With a few weeks left in the regular season, No. 6 Purdue’s sixth conference win puts the Boilermakers one game behind a tie for second in the Big Ten after they staved off the Iowa Hawkeyes, 83-73, in Iowa City Thursday night.
Purdue (17-3, 6-3) never trailed and led by as much as 18. However, Iowa (14-6, 4-6) closed the distance in the second half. The Hawkeyes made it a four-point game with an 18-4 run, 57-53, seven minutes into the half. Steady Boilers scoring down the stretch though allowed them to maintain the distance and seal the victory.
The Boilers played a well-rounded offensive game with 21 assists on 30 made field goals while shooting 61 percent from the field. Four players scored in double figures. The Boilermakers also made 13-for-22 (59%) from three-point range.
“I thought our guys made some huge shots. It wasn’t just one guy we had a lot of people step up,” said coach Matt Painter after moving into fourth in the Big Ten for all time wins, passing former Purdue coach Ward Lambert.
In addition, Purdue put together one of its strongest individual defensive efforts, holding the conference’s leading scorer Keegan Murray to just 14 points. Murray averaged 22.4 points per contest coming into the game.
As a whole, the Boilers bottled up the Hawkeyes by keeping them to under 40 percent shooting (38%) from the field.
Junior guard Isaiah Thompson turned in his best game of the season with a career-high 18 points and made four of his six three-point attempts. The Zionsville native averaged 5.7 points per game before Thursday’s matchup.
Jaden Ivey returned from a hip injury, which sidelined him from the Northwestern game last Sunday. Though he didn’t start, the sophomore from South Bend scored 15 points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists.
Senior Trevion Williams notched a double-double with 12 points, ten rebounds and had five assists.
Purdue’s next matchup is against No. 16 Ohio State, which sits one game ahead of Purdue in the Big Ten standings, in Mackey Arena Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is set for noon.
