Feb. 16, 2000
By HANK LOWENKRON
AP Sports Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Purdue held off Iowa 67-59 Wednesday night and the 25th-ranked Boilermakers were in no mood to celebrate after their fifth straight victory.
"It was definitely a unique game," said Brian Cardinal, who led the Boilermakers with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
"If we're going to battle ... we're going to have to win ugly games like we did tonight."
Both teams had more turnovers than field goals and Purdue scored its final 13 points on free throws.
The Boilermakers (18-7, 9-3 Big Ten) had 22 turnovers and 21 field goals. Iowa (11-13, 4-8) had a season-high 23 turnovers and only 19 field goals while shooting 41 percent.
"Our kids played hard, but it's the second game in a row that we turned the ball over at a high clip," Iowa coach Steve Alford said.
Mike Robinson and Rodney Smith each had 11 points for the Boilermakers who moved into second place in the league, one-half game behind two-time defending champion Michigan State.
Jacob Jaacks led the Hawkeyes with 18 points.
"He's a great player. He showed everybody in the Big Ten that he's a tough player," Cardinal said of Jaacks. "He presents a lot of challenges. He can shoot and he can be big and strong inside."
Purdue was protecting a 54-53 lead when Carson Cunningham was fouled attempting a 3-pointer with 3:04 left. He made all three free throws and the Boilermakers led 60-53 when Smith made two free throws with 58 seconds remaining as Jaacks fouled out.
Two free throws by Chad Kerkhof gave Purdue a 62-53 lead with 38 seconds to go. Iowa made it 63-59 on a 3-pointer by Dean Oliver with 25 seconds remaining and Purdue closed the scoring as Cardinal made three free throws.
Purdue outrebounded the Hawkeyes 34-23 and outscored them from the free throw line 21-12.
Smith hit two 3-pointers early in the second half to tie the game at 34. Reserve Adam Wetzel then scored Purdue's next five points to end an 8-1 run as Iowa went more than three minutes without a field goal.
"Adam had to step up," Smith said of the 6-foot-9 freshman. "He worked and he took it to the hole. He and Kenny (Lowe) gave us a spark. They were instrumental for us."
The Hawkeyes came back to tie the game for the final time on a 3-pointer by Robinson and Purdue then moved ahead to stay with nine consecutive points.
Robinson began the run with 11:22 to play and Cardinal followed with a 3-pointer and then came baskets by Robinson and Cunningham.
Oliver had 11 points for Iowa, while Griffin added 10, including three 3-pointers.
The Hawkeyes held Jaraan Cornell, No. 16 on Purdue's career scoring list with 1,503 points, scoreless as he missed all five of his shots.
"Jaraan is such an unselfish player," Cardinal said of his teammate, who led the Boilermakers with a season-high six assists. "When he is not shooting very well, he is distributing it more and he plays pretty good defense. I think we have enough scorers on the ball club."
Purdue had defeated the Hawkeyes 84-58 on Feb. 5.
"You knew they weren't going to play the same as they did up there defensively," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "We hoped we would take better care of the basketball."