IOWA CITY — Greetings from Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where Purdue gets one last chance for a résumé road centerpiece in a zero-sum NCAA Tournament-implications game, facing No. 18 Iowa on their turf.
I'd imagine some similarities can be drawn to Purdue's swing between kicking the hell out of Wisconsin at home, then losing at their place here, in terms of the unlikelihood unfold anywhere near the way they did before. Such has been the Big Ten this season, and Iowa is unblemished at home this Big Ten season, most of its victims here having been ranked.
You have to go all the way back to that November rout at the hands of DePaul for an Iowa loss at home. Had you seen that game then, when Iowa was made to look prohibitively unathletic, and just bad, and been told Iowa would sit where it sits today, most wouldn't have believed you. Without Jordan Bohannon, who I can't stop calling Jeff Horner, strangely, the Hawkeyes have had a hell of a season, paced by Luka Garza and a few shot-makers around him.
A few thoughts on this one ...
PURDUE'S BIGS
Set the post-D and rebounding and such aside for a minute and just consider how important it is that Purdue bite back at Garza at the offensive end, to make him guard and spend some of his vast energy reserves banging with Trevion Williams and chasing Matt Haarms. It's critically important those guys play well
ENERGY
The first-10-minutes-on-the-road and road-energy questions have come this far without answers, and it's March 3, and the last road game of the season. Expecting something different than Purdue's been all season seems like a fool's endeavor, but you can be pleasantly surprised if it happens and probably only if it does can Purdue win this game.
THAT LAST GAME
Does it matter? Not really. But it should give Purdue confidence, and has this team looked confident in games like this very often this season?
The Boilermakers may not be the better team here, but it can play like it maybe, and that's where the energy and physicality have to come in and where maybe Evan Boudreaux can be a difference-maker. He's played well vs. Iowa before. May need him to tonight, as he and Ryan Kriener get back in the Octagon.
Discuss the game here or however you wish. We'll have full coverage afterward, and updates and thoughts in the meantime at @brianneubert, connection permitting.
Thanks for reading.
I'd imagine some similarities can be drawn to Purdue's swing between kicking the hell out of Wisconsin at home, then losing at their place here, in terms of the unlikelihood unfold anywhere near the way they did before. Such has been the Big Ten this season, and Iowa is unblemished at home this Big Ten season, most of its victims here having been ranked.
You have to go all the way back to that November rout at the hands of DePaul for an Iowa loss at home. Had you seen that game then, when Iowa was made to look prohibitively unathletic, and just bad, and been told Iowa would sit where it sits today, most wouldn't have believed you. Without Jordan Bohannon, who I can't stop calling Jeff Horner, strangely, the Hawkeyes have had a hell of a season, paced by Luka Garza and a few shot-makers around him.
A few thoughts on this one ...
PURDUE'S BIGS
Set the post-D and rebounding and such aside for a minute and just consider how important it is that Purdue bite back at Garza at the offensive end, to make him guard and spend some of his vast energy reserves banging with Trevion Williams and chasing Matt Haarms. It's critically important those guys play well
ENERGY
The first-10-minutes-on-the-road and road-energy questions have come this far without answers, and it's March 3, and the last road game of the season. Expecting something different than Purdue's been all season seems like a fool's endeavor, but you can be pleasantly surprised if it happens and probably only if it does can Purdue win this game.
THAT LAST GAME
Does it matter? Not really. But it should give Purdue confidence, and has this team looked confident in games like this very often this season?
The Boilermakers may not be the better team here, but it can play like it maybe, and that's where the energy and physicality have to come in and where maybe Evan Boudreaux can be a difference-maker. He's played well vs. Iowa before. May need him to tonight, as he and Ryan Kriener get back in the Octagon.
Discuss the game here or however you wish. We'll have full coverage afterward, and updates and thoughts in the meantime at @brianneubert, connection permitting.
Thanks for reading.
