The Takeaways From Iowa-Purdue: These Things Happen
Greg Brunner was right.
The former Iowa forward posted this on Twitter after the Hawkeyes' 104-68 loss at Purdue on Wednesday night.
He should know, because he had been in a game like Wednesday night's at Mackey Arena.
Brunner was a senior on the 2005-06 Iowa team that traveled to Michigan State for a Jan. 21 game ranked No. 23 nationally and in the thick of the early Big Ten title chase.
The Hawkeyes, three days after winning a triple-overtime game at home over Minnesota, lost to the Spartans, 85-55.
Michigan State shot 60 percent in the second half, outscoring Iowa 48-27 in the final 20 minutes.
(Note: Brunner had 17 points and 11 rebounds in that game.)
Iowa followed that by winning six of its next seven games. The Hawkeyes would go on to finish in a tie for second place in the Big Ten, winning the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed over Ohio State.
(Note: There will be no mention of what happened to the Hawkeyes in the NCAA Tournament because it is not relevant to this point.)
The point is, of course, that one game, no matter how ugly, defines a season.
The Hawkeyes are two games out of first place in the Big Ten race this season, a year when everybody has had a clunker or two.
This one was ugly, yes.
It's not the end of the world.
That said...
That wasn't good defense
Purdue's offense averages 67 points per game.
The Boilermakers scored 61 ... in the first half.
Purdue shot 64.9 percent in the first half, 60.7 percent in the second half. The Boilermakers made 19 3-pointers.
This was a case of a team that made shots early and got momentum because the Hawkeyes weren't good on closing out, or clogging the lane, or really anything defensively.
The Boilermakers have been at their best at Mackey Arena this season. The Hawkeyes were at their worst defensively.
It's Garza...
Iowa's Luka Garza continued his impressive run with a 26-point night.
He has scored 20 or more points in eight consecutive Big Ten games, equalling the streak of Fred Brown in 1971.
Garza was 10-of-17 from the field. He only had one rebound, though, on a night when the Hawkeyes were outrebounded 32-24.
Then again, when all of the shots of the opponents are going in, there aren't many rebound opportunities.
... but not much else
No other Hawkeye scored in double figures.
Starters CJ Fredrick and Joe Wieskamp each had eight points. Ryan Kriener was the second-leading scorer, finishing with nine points off the bench.
Iowa's offense is better than that.
The Mackey house of horrors
This is just a bad place for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes have lost 10 of their last 11 games at Mackey Arena. They lost by 16 last season, 23 in 2018, and 22 in 2017. This one was uglier than those.
Iowa plays at home against Nebraska on Saturday. The Hawkeyes are 11-1 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season with a 10-game winning streak.
(Videos courtesy of Tom Brew/HoosiersNow)
