The Iowa Hawkeyes never had their footing in a 78-57 loss to the #9 Purdue Boilermakers. They finished just the game on 38% shooting and made just 6/22 from deep. They were just 9/18 on dunks/layups. Purdue once
again shot the leather off the ball with the 12/30 from three underscoring just how big the basket looked for the Boilers.
Bennett Stirtz was Iowa’s only scorer in double figures with 19 points on 7/12 shooting.
Things seemed to be going alright as the game was finding its flow. Despite not getting their first basket till 16:12 left in the first half, Iowa was containing Purdue on defense.
Gicarri Harris came off the bench after starter C.J. Cox picked up 2 quick fouls. Harris hit 3 of 4 3s to stretch Purdue’s lead to 19-7 and added a posterization of Cooper Koch for good measure during the stretch.
Harris took the lid off the basket for Purdue, as they made 5 of 6 threes in the middle of the first half. Iowa was also felled by Purdue’s intensity on the offensive boards. 2 of Purdue’s 6 offensive boards led to three pointers as Iowa was trying to cut into the lead.
It felt like a miracle to be down just 11 at half, with 29% shooting from the floor and just 2/12 from deep. Bennett Stirtz was kept under wraps with just 7 first half points.
Any hope of Iowa quickly cutting into the halftime deficit was quickly shut down as the Hawks doubled their turnovers from the first half (1) with 2 in the first 80 seconds. Cox, after sitting much of the first made 3 threes in the first 6 minutes as Purdue’s lead built to 21 points.
Iowa struggled scoring, with only 3/12 shooting in the first 10 minutes of the frame. That’s just not going to get it done.
It was all formalities from there. Some chicanery with Alvaro Folgueiras getting his legs tied up with Daniel Jacobsen. Iowa finally strung some score-stop-scores together but it wasn’t enough.
This was a rough one. Where Iowa was able to keep pace with Maryland due to Stirtz single-handedly keeping the Hawks in it throughout, his water got shut off today. Nobody else was able to step up like we saw at Purdue where Kael Combs had 16 points and Cam Manyawu added 13.
A couple positives: the crowd at Carver. They were primed throughout for a comeback which never came. Trevon Jirak also had a nice first half, making a 3, drawing some folds, and adding 6 points.
Another opportunity for a big win comes fast, with Nebraska on Tuesday.
