Big Ten Tournament Preview: Purdue-Iowa

INDIANAPOLIS — Purdue and Iowa meet for the third time this season, this time for the Big Ten Tournament championship at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, right before the Selection Show on CBS.

Purdue beat Michigan State in the semifinals Saturday, right after Iowa stunned Indiana on Jordan Bohannon's banked-In buzzer-beater.

Date: Sunday, March 13, 2022

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: CBS

Radio: Purdue Radio Network (96.5 WAZY locally)

• Purdue will playing in its fifth Big Ten Tournament title game, and looking for its second title, the other way coming in 2009.

• Purdue's allowed more than 70 points just once over its last eight games, that being the 72 Rutgers scored In a 12-point loss in Mackey Arena.

• With these first two Big Ten Tournament wins, the Boilermakers improved to 6-0 on neutral floors this season.

STARTERS

C — 15 Zach Edey (7-4, 295, So.)

14.7 PPG • 66.7% FG • 7.6 REB • 1.3 BLK

Edey's going to be really important against Iowa, because the nature of the small-ball mismatches that will come against the Hawkeyes will require Purdue to really hold Iowa's foot to the flame defending the post and on the glass.

F — 0 Mason Gillis (6-6, 230, So.)

6.6 PPG • 4.6 REB • 51.7% FG • 44.7% 3-PT • 82.8% FT

Purdue's playing really hard right now and getting a lot of loose balls they may not have throughout the season. Gillis is a key element to both.

G — 55 Sasha Stefanovic (6-5, 205, Sr.)

11.4 PPG • 40.3% 3-PT • 3.4 AST

Stefanovic has made some shots in the Big Ten Tournament and some big ones, but has averaged just four points per game. Brandon Newman filled some of that void against Penn State, though.

G — 2 Eric Hunter (6-4, 175, Sr.)

6.1 PPG • 2.0 AST • 48.6% FG • 44.1% 3-PT

Hunter's shooting this season has been quite a development for Purdue and it's been sustainable. He's 4-of-6 from three in the Big Ten Tournament and made the two biggest shots of the Michigan State game.

G —23 Jaden Ivey (6-4, 195, So.)

17.2 PPG • 45.9% FG • 37% 3-PT • 4.7 RPG • 3.0 AST

Ivey's playing at an elite level in Indy. The Michigan State game was a résumé game for him. He's scoring inside and out, making good decisions, rebounding and doing a good job defensively. And giving the highlight aggregators plenty to work with.

ROTATION

C — 50 Trevion Williams (6-10, 255, Sr.)

11.6 PPG • 54.7% FG • 7.3 REB • 3.0 AST

Williams took over the Michigan State game for the decisive stretch of the second half. He's got to cut back on the turnovers, but he's trying really hard and producing as normal.

G —11 Isaiah Thompson (6-1, 160, Jr.)

4.6 PPG • 42.7% 3-PT

Thompson beat Iowa in Iowa City, but he's playing kind of a secondary role right now as Hunter's been needed on the floor so much and Purdue's faced some big, physical guards. Thompson's only shot against Michigan State was a three that rimmed out.

G — 25 Ethan Morton (6-6, 215, So.)

2.4 PPG • 1.5 AST • 47.3% FG • 42.9% 3-PT

Morton's played 7.9 minutes per game in Indy. Iowa might be a matchup that dictates some more run for him from a defensive perspective.

G — 5 Brandon Newman (6-5, 200, So.)

5.0 PPG • 32.5% 3-PT • 85% FT

Newman has logged meaningful minutes the past two games. Against Penn State, he made all his shots and played well otherwise. Against Michigan State, he missed all his shots and still played well otherwise.

F — 3 Caleb Furst (6-10, 230, Fr.)

4.1 PPG • 3.3 RPG • 57.1% FG • 39.1% 3-PT

Furst played a few minutes against Michigan State after sitting out the Penn State game, as Penn State often had four guards on the floor.

Freshmen Trey Kaufman-Renn and Brian Waddell will redshirt this season. Waddell will miss most of the season after tearing his ACL and Kaufman-Renn is now sidelined up to six weeks after undergoing foot surgery.

Schedule | Roster | Stats

• The Hawkeyes are second nationally in offensive efficiency, behind ... Purdue.

• Iowa overtook Purdue to lead the Big Ten In scoring during conference games this season, averaging 79.6 points. The Hawkeyes are two games removed from putting 112 on Northwestern. They scored 80 or more against Rutgers and Indiana — two really good defensive teams — thereafter.

• Iowa turned the ball over only 8.8 times per Big Ten game during the regular season, right on par with Wisconsin. The Hawkeyes led the league in turnover margin by a mile, because they also forced more turnovers than anyone In the league (13.7 per game). Iowa averaged 7.25 steals in Big Ten play.

STARTERS

F - 15 Keegan Murray (6-8, 225, So.)

23.3 PPG • 8.6 REB • 55.4% FG • 38% 3-PT • 2.1 BLK

Iowa's All-America lock is on a tear right now, having just gone 8-of-10 from three in a 32-point performance against Indiana. He sat out the first meeting with Purdue and was held to just 14 points by both the Boilermakers and foul problems in the second, but the Hawkeyes will go small with him and his brother, Kris, in the frontcourt and give Purdue real problems.

F - 0 Filip Rebraca (6-9, 230, Sr.)

6.0 PPG • 5.5 REB • 52.4% FG

Rebraca starts. How much he plays remains to be seen. Iowa would be wise to go small to maximize offensive matchups, as they did in the second half in Iowa City.

F - 22 Patrick McCaffery (6-9, 200, Jr.)

10.5 PPG • 3.8 RPG • 1.7 AST • 31.4% 3-PT

The versatile forward gave Purdue some problems this season attacking off the dribble

G - 3 Jordan Bohannon (6-1, 175, Sr.)

10.9 PPG • 37.8% 3-PT

Bohannon may not be the best three-point shooter in the Big Ten, but he may be the scariest. Purdue's generally done an OK job against him this season.

G - 11 Tony Perkins (6-4, 210, So.)

7.1 PPG

The athletic wing from Indy has moved into Iowa's starting five with Bohannon taking on more point guard responsibilities again, a change from the two Purdue games prior to this one. Perkins has been productive against the Boilermakers this season.

KEY RESERVES

F - 24 Kris Murray (6-8, 225, So.)

10.3 PPG • 4.5 REB • 40.2% 3-PT

Kris Murray's very similar to Keegan and that's what makes them a real problem when they play together. They can both play inside and out, rebound and handle different matchups defensively. Kris has given Purdue more problems this season than any Hawkeye.

G - 2 Joe Touissant (6-0, 190, Jr.)

4.5 PPG • 3.5 AST

Touissant's quickness and speed are going to be challenges for Purdue.

G - 30 Connor McCaffery (6-5, 205, Sr.)

2.6 PPG • 2.5 RPG • 1.7 AST

McCaffery brings toughness and some passing savvy to the floor, but he's not much of a scoring threat, though he is shooting 37.7 percent from three on low volume. Purdue's let him shoot his whole career.

Stay dialed in to GoldandBlack.com during the game for our pre-game First Thoughts analysis. During the game, follow along with our game thread and follow @brianneubert on Twitter for additional insight.

Following the game, we'll have post-game press conference video, game coverage, analysis, our Wrap Video and Final Thoughts, plus a Gold and Black Radio podcast within a few hours of the end of the game.

Stay tuned.

They say it's difficult to beat a team three times in the same season, and that may be true, but both those Iowa games seem like forever ago now, and though the Hawkeyes are hot right now, Purdue's upped its game defensively and has been doing a decent job taking care of the basketball.

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