Purdue v #25 Iowa

Basketball is back after a long hiatus

As the last bowl games come to an end, I can put the 2018 football season behind me and dive right into basketball season. And with Purdue finishing their non-con slate. We jump right into conference competition with a game against the #25 Hawkeyes in Mackey.

Purdue v #25 Iowa

Purdue's defense has been stepping up lately in the last two games especially during pivotal clutch moments, the offense still continues to show flashes here and there. Carsen is still Carsen as he averages 26 PPG with 44% from the field and a solid 40% from the 3. Cline is still in his shooting funk, but despite that, he is still 38% from 3. Eastern has stepped up at the line. Before Belmont he was 25% from the line, during the game he went 6 of 7 to push is average up to 47%. 

Iowa is averaging more points than us at 83 PPG, but they allow teams to score 71 on them per game. The advantage there goes to Purdue as we allow 69 PPG. The Hawkeyes may be without Luka Garza who is there second leading scorer at 13 PPG and 51% from the field, which can hurt Iowa. The Hawkeyes have guys that are dangerous at the line with Isaiah Moss averaging 90% at the line and 3 others who are averaging 80+ at the line. This will be a tough test for the Boilermakers as on paper they look better offensively and about even with us defensively. But is Garza is out, that might impact the Hawkeyes offensively, and the Hawkeyes went 0-2 in conference play in December and if Purdue's defense can continue to step up and get better in those clutch moments, and our offense starts to roll, we can notch another top 25 win and build our NCAA resume. Purdue