Your Iowa Hawkeyes were served a frisbee full of humble pie in West Lafayette Wednesday evening, falling to the HATED Purdue Boilermakers, 104-68 in an ass kicking I’ll try to describe below.
Luka Garza started Iowa off with an easy lay-in after winning the tip, and then you’d be smart to forget the rest, as Purdue immediately went on a 17-0 run, effectively stabbing Iowa in the fatty part of the thigh. Then the shoulder. Then just below the ribs. And finally, the heart.
Iowa could never get over a first half that featured a Purdue team that simply could do no wrong. In the first 20 minutes alone, the Boilermakers:
- Shot 11-20 from three (Iowa shot 2-13)
- Out-rebounded Iowa 19-13 (including 8 offensive rebounds)
- Had three players score in double figures
- Went on a 17-0 run, spanning just over three minutes of game time to open the contest, forcing Iowa to dig its own ditch and then lay in it
At one point in time, Luka Garza had 12 of Iowa’s 16 points. He and Ryan Kriener were the only two to create any sort of offense, accounting for 28 of Iowa’s 36 first half points. Purdue, of course, had a comfortable 61-36 lead at the break.
Kriener would go scoreless the entire second half, and Garza was the only Iowa player to score in double figures, ending the game with 26.
All you need to really know about the game is this: Evan Boudreaux, a guy who was averaging 4 points an outing for Purdue this year, had 12 first half points on a 5-6 shooting effort from the floor. If a Boilermaker got a clean look at the hoop, it was going in.
Boudreaux, a guy who Iowa recruited out of high school 17 years ago, ended the game with 18 points on a 2-3 shooting effort in the second half while pulling down 8 boards. Again, he averaged 4 points a game on the year.
Eric Hunter Jr. started the second half with a three and well that was that. It was truly a hamblasting I can’t remember Iowa being on the receiving end of in quite some time. If you told yourself “well, Purdue can’t stay hot for two halves” you were very wrong. The Boilermakers shot 8-14 from three in the second half, and still out-rebounded, out-assisted, outshot, outplayed Iowa in what I wanna say was a come-down-to-earth game, but I don’t truly believe that in my heart of hearts.
Both teams seemed to mutually agree to put in walk-ons with about four minutes to go and we’re already on to Nebraska.
The only bright side, I guess, is that this was Garza’s eighth-consecutive game scoring at least 20 points, the longest streak for a Hawkeye since Fred Brown in 1970-71.
Did I already say we’re on to Nebraska?