UI Athletics news release
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to No. 13 Purdue, 78-57, on Saturday evening on Mediacom court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of a sold-out crowd. The Hawkeyes moved to 18-7 on the season and 8-6 in conference play.
Purdue built an early lead as the Hawkeyes started the game 2-of-13 from the field and 0-of-7 from 3-point range. With six minutes left in the first half Iowa trailed the Boilermakers, 30-15, its largest deficit of the first half. The Hawkeyes were able to cut the lead to nine before Purdue took a 11-point lead into the half. After 20 minutes, Iowa trailed Purdue, 36-25.
Senior Bennett Stirtz and freshman Trevin Jirak lead Iowa combining to score 13 of Iowa’s 25 first half points. The Hawkeyes shot 8-of-28 (23.6 percent) from the field and 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range. Iowa shot 7-of-11 (63.6 percent) from the charity stripe at the break.
The Boilermakers extended its lead in the second half behind hot shooting as the Hawkeyes were unable to cut into the halftime deficit, suffering just their second home loss of the season.
Stirtz was the lone Hawkeye to finish in double digits with 19 points and five rebounds. Junior Cam Manyawu added eight points and led the team on the glass with eight rebounds. Iowa shot 20-of-53 (37.7 percent) from the field and 6-of-22 (27.3 percent) from beyond-the-arc. Iowa converted on 11-of-17 (64.7 percent) from the free throw line.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
“It felt like we connected to the community. It was awesome that they showed up. We just weren’t great. But [Purdue] was really good too. I thought they were pretty tuned up, I thought they got shockingly better after they loss to Indiana. They changed some things. They are a completely different team than we played the first time. I told our guys, they have scars, that was the team, Braden and Fletcher, were on that team that got beat in the first round [in the NCAA Tournament]. They got scars from that and that makes them tougher.
They are a tough team, and I thought they played great. I didn’t think we played great, I didn’t think we scored it great; I thought that hurt our defense a shocking amount. I thought they were in transition a lot. I thought we had a good game plan we just couldn’t set our defense because they were in transition so much and then they got too many offensive rebounds to start and I thought that really hurt us as well.”
GAME NOTES
- The Hawkeyes dropped just their second home game of the season, falling 78-57 to No. 13/12 Purdue on Saturday afternoon in front of a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd of 14,998.
- The Boilermakers led 36-25 at the break and opened the second half with an 11-2 run to open a 47-27 lead with 16:30 to play.
- Purdue led by as many as 27 (58-31) in the game; Iowa never got any closer than 16 points.
- Iowa had one player in double figures: Bennett Stirtz (19)
- Stirtz went 7-of-12 from the field and 2-of-6 from long range. He also had five rebounds.
- The guard didn’t commit a turnover for the ninth game this season.
- Freshman Trevin Jirak scored six points on 1-of-4 shooting and made 3-of-4 free throws in 10 minutes.
- It was his first game with significant minutes since Dec. 29 against UMass Lowell.
- Iowa is now 12-2 at home this season.
- The Hawkeyes committed just six turnovers – their fifth straight game with single digit turnovers.
- Iowa was outrebounded, 38-30.
- The Hawkeyes shot 37.7 (20-of-53) from the field – a season low field goal percentage.
- Saturday’s game was the first sellout of the Ben McCollum era with 14,998 fans in attendance.
- Purdue used a 12-0 run over a 3:48 stretch to build a 19-7 lead at the 10:47 mark in the first half. The Boilermakers led by as many as 15 (30-15) before taking a 36-25 lead into the locker room.
- Iowa shot 28.6 percent from the field in the first half, making 8-of-28 field goals (two 3-pointers).
UP NEXT
Iowa returns to action Tuesday, hosting No. 7/8 Nebraska at 8 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tickets are available through the Iowa Athletics Ticket Office.