Breakdown: Purdue's win over No. 17 Iowa

PDF: Purdue-Iowa stats

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Purdue needs these games.

Needs 'em.

If Purdue wants to make the NCAA Tournament — which it does — it has to win its home games from here on out, especially when they're Quadrant 1 teams in the NCAA's eyes, as Iowa is.

The Boilermakers needed Wednesday night's game against the Hawkeyes, and again in Mackey Arena, left not a shred of doubt, blitzing its visitors 104-68, to much the same extent Purdue dominated Virginia, Michigan State and Wisconsin on Keady Court.

Our breakdown.

As has been Purdue's way this season when playing in its friendly confines, it opened the game as if shot out of a cannon, a full-blown offensive on the offensive glass leading its charge.

"No question that set the tone," Coach Matt Painter said.

In a little more than three minutes, Purdue grabbed five offensive rebounds. At the first media timeout, the Boilermakers totaled more offensive rebounds than missed field goals.

It was the driving force behind Purdue leading 17-2 before the 16-minute mark even hit, offensive rebounding being the perfect companion on this night for a blistering shooting display.

"Before the game, Coach really harped on making multiple efforts," big man Trevion Williams said. "He talked about teams who'll make an effort then won't make another effort. He said to keep staying on the glass and keep making those extra plays to get those extra possessions."

Purdue shot 34 threes and made 19 of them, part an offensive performance in which one of the Big Ten's most challenged teams offensively could do no wrong, shooting 63.1 percent for the game.

At halftime, Purdue took 61 points into the locker room. Its 40-minute total from the prior game, a win at Northwestern: 61. The Boilermakers' halftime total vs. Iowa matched or exceeded its full-game scoring output from nine games this season.

Even when the Boilermakers did wrong, they did right. They missed 24 shots, but 10 offensive rebounds yielded 16 second-chance points.

Meanwhile, Iowa, the highest-scoring team in the Big Ten by a wide margin, was neutralized.

It managed just 68 points.

Iowa's 14 turnovers are a reasonable number, but that Purdue turned them into 27 points was another reason this game played out as it did.

Player-of-the-Year candidate Luka Garza got 26, but no one else cracked double-figures, and that includes the Big Ten's fourth-leading scorer, Joe Weiskamp, who was neutralized by Purdue's Nojel Eastern and finished with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting, one of those field goals being a layup off a Purdue turnover.

That said, Purdue's momentum offensively fueled its defense, and controlled the terms of play to the point that Iowa never really got to play its preferred style.

"Our best defense," Painter said, "was the fact we were making shots."

And it never stopped.

It was Tommy Luce's consecutive threes in the final minute-plus that put Purdue over the 100-point mark, finishing at 104, after the Boilermakers had led by as many as 39.

It gave Purdue's crowd one last thing to cheer on a night full of them.

Again, Purdue is a different team at home. Has been all season, and it's not just about its shooting, which tends to be markedly better in Mackey Arena than not, Wednesday night being Example A, but one of many.

But you also see a different level of effort and energy from the Boilermakers on Keady Court. That's not uncommon in college basketball, but the delineation is especially distinct for Purdue this year, Wednesday night, again, being Example A.

Trevion Williams couldn't have done more to get Purdue off to a great start, first connecting with Sasha Stefanovic for the guard's first of five three-pointers, then scoring himself, then stripping CJ Fredrick for a breakaway layup — Williams is 270 pounds, by the way. Then, Nojel Eastern's and Evan Boudreaux's offensive rebounds led to Eric Hunter threes and the rout was on, fueled by energy and effort.

"We knew we had to come out strong and give a lot of energy," Boudreaux said. "It's tough for teams when you're giving up two, three, four shots in a possession, especially at the start of games. That's really demoralizing."

The shooting might just be the Mackey effect, but so was the urgency.

"If we can play like this on the road, we'll be in good shape," senior Jahaad Proctor said, "but we have to take care of business at home."

Everyone.

Seriously, everyone.

But Purdue's seniors, again, drove a big win in Mackey Arena.

Boudreaux scored a team-best 18 points, with eight rebounds. He made four threes, handed out two assists and didn't turn the ball over.

And this: With 3:36 to play in the first half, Matt Haarms picked up his second foul, and was sent to the bench to join Williams, who also had two fouls. That moved Boudreaux to center, head to head against Luka Garza, who might be national player-of-the-year if the season ended today, on top of being gigantic, relentless and skilled.

Boudreaux promptly outplayed Garza, turning a compromising position for Purdue on its ear. Purdue's senior outscored the All-American-in-waiting 7-2 the rest of the half, took a charge against him and assisted on a Proctor bucket. It pushed Purdue to a 61-36 halftime lead.

"Playing against centers, I think it provides a different dimension," Boudreaux said. "We can play a little smaller. We move the ball a little more and can run different things. Centers aren't used to playing on the perimeter, and the more we can move them around and make them uncomfortable, I think it opens things up for our offense and they'll be tired from chasing guys around, and then when our (big) guys come back in in the second half, it's a harder matchup."

Boudreaux's classmate, Proctor, continued his resurgence, making all six of his shots and finishing with 15 points, three assists and no turnovers. He's been exceptional the past three games after falling to the bottom of Purdue's playing rotation prior.

Matt Haarms, who Purdue has badly wanted to get more involved offensively, finished with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and Sasha Stefanovic made five threes and finished with 15, too. Trevion Williams finished with a modest nine points, but the influence he wielded to start the game shouldn't be lost in the one-sided outcome or blend into the box score.

Then, there's Nojel Eastern, who took one shot, yet dominated in the areas in which he does so. Joe Weiskamp's eight points don't tell the story of how little a factor the Big Ten's fourth-leading scorer was, though other defenders did play a role, too.

Three of Eastern's four rebounds came at the offensive end, a key element in Purdue's fast start, too, and Eastern accounted for six of Purdue's 29 assists.

Seven of those assists came off the hand of Eric Hunter, who also scored 13, playing one of his best games of the season.

It means the same as it's meant all along, that Purdue can be pretty damn good at home, but has to find consistency away from it. To be frank, these dominant wins in Mackey Arena will only mean something more than the lines on the résumé that come with them when Purdue shows it can parlay home success into road success.

That said, this line on the résumé was critically important and with its back to the proverbial wall at home, again, the Boilermakers left no doubt.

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