The newly expanded Big Ten Conference has continued to bring tough challenges for veteran coaches like Fran McCaffery of Iowa.
“I’d say in many ways it’s as tough as it’s ever been,” McCaffery said. “Whether we have 12 teams, 14 teams, 16, 18 — they’re all really good teams. It’s not like you can ever look at anybody and say, ‘That’s an easy win’. Because it’s not. Every team has really good players, and every team has a really good coach.”
Iowa (13-8, 4-6) faces another tough test as it hosts No. 10 Purdue (17-5, 9-2) on Tuesday evening in Iowa City, Iowa.
Purdue is on a roll, having won nine of its last 10 games, including a hard-fought 81-76 victory over Indiana on Friday night. This will be Purdue’s first road game since January 18, when they defeated then-No. 13 Oregon.
Purdue’s offense is led by Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is averaging 18.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Kaufman-Renn is shooting 60.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range.
Braden Smith, who averages 15.8 points and leads the team with 8.8 assists, will look to keep his strong performance going after scoring 24 points in back-to-back games.
Fletcher Loyer, another key player for Purdue, averages 14 points per game and is shooting 46.3 percent from three-point range.
Purdue coach Matt Painter has noticed other players stepping up as well. One of them is freshman guard Gicarri Harris, who scored nine points in 22 minutes against Indiana.
“He’s always made plays at the end of games, whether it’s AAU or (high school),” Painter said. “He’s always a guy that has wanted the basketball and made plays. You can see how he’s starting to get more comfortable out there on both ends of the court.”
Iowa’s leading scorer is Owen Freeman, who is averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Payton Sandfort (16 ppg), Josh Dix (13.3), and Drew Thelwell (10.7) are the other players in double digits for Iowa.
Freeman is coming off a 14-point, eight-rebound game in Iowa’s recent 82-65 loss to Ohio State on Monday. He played 23 minutes, less than his usual 26.4 minutes, and should be well-rested for the Purdue game.
“He got a little winded because he was running the floor hard, he was posting hard,” McCaffery said. “They really made him work. I probably would have put him back in with seven minutes to go or something like that if the game was a little bit closer. I wanted to give those other guys some momentum going. I just left those guys out there.”
This will be the 176th meeting between Purdue and Iowa. Purdue leads the all-time series 97-78, including wins of 87-68 and 84-70 last season.
Iowa is hoping to secure its first win over a ranked opponent since February 17 of last season when it defeated No. 20 Wisconsin in overtime.
