[5] Purdue 79, Iowa 72 (Postgame Notes)
- Purdue improved to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the Big Ten Conference with a 79-72 win over Iowa in front of the 100th straight sellout at Mackey Arena.
- The win was Purdue’s eighth straight victory – its second win streak of eight games this season. It marks the sixth time in school history that Purdue has had a pair of eight-game win streaks (or longer) in the same season.
- Purdue has yet to play a game this year decided by six or fewer points.
- The win was Purdue’s fifth straight against Iowa and the 11th win in the last 13 games against the Hawkeyes. Purdue has won seven straight games against Iowa in Mackey Arena.
- Purdue’s 16-1 start matches the best 17-game start in school history, done five times in school history (last: 2022-23). The 6-0 Big Ten start is tied for the seventh-best conference start in school history and is the best league start since 2017-18 (12-0).
- Purdue improved to 28-3 (.903) during the month of January since the 2022-23 season.
- Purdue shot 72.7 percent (16-of-22) from the field in the second half, and made nine of its 10 shots in the final 10 minutes of the contest. Purdue scored on 16 of its last 17 possessions in the final 10 minutes of the game, scoring 32 points in that span.
- Purdue shot 52.9 percent from the field, the seventh time in the last eight games that Purdue has shot over 52 percent from the field. During Purdue’s eight-game winning streak, Purdue is shooting 54.0 percent from the field.
- Purdue has won 17 straight games in games played on Wednesday, dating to a 65-55 loss to Marquette on Nov. 13, 2019.
- Purdue has won 999 games since the start of the 1980-81 season – the start of the Gene Keady era.
- The Purdue senior class now owns a 103-24 (.811) record, tied for the seventh-most victories by a senior class in Purdue history.
- Braden Smith scored 16 points (all in the second half) with eight assists, four rebounds and two steals, going 6-of-9 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Smith now needs two rebounds for 600 in his career, which would give him over 1,600 career points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds.
- Smith tied Cassius Winston (76 games) for the most assists in Big Ten Conference games, now with 478 in 66 games played.
- Smith already has 164 assists this season, already tied for the 13th most in a season in Purdue history.
- Trey Kaufman-Renn scored 12 points with three assists and two rebounds.
- Fletcher Loyer tallied 11 points with four assists and two rebounds.
- Oscar Cluff had 10 poinst with four rebounds and two assists, on a perfect shooting night, going 4-of-4 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Cluff is now shooting 75.5 percent (83-of-110) from the field for the season.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Braden Smith blamed himself for No. 5 Purdue’s first-half struggles Wednesday.
The preseason All-American responded by reverting to his familiar form the rest of the way.
One week after the senior guard started the second half on the bench for the first time in his career, Smith delivered a dazzling final 20 minutes at Mackey Arena in a 79-72 victory over Iowa that could go a long way toward the Boilermakers capturing another conference crown.
“I had a horrible first half,” Smith said after scoring all 16 of his points after halftime. “For me it was like, understanding I can’t let these guys down because we have goals and one of them, obviously, is to win the Big Ten championship. So we can’t afford to lose a game at home. I woke up, too. That helps.”
Smtih figured it out in time to rally the Boilermakers (16-1, 6-0 Big Ten) from a nine-point second-half deficit to avoid a second home loss to an Iowa team. Iowa State routed the Boilermakers on the same court last month.
His second-half totals: 6 of 7 from the field, 4 for 4 from the free-throw line, four assists and no turnovers while never coming out. Purdue missed only one shot from the field in the final 10 1/2 minutes.
And when Purdue needed Smith defensively, he got the job done. He forced a series of key turnovers midway through the second half, fueling the run that got Purdue back into the game and then back into the lead.
After that, there was nothing first-year Iowa coach Ben McCollum could do to slow down Smith or Purdue.
“He’s the one that’s kind of the quarterback of the team,” McCollum said. “Obviously, he’s a really good player who does a lot for them.”
Smith faced a similar scenario in last week’s victory over Washington.
He drew three first-half fouls, which put him on the bench for a nine-minute stretch straddling halftime. Smith also rebounded that night with a stronger second-half showing.
This time, he didn’t need any advice about what he needed to fix.
“I had three turnovers, (and) a blocked shot they had on me so I would count that as four because they got the ball,” Smith said. “They shot 70% from 3-point range from guys, respectfully, who don’t usually make 3s and like, that’s also part of it. Guys are going to have nights like that and then we’ve got to take care of the ball offensively and just do our job.”
Smith’s recovery was so complete, Purdue coach Matt Painter simply turned his best player loose offensively and defensively as Smith and his teammates turned up the heat on the Hawkeyes with a blistering shooting percentage of 72.7%. The difference was Smith.
“Braden has confidence, so he likes every matchup,” Painter said. “But it was just letting him play in transition, letting him play with the ball there and then making reads. I thought a big part of our surge back at about the 15-minute mark was when Braden came right out and hit a pull-up (jumper). Then he gets to the basket. We needed him to get going and, obviously, he did.”