The Iowa Hawkeyes (12-4, 1-3) had a tough week – 2 losses amidst the winter flu bug making its way through the roster. You know what is not the medicine for that? A road trip to West Lafayette to take
on the #5 ranked Purdue Boilermakers (15-1, 5-0).
The Hawks are nursing a 4-game losing streak to Purdue and last beat them in Mackey Arena in 2016.
Purdue has had some solid wins so far this season – at Alabama early and neutral(ish) wins against Texas Tech in the Bahamas and Auburn in Indianapolis. According to KenPom, Iowa at 18th would be the third best team they have played, behind #15 Bama and #3 (as of this writing) Iowa State, who they lost to.
Anyways, onto the particulars:
Purdue Boilermakers (15-1, 5-0)
West Lafayette, IN
Matt Painter (486-216 at Purdue, 511-221 overall)
How to Watch
Tonight, 1/14: Iowa at Purdue at Iowa
5:30 PM, Big Ten Network (Kevin Kugler, Jordan Taylor, Andy Katz)
Mackey Arena, West Lafayette, IN
Hawkeye Radio Network
Live Stats (StatBroadcast)
Stat Pack
KenPom ($): +31.84; 4th (129.2; 1st | 97.4; 21st)
BartTorvik: 5th (129.6; 2nd | 96.7; 21st)
Sports-Ref:
PPG: 86.4 (35th) | 68.1 (61st)
RPG: 38.8 | 28.9
Leaders (via Sports-Ref)
PPG: Braden Smith (14.1), Fletcher Loyer (14.0)
RPG: Trey Kaufman-Renn (10.0, 3.9 off), Oscar Cluff (8.6, 3.9 off)
APG: Smith (9.8), Kaufman-Renn (2.6)
FG% (min 10 MPG, 2 FGA/game): Cluff (74.5%), Daniel Jacobsen (68.4)
3P% (min 1 3PA/game): Jack Better (56.3%), Smith (40.6%)
Last 5 games
1/10: W v Penn State: 93-85
1/7: W v Washington: 81-73
1/3: W at Wisconsin: 89-73
12/29: W v Kent State: 101-60
12/20: W v Auburn (in Indianapolis): 88-60
The Boilermakers are an incredibly balanced team with 4 guys averaging over 10 points, led by senior all-American Braden Smith. For the Hawks to come out on top, they won’t be able to start like they have the last two games. Let’s hope they’re able to come out like they did against Iowa State and maintain that effort for 40 minutes.
Go Hawks!
