Purdue Paint Presence Crucial in win

Purdue’s Paint Presence Crucial in win

by: Steven Stremming, Excel H Sports/USBWA

photos by: Tony Harper, Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

After a dominating win in Bloomington, Indiana the #1 (Excel H Sports) ranked Boilermakers made their way to a snowy Iowa City, Iowa to tackle the challenge of Fran McCaffery’s Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa is always a tough assignment for any team and many times, not just at home.

On this given day, the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 18 to 14 lead with still over twelve minutes to go in the first half.

The main thorn in the Boilermakers side was Lawrence North graduate, Tony Perkins who constantly drove the paint for pull up jumpers and lay-ups at the basket.

But the Boilers would make a run of their own with a nineteen to two run that left Purdue on top with a 33 to 20 lead with under eight minutes left in the first half.

The damage was the inside presence of the reigning national player of the year, Zach Edey who was dominant.

photo by: Anthony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

Edey would take passes deep in the paint and then jam the ball through the hoop often drawing fouls to go along with the basket he just made.

While Edey was on the reception end of many assists he also passed out of the paint where both Lance Jones and Fletcher Loyer scorched the nets from behind the arc.

photo by: Anthony Harper/Excel H Sports/Indiana Sports Network

The Hawkeyes would make several runs to cut the deficit to ten points through the aforementioned Perkins but also the play of Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix.

Sandfort scored 16 points, on a five of twelve-field goal day, that included three, three pointers and collected a Hawkeye team leading seven rebounds.

Ben Krikke scored ten-point afternoon, his 16th double digits of the season.

Josh Dix tallied nine points to go along with his career high seven assists.

Purdue would go on to lead in the second half by 20 points plus before the Iowa runs which closed the gap at the final horn.

Purdue was dominant in the paint they collected 19 offensive rebounds, which included eight from Edey himself.

For the Boilers, Edey finished with yet another double-double that included 30 points, 18 boards and four blocks.

Lance Jones added 17 points on four of twelve shots, that included four of nine from behind the arc and six rebounds.

Fletcher Loyer added twelve points on five of ten field goals and provided constant hustle.

Braden Smith didn’t have a great day shooting the ball, (4 of 12) but distributed the ball nine times and grabbed down six rebounds and made live miserable for the Hawkeyes.

Mason Gillis was a steadying force on the floor with his intense defense and key rebounds, among his five boards was a big put back in the second half.

How dominant was the Purdue paint performance, Cam Heide, in his time on the floor collected four offensive rebounds.

For the Hawkeyes, Perkins led them with 24 points on ten of nineteen from the floor, Sandfort aided with 16 points and seven boards while Krikke scored ten and Dix added nine points and a team leading seven assists.

Wisconsin, Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska and Northwestern have gone to the top of the B1G with many strategic games left on each other schedules.

(The following is credit sourced to Purdue University Athletics)

• Purdue improved to 17-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten Conference with an 84-70 win over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The win was Purdue’s third straight win, the last two coming on the road.
• Purdue has now won three straight games against Iowa, nine of the last 11 contests, and four of the last five matchups in Iowa City.
• Purdue has won back-to-back road games by at least 14 points for the first time since the 2020-21 season (75-58 vs. Nebraska; 73-52 vs. Penn State).
• The Boilermakers are 17-2 (or better) in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. Purdue started last season with an 18-1 mark. Purdue is now 17-2 (or better) for the fifth time in school history (1988, 1994, 2018, 2023, 2024).
• The victory was Purdue’s, nation-leading 7^th quad-1 victory. Eleven of Purdue’s 17 wins have come from the first two quadrants.
• The victory was also the ninth against a KenPom top-50 team this year, easily the most in the country.
• The win was Purdue’s 75^th win since the start of the 2021-22 season. The Boilermakers are now 75-16 in that span, the third-most wins in the country in that span (Houston – 81; Kansas – 77; Purdue – 75).
• Purdue outrebounded Iowa by a 50-24 margin, Purdue’s highest rebound margin against a Big Ten team since Jan. 24, 2020, vs. Wisconsin (42-16).
• Matt Painter moved into 5^th place on the Big Ten’s wins list in league games with his 215^th victory. He is now 13 wins behind Ward “Piggy” Lambert for fourth place (228). Painter is now 215-122 in Big Ten play.
• Zach Edey became the first Purdue player since Glenn Robinson (4 straight from Dec. 21, 1993 to Jan. 5, 1994) to record three straight 30-10 games, with a 30-point, 18-rebound, 4-block, 2-assist performance. The performance marked his 12^th career 30-10 game, tied for the second most by a player in the last 15 years.
• Edey is the first Purdue player with three straight 30-10 games against Big Ten teams since Terry Dischinger (5 straight games from Feb. 3, to Feb. 24, 1962).
• Edey is the only major-college player in the last 25 years to have at least 90 points, 50 rebounds and 30 made free throws over a 3-game span. In the last three games, Edey has 93 points, 52 rebounds and 31 made free throws (31.0 PPG, 17.3 RPG, 2.7 BPG, 1.7 APG).
• His eight career 25-15 games are the most for a high-major player in the last 15 years (Trayce Jackson-Davis and Oscar Tshiebwe – 6).
• Edey now needs just 25 points and 8 blocked shots to become the third player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 blocked shots, while shooting at least 60.0 percent from the field (David Robinson, Patrick Ewing).
• His 51 career double-doubles now just trail Terry Dischinger (54) and Joe Barry Carroll (53) in Purdue history. He tied Joe Barry Carroll for third in Purdue history with 29, 20-10 games (Terry Dischinger – 48; Dave Schellhase – 30).
• In Big Ten play, Edey is now averaging 25.1 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.9 assists while shooting 65.7 percent from the field.
• Lance Jones tied a season high with 17 points with a season-high 6 rebounds. He went 4-of-9 from 3-point range and is now 10-of-23 (.435) from 3-point range in the last three games. Jones now has 1,740 career points and eight games this season of at least three, 3-pointers.
• Fletcher Loyer added 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 2-of-6 from long range. In Big Ten play, Loyer is shooting 18-of-34 (.529) from long distance. He has made a 3-pointer in nine straight games, shooting 22-of-44 (.500) in that span.
• Braden Smith had nine points, nine assists and six rebounds in the victory. He has had at least six assists in eight straight games, including 29 assists in his last three games (6.7 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 9.7 APG in that span).
• In league play, Smith is averaging 9.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 8.1 assists per game. In all games played, Smith is averaging 11.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
• Mason Gillis connected on a pair of 3-pointers and during his career, Purdue is 31-4 when he makes multiple 3-pointers in a game.

(The following is credit sourced to the University of Iowa Athletics

The Hawkeyes return to action Wednesday, hosting Maryland at 6 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.