If you're going to Iowa City, you're going to play Iowa's brand of basketball.

That's what happened when Purdue held on to a 90-81 win that featured fast pace play, a lot of three-pointers, and a lead that vanished like prime time Houdini.

Purdue looked to have the game in hand after coming out strong in the second half. In a matter of minutes to open things, Braden Smith had knocked down two threes, Fletcher Loyer added another, and even freshman CJ Cox got into it, knocking a corner three down from a beautiful cross-court pass by Trey Kaufman-Renn.

But Iowa's stars shined bright with Payton Sandfort scoring 23 points and knocking down 5 of 11 threes, and Josh Dix had 27 points on 10 of 16 shooting from the floor.

But when Iowa cut their way back to down just three, Sandfort, in front of a less than half-filled crowd, couldn't get his six three-pointer to go.

It was enough for a Purdue team that showed that its stars shine brighter than anyone else in the Big Ten.

Braden Smith was/is/and maintains his clamp as best player in the Big Ten, taking the scoring reigns today with 31 points including 5 of 7 from three, a small day of play making with 4 assists, and two key steals that helped get just enough stops for Purdue.

Smith is the conference's best player, but Trey Kaufman-Renn might not be far behind - when he's in the game.

Kaufman-Renn had 25 points and it was clear from the beginning, with Owen Freeman out for the season, Iowa had no answer for the big man down low.

Purdue's offense started with Kaufman-Renn in the first half, then it stopped when he went to the bench with his second first half foul with almost nine minutes left to play in the first half.