before halftime and that’s what happened. Stirtz sat briefly for one additional stretch in the first half, but he played 17 minutes in the half, though he only scored five points on 2-of-5 shooting from the field.

But even with Stirtz being held mostly in check, Iowa still shot 70 percent from 3-point range in the first half, making 7-of-10 attempts, and led 34-31 at halftime.

Combs led Iowa with 10 points in the first half while playing all but one minute in the half. He made both of his shots from 3-point range in the first half, and also helped in defending Purdue star point guar Braden Smith, who only attempted two shots in the first half and was held scoreless.

Purdue missed eight of its last nine shots from the field in the first half and finished the half just 11-of-29 from the field.

Iowa led for most of the first half and did so in one of the toughest environments in the Big Ten for a visiting team.

But the Hawkeyes were unable to finish the job.

Iowa fell to 12-5 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, while Purdue improved to 16-1 and 6-0.

This marks the first time that McCollum has lost three straight games since 2012-13 season when as the head coach for Northwest Missouri State he lost three games in row to Fort Hays State, Washburn and Fort Hays State.

The Hawkeyes will stay on the road, and in the state of Indiana for their next game as they will face the Indiana Hoosiers Saturday in Bloomington.