Purdue Basketball defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes by a final score of 87-68. Purdue’s leading scorers were Zach Edey with 25 points and 12 rebounds, Lance Jones with 17 points and 2 steals, and Fletcher Loyer with 12 points and 3 assists.

1st Half

After Purdue’s upset loss to Northwestern, Purdue was looking for their first conference win. The Boilers started off the game by playing great defense and taking care of the ball. Even though Purdue wasn’t the most efficient from behind the arch, they were grabbing a lot of offensive rebounds, the Boilermakers had 10 offensive rebounds in the first half. Zach Edey was dominant in the paint, Edey was one rebound away from a double-double. After a smart heads-up play from Fletcher Loyer to call a time-out, Iowa’s coach Fran McCaffrey was angrier than a little elf and gave Purdue two free throws after arguing with the ref and securing a technical foul. Purdue was dominant in every aspect of the game and was leading at halftime by a score of 45-24.

2nd Half

Purdue came out of the gate running in the second half, Lance Jones scored 9 points in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half, and Edey almost broke the basket from dunking the ball so much. Lance Jones had another highlight play early in the second half, Jones was inbounding the ball and saw an opportunity to pass the ball off the defender’s back and score an easy layup. Purdue was very efficient from the field, shooting 34/65 (52.3%) from the field, and 8/25 (32.0%) from the three. This was a must-win game for the Boilermakers, and they did exactly what they needed to do, WIN. The Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes by a final score of 87-68.

Player of The Game: Zach Edey

Zach Edey and Lance Jones were both very deserving of player of the game, but only one player can win it. Zach Edey was dominant, making the Hawkeyes look like a High School team. Edey was throwing down dunks all game, catching alley-oops, and posturizing players left and right. Edey has been showing why he won NPOY last season, and he is looking to repeat. There was not a single player that could contain Zach, allowing him to score 25 points and grab 12 rebounds while sitting for the last 9 minutes of the second half.

#4 Purdue plays Alabama on Saturday, December 9th at 1:30 pm EST

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