Purdue 87, Iowa 68- Purdue stomps the Hawkeyes

#4 Purdue looked like a team angry to not still be the #1 team in the country, and a team determined to even up its conference record.

Behind a dominating rebounding performance from Zach Edey, Purdue moved to 8-1 on the season and notched its first Big Ten win of the season, beating Iowa 87-68.

It didn't take long for Purdue to assert its dominance and for Fran McCaffery to be seeing red. Less than ten minutes into the game, Purdue held an 11-3 rebounding edge and McCaffery was getting whistled for a technical foul after a loose ball turned up in the hands of Lance Jones who was awarded a timeout before being tied up by Iowa.

Then a pair of three-pointers from Mason Gillis and Fletcher Loyer helped begin the separation as Zach Edey grabbed every miss and Purdue forced Iowa into shooting less than 40% from the floor.

Purdue carried that momentum through the half, knocking down 6 three-pointers and dominating the Hawkeyes to a 45-24 first half lead.

Lance Jones, Purdue's best perimeter defender, spent the last half of the first half on the bench after collecting two fouls nine minutes into the game, a game after fouling out against Northwestern.

He didn't waste any time in the second half to make his presence known and showed why having him on the court is so vital for Purdue. He scored the first 9 points for Purdue, and helped spark an offensive surge that saw Purdue's lead extend to 69-34 just 6 minutes into the second half.

While Braden Smith was content to play dish setter in the game, Jones showed that he had play-making chops of his own, finding Zach Edey for an alley-oop dunk on a drive left where Jones floated the ball up for his big man to slam home.

Lance Jones finished the game with 17 points and 3 made threes.

It was part of another dominant performance by the reigning National Player of the Year.

Iowa had no answer for a most of what Purdue wanted to do, but especially Purdue's big man, Zach Edey who was 9 of 10 from the floor and got to the line another 9 times on his way to another double-double. Edey had 25 points and 12 rebounds in just 24 minutes of action.

With Purdue's giant lead, Matt Painter was given an opportunity to rest his starters for almost the entire last half of the second half. Not something you can count on in most Big ten games, but something Purdue will take having had to play Friday night on the road.

Five Boilermakers ended up in double-figures. Braden Smith had just 2 points, but set the table early, dishing 8 assists and grabbing 6 rebounds in 25 minutes.

Mason Gillis had 12 points, knocking two threes in just 13 mintues of action. He did go down with an apparent ankle injury after colliding with Zach Edey in the second half.

A game after Lance Jones spent overtime on the bench with five fouls, the Southern Illinois transfer again was watching from the sidelines after picking up his second foul with more than ten minutes to play in the first half. The senior guard was replaced by fellow senior, Ethan Morton, and though Morton didn't get a shot to fall, he had one of his most productive halves of the season.

He had 3 rebounds and 3 assists while filling in the role of defensive stopper for Matt Painter. He played 25 minutes on the night, adding another pair of assists in the second half without committing a turnover and a rebound.

After another game where poor three-point shooting and turnovers cost Purdue a game as a #1 ranked team, Purdue mostly fixed those issues. It still could do to make a few more threes, shooting 8 of 25.

But it mostly took care of the ball. Something Matt Painter and staff emphasized during the quick turnaround from Friday. Purdue had just 5 turnovers in the first half and 8 for the game.

It was a marked improvement from Purdue's 5 of 19 from three, 17 turnover performance on the road at Northwestern.

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