Rick Mount made his mark playing against Iowa.

In fact, that is one of the main reasons he will be honored during Saturday's game with the Hawkeyes.

It makes sense because no one in the history of Big Ten men's basketball was so dominant against a conference opponent. The point totals are staggering: 61, 53, 43, 45, 38 and 31 in his six games with the astronomical totals working from his last game vs. Iowa to his first. That's an average of 45.2 points per game.

But what does Rick Mount remember most about those six games?

"We only beat them three times," Mount said Tuesday from his home in Lebanon. "I just wanted to win when I was at Purdue. Sure, I scored a lot, but that was my job. Our job as a team was to win.

"But I liked playing against them because they were up-tempo and loved to score themselves, so that provided opportunity for a guy like me."

Mount said he is "thrilled" to be a Boilermaker bobblehead honoree for Saturday's game and was appreciative that Purdue had him in mind when selecting Iowa as the opponent for the special evening. Mount will be the fifth Boilermaker to be honored with a bobblehead, joining Glenn Robinson, Joe Barry Carroll, John Wooden and Stephanie White.

While Mount is not a lover of crowds and a lot of fanfare, he is planning on attending Saturday's game and will will bring an entourage of about 20 family members.

"I will be back and me and my family are looking forward to it," Mount said. "At this point, I am happy to have people know because it is important to members of my family that I share in the celebration. And I will."

Mount hasn't made a public appearance in Mackey Arena since Dec. 17, 1988 when the 20th anniversary of the 1968-69 national runner-up team that he starred on was honored during halftime of a game against Utah. He downplays the raucous ovation he would likely receive from the sold-out Mackey Arena crowd on Saturday night, but he hasn't forgotten the one he received 20 years ago or all the great memories of playing in the facility that is named by many old-time fans as "The House That Mount Built."

"It was a special place and still is to me," said Mount, whose two grandsons, son Ritchie and wife Donna and his two grandsons have been nudging him to return to Mackey.

For a variety of reasons, Mount has not maintained close ties to Purdue dating back to when Ritchie played from Gene Keady in the late 1980s and then transferred to Virginia Commonwealth midway through his sophomore season. But one person, Bob King, the former assistant coach and administrator, maintained frequent contact with Mount, keeping the two-time consensus All-American tied to his school. King, who was responsible for recruiting Mount in 1966 in one of the most legendary recruiting battles of that era, remained a fatherly figure to Mount through the years until his death in 2013 at 92. When Mount makes sets foot in Mackey Arena, best believe King will be on Mount's mind.

But what about playing against Iowa?

Mount has lots of memories of his battles against the Hawkeyes in a time when Iowa and Purdue were elite teams in the conference. Iowa won a share of the league crown in Mount's sophomore season and won it outright his senior year. In Mount's junior year of 1968-69, it was the Boilermakers who won the league outright for the first time since 1940 and advanced to the national championship game before losing to UCLA.

Mount's 45-point effort in Iowa's old fieldhouse allowed Purdue to clinch the crown in late February with a comfortable 97-84 win.

"I loved the old fieldhouses like Iowa and Minnesota because they had spring in their floors, and I always seemed to get in a rhythm shooting there," Mount said. "But our court had that same lift to it, so it was a great place, too."

With the graduation of star teammates Billy Keller and Herman Gilliam from a team that led the nation in scoring in 1968-69, Mount had to carry a little more of the offensive load his senior year. And he didn't disappoint.

Mount averaged 35.4 points per game his final season, a single-season scoring record that still stands in Purdue and Big Ten annals. That number would have been even higher had teams like Illinois and Minnesota not held the ball against Purdue to limit Mount's offensive efforts.

But Iowa took no such tactic during the 1970 conference season. In the league opener for both schools, Mount scored 53 in Iowa City, but the Boilermakers were hampered with one-game suspensions to Larry Weatherford and William Franklin for an off-court incident. Weatherford averaged nearly 20 per game as Mount's sidekick, and he was missed in the 94-88 loss.

"I knew that in the first game at Iowa I needed to score big for us to have a chance," Mount said. "We just didn't have enough firepower to pull it off."

But the return game nearly two months later is a contest that long-time fans are still talking about. Coach Ralph Miller's Hawkeyes were unbeaten in conference play, and the Boilermakers desperately needed a win to have a chance to get a share of the title.

And for much of the game, it looked like Purdue was going to pull it off, thanks to the greatest single-game scoring effort in Big Ten history. Mount scored 61 points on an amazing 27-of-47 shooting and the Boilermakers led by nine points with four minutes left.

Mount's rapid fire scoring was only part of the story. The capacity crowd was intense -- Mount played in front of just two sub-capacity crowds and posted a 30-3 record in games he played in at Purdue -- so much so that the officials called a technical on the Boilermaker throng for the only time in the 49-year history of the facility. The infamous "paper-airplane" incident took place when a flying object was tossed on the court late in the game.

Purdue fans from the day will swear the paper airplane emanated from the Iowa section, but considering the visitors had less than 50 tickets to the game, it seems unlikely. But the play turned the game around, and despite Mount's offense barrage, the Hawkeyes escaped with a 108-107 win and clinched the Big Ten title. Boilermaker coach George King would say years later that it was the worst game he had ever been part of.

"I don't think I have ever played in a game quite like that one," said Mount, who would have scored 74 points that afternoon had there been a three-point line. "I was in a rhythm where I just didn't think I was going to miss a shot, but in my mind it goes for naught because they beat us. It was a bitter, bitter loss.

"Iowa always seemed to get the best out of us, and we got the best out of them. Maybe it made sense we split the six games I played against them."

Mount, who remains the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,323 points (32.3 average) in a career that spanned just 72 games, thinks the Boilermakers can make a run at the 2016 Big Ten title but knows they will have their hands full on Saturday night.

"A.J. Hammons has been unbelievable so far for this team, but they need someone to consistently step up on the offensive end if they want to go as far as we did," Mount said. "They can do it, but I am still waiting to see some consistent shooting from the perimeter."

Maybe Mount will witness on Saturday night an important step in the process as the Hawkeyes decisive victory over No. 1 Michigan State on Tuesday night opened the eyes of the college basketball world to Iowa's skill level.

"I know this: Beating Iowa then wasn't easy," Mount said. "And it doesn't look like it is going to be any easier now."

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2015. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited. E-mail GoldandBlack.com/Boilers, Inc.