Purdue routs Iowa in Big Ten Opener
BY KEITH CARRELL
ISL Contributor
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue backcourt’s quick start led the Boilermakers to handily defeat Iowa 89-67 in the Big Ten opener for both squads Wednesday night. Carsen Edwards had been struggling from the field since he was inserted into the starting lineup, but scored the game’s first eight points in his Big Ten debut with fewer than two minutes off the clock. Purdue controlled nearly every aspect of the game in the first half to take a comfortable 49-25 lead into halftime and maintained an insurmountable lead throughout the game.
How important was Edwards’ fast start? The player he replaced in the starting lineup, Vincent Edwards, said that “it was major, he’s a bad man. To come out as a freshman in your first (Big Ten) game… it was really impressive and he did it in all kinds of ways, so that’s a great start. To come out be fearless and be ready to go is a really good job.”
Edwards fueled the Boilermakers’ start, but Dakota Mathias and Ryan Cline stoked the fire by nailing their first four combined shot attempts to extend Purdue’s lead to 21-6, nearly six minutes into the game, and allowed Purdue to keep their collective foot on the pedal. Iowa, which starts three freshmen and a sophomore alongside their star senior Peter Jok, elected to play zone defense almost exclusively in the first half which contained both Isaac Haas and Caleb Swanigan to the tune of two points each by the break, but freed up Purdue’s backcourt to sink three after three after wide open three. In total, Purdue nailed ten threes in the opening half, including 4-5 from Mathias, 2-3 from Edwards, and 2-3 from Cline. The hot shooting from long range was accentuated even more by the fact that Iowa struggled mightily in that category, missing all seven first half attempts.
Mathias shared what spurred the apparent barrage of threes from the Boilers in the first half, “(Iowa) really keyed in on (Haas) and Biggie down low, especially in the first half… I think we did a good job moving the ball and finding that open guy.”
(Photo by the Global Gazette)
That’s not to say Haas and Swanigan were invisible in the first half. Haas only played four minutes with early foul trouble, but contributed three boards and a blocked shot. Swanigan corralled eight rebounds, had two assists, and blocked a shot. Both remained engaged even though their offensive game wasn’t flourishing. The duo also played a large role in getting Iowa’s frontcourt into foul trouble early, where Cordell Pemsl and Tyler Cook had three and two fouls respectively before the break, each ended the game with four fouls.
There was an eerily familiar feel to this game going into halftime as the game Purdue had last season when hosting Iowa early in the Big Ten season, Purdue led that game by 17 at the half before ultimately succumbing to Iowa’s press defense in the second half and ended up losing that game by seven. Cautious optimism remained, though, as this Purdue team is built quite differently and this Iowa team is exceptionally young and learning. Out of the break, Purdue continued to forge the offense forward which allowed the defense to coast without relinquishing the lead or cushion. The result was a game that felt like Purdue was up by around 40 by the closing minutes, but in reality saw the lead hover between 20 and 30 points for most of the closing half.
Iowa’s Jok and Brady Ellingson found some offensive rhythm in the second half by contributing eleven and nine points respectively. Jok scored nine of his points consecutively for Iowa over the course of about two minutes to start the second half. Ellingson had a brief hot hand for the Hawkeyes when he sank three triples in three minutes. Purdue’s defense of Jok was solid throughout the game though, as he earned his 13 total points on 15 shot attempts and only attempted four free throws. Jok was also forced into three turnovers, all in the first half.
The one misstep C. Edwards had early was allowing Jok to steal the ball two and a half minutes into the game, but Edwards recovered quickly by stealing the ball back from Jok just across the half court stripe, swinging the ball away from Jok with a behind the back dribble, before advancing between two defenders and raced toward the bucket for a dunk.
On the first possession of the second half, Mathias jumped a passing lane and stole the ball from Isaiah Moss as he began the fast break, but missed the jumper. Jok rebounded the miss and advanced the ball where Pemsl got ahead of Purdue’s defense, but missed a wide open dunk. In an attempt to save the possession, Pemsl tipped the ball out while hanging on the rim, but was called for a technical foul due to his extended time hanging on the rim and using it for leverage; a perfect embodiment for how the night unfolded for the hapless Hawkeyes.
The second half also saw a resurgence by Purdue’s frontcourt. Swanigan secured another double-double, per his norm, by adding nine points and two rebounds along with another assist and block. Haas was dominant for stretches as he scored 14 points and added four rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the second half. V. Edwards played significant minutes in the second half as the power forward too while Swanigan grabbed some earned rest. Edwards was active on the glass where he snared six rebounds and scored seven points in his 14 second half minutes.
“I liked our maturity and our energy.” V. Edwards mentioned on what the team did well in the conference opener, before continuing, “To come out in the first game and try to make a statement and showing that maturity, being up at the half, coming out (in the second half) and not letting up, and keeping that same energy; I thought that was huge.”
Quick Hits:
Purdue dominated the game, but did have lapses in security at times against Iowa’s zone and press (not to the alarming rate of recent memory); Purdue committed 14 turnovers in the game and nine of those were steals by Iowa… Iowa also committed 14 turnovers with 7 being stolen by Purdue… Five Boilers scored in double figures: C. Edwards (19), Mathias (17), Haas (16), V. Edwards (15), and Swanigan (11)… Purdue had four players block six shots… The Boilers continue to share the ball effectively as 27 of their 34 made buckets were assisted… Free throws were nearly guaranteed as Iowa made all 13 attempts and Purdue missed only one (Haas) of their ten tries… The largest lead for Purdue was 31 points, seven minutes into the second half… The game was a sellout in Mackey arena, with 14, 803 tickets sold… Spike Albrecht is beginning to recover from his injury as he recently returned to practice, but did not dress for the game… Newcomer Matt Haarms, originally anticipated to join the team in the fall, also is now on campus for the Spring semester and joined the team on the bench and although eligible, he will plan to redshirt this year; the time may be invaluable as the 7’2” player will have the ability to learn from Haas and Swanigan before one or both declare for the 2017 NBA draft and can get a jumpstart on the rest of the expected 2017 freshman class.
