Hawks lose up and down game at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Iowa men’s basketball team lost to Purdue 75-68 on Tuesday in a game that sort of resembled Iowa’s up-and-down season to this point.

Purdue used a 30-9 scoring run that stretched from late in the first half into the second half to seize the momentum and then made 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory before an announced crowd of 14,134 at Mackey Arena.

The Boilermakers scored many of their points in the second half on drives to the basket by guards Lewis Jackson, Terone Johnson and Kelsey Barlow.

They were among five players for Purdue that scored in double figures Tuesday, led by senior forward Robbie Hummel’s 17 points.

“At that particular junction in the game, we were physically exhausted,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “I didn’t play a lot of guys in the second half.

“But with that said, those guys (for Purdue) are really good drivers. I think the thing that’s a little bit disconcerning is they knew they were right-handed drivers and that’s where they were going. And that was something we spent a lot of time talking about.”

Purdue has defeated Iowa in the last ten out of eleven games and improved to 14-5 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers also recorded their fourth regular-season sweep over Iowa in the last five seasons.

Purdue defeated Iowa 79-76 in the Big Ten opener Dec. 28 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa fell to 11-9 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten and now has nine days off before facing Nebraska on Jan. 26 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Sophomores Zach McCabe and Devyn Marble led Iowa in scoring with 20 and 18 points, respectively. McCabe’s point total was a career high and it marked the sixth time this season that he has scored in double figures.

Freshman forward Aaron White also had another solid game off the bench with nine points and five rebounds.

Sophomore forward Melsahn Basabe, on the other hand, was in foul trouble throughout the game and only scored one point while playing just seven minutes.

“He never got going,” McCaffery said of Basabe. “The mistake I made is I should have put the kid back in with two fouls.

Junior forward Eric May also was held to one point before fouling out with 42 seconds left in the second half.

McCabe and Marble combined to score 24 of Iowa’s 36 points in the first half.

They also combined to score 16 of Iowa’s last 17 points to close out the half, which ended with Iowa clinging to a 36-31 lead.

Purdue scored the game’s first four points, but then Iowa went on a 15-3 scoring run in which five players scored at least two points.

Iowa led by as many as 11 points (34-23) in the first half, whereas Purdue’s biggest lead in the first half was four points.

The Boilermakers only made 9-of-25 field-goal attempts in the first half, but they compensated by attacking the boards where they had a 21-15 rebounding advantage in the first half and a 41-32 overall.

Purdue also finished the first half on an 8-2 scoring run and then picked up in the second half where it left off in the first half.

It took Purdue less than two minutes in the second half to even the score at 36-36. Senior guard Ryne Smith made a 3-point basket about 30 seconds into the second half and Barlow grabbed his own missed shot and then made a short put-back basket on Purdue’s next possession.

Those baskets were the start of a 22-7 scoring run by Purdue to begin the second half. Terone Johnson capped the run by making back-to-back baskets, the second expanding Purdue’s lead to 53-43 with 11:55 remaining.

Iowa then answered with an 8-0 scoring run and trimmed the lead to 53-51 on a basket by Marble with 10 minutes, 23 seconds left to play.

Purdue then answered back with a 10-2 scoring run. Iowa never got closer than six points after that.

Iowa now has lost three of its last four conference games after starting 2-1 in league play.

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Tags: Fran McCaffery, Iowa men's basketball

Category: Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball