Breakdown: #6 Purdue's win at Iowa
IOWA CITY — Sixth-ranked Purdue led wire to wire Thursday night at Iowa, scoring one of its most complete wins of the season, 83-73.
Our breakdown.
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WHAT HAPPENED
Purdue didn't just want to beat Iowa's backcourt pressing and trapping.
It wanted to punish it.
Maybe that urge to make the Hawkeyes pay for their aggressiveness fueled the run of clutch shooting that drove this win.
The Boilermakers dominated offensively in the first half — might have scored 55-plus had they made more free throws — but it was the second half where their shooting stood tallest.
Iowa made its run from 15 down at half. With 12-and-a-half minutes left, the lead was down to a mere four and the home team was energized.
Then Jaden Ivey hit a three from the corner with numbers on Purdue's side. Then he made another triple.
Then Isaiah Thompson, part of his 18-point eruption.
Then, Ethan Morton.
It was that sort of night for Purdue. Every time there was a dagger to be thrown, the Boilermakers hit a bullseye against the Hawkeyes.
"We wanted to do a better job attacking once we broke (the pressure)," Thompson said. "Last time we played them at Mackey, I don't think we did a good job of that in the second half. This game we did a really good job of it and it got us a lot of opportunities for open threes, dribble penetration and getting to the basket."
It was as if Purdue flipped Iowa's defensive aggressiveness into aggressiveness of its own.
"During shoot-around and stuff, we were locked In," said Ivey, whose return from a one-game absence went very well, as he scored 15 points on seven shots and would have had 20-plus had he not struggled at the foul line, as Purdue did collectively (10-of-22) once again. "When we're locked in, I feel like we're the best three-point shooting team. It's all about focusing on shooting and taking the right shots."
Everyone took part.
Sasha Stefanovic made four triples, helping Purdue to a great start. He was 4-for-9. Thompson was 4-for-6, Ivey 3-for-4 and Hunter and Morton each made threes.
Of all those who broke out against the Hawkeyes, though, it was Thompson sucker-punched the Hawkeyes with a career-high total, not just nailing threes but making a couple of mid-range shots at the end of shot clocks.
He started alongside Hunter — he played another excellent game himself, with seven points and no turnovers — as Purdue opened with both its point guards together.
"We wanted to play a lineup that would help us beat the press and a lineup that was going to put them in binds, especially on our front line," Coach Matt Painter said. "It's a great luxury when you have a lot of guys you can go to."
Purdue shot a staggering 61 percent from the floor for the game, while holding Iowa to just 38.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Unlike the last meeting with Iowa, when Purdue didn't leverage its advantages around the basket as much as it probably would have liked, Zach Edey got the Boilermakers off to a great start en route to him and Trevion Williams combining for 18 points. Not a huge number, but important, because Edey provided Purdue its needed foundation offensively early on.
Williams finished with 12 points, 10 boards and five assists in 24 minutes.
Purdue's size mattered, but that was a double-edged sword, because Iowa's second-half run was fueled by running five-out offense, with twins Keegan and Kris Murray as the Hawkeye frontcourt. They combined to make four threes and score 37 points, creating a matchup migraine for Purdue that at one point in the second half compelled Painter to sub in Morton — a guard/wing — for Edey.
The Murrays drove the 11-0 run early in the second half that changed the complexion of the contest, the run that Purdue's clutch shooting shepherded it through.
"It really makes it hard for us when they put both Murrays out there at the 4 and the 5 and put a lot of skill out there," Painter said. "That really puts us in a bind, those matchups, but you'd think that in theory we'd have the advantage at the other end. Who's going to get that break? I think for a while there, we were both getting the offensive break, but then we weren't stopping each other. We were just fortunate to have the lead."
| Key Sequence | Player of the Game | Stat of the Game |
|---|---|---|
|
It was definitely Jaden Ivey's back-to-back threes, then Thompson's, after Kris Murray's three cut Purdue's lead to just 57-53 with 12:22 left. That had the makings of a run that could have changed the outcome of this game, and Purdue's shooters cut it off. |
This might have been the best game of Isaiah Thompson's Boilermaker career, or at least the most impactful. He wasn't just a shot-maker, but a play-maker and part of the Purdue coalition that turned Iowa's pressure against it. He was the difference. |
Obviously, Purdue's shot-making was the biggest factor in this outcome. The Boilermakers were 13-of-22 from long range. That's 59 percent. It wasn't just the volume, but the timing. These were clutch shots, and everyone seemed to make at least one. |
WHAT IT MEANS
It means Purdue was really dialed in for this one. The first half was virtually ideal. When Iowa figured some things out in the second half, the Boilermakers displayed a poise that has sometimes escaped them in such situations, though they did endure another spell of turnovers and missed a bunch of free throws. The poise showed up most in their handling of the ball and offensive execution against the trap.
This isn't news, but Purdue is really, really, really good offensively when it doesn't turn the ball over.
You realize how good you have to be on offense to be able to miss a dozen free throws and still win by double-digits on the road in the Big Ten?
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