Effort was not bad. The way Purdue moved the ball made it look like Iowa guys were slow, but it was a function of just how crazy-on-point Purdue executed. I’m telling you they played unbelievable all game. You have to give up something, and Iowa was going to let the ball find Purdue’s low-percentage guys late in the clock—which is what everybody does—but Purdue’s low-% guys made every one.
I’m not going to watch again but the 17-0 run was not bad defense on many possessions—in fact they forced tough shots, some late clock, that either went in or were put back or they got a three look off an offensive rebound.
When shit like this happens I always watch closely effort and togetherness, always curious the way teams handle adversity. Do they quit? Do they resort to bad habits? Do they stop talking on D? Do they get quiet and stop encouraging each other? Even down 30 with 8-10 minutes to go it looked like they were still trying to get their rotations, still competing as a group. I saw maybe two frustration plays, both by guys who I almost want to show some frustration—Joe T started to get into it with Purdue guys who didn’t like how physical he was on D, how aggressive he played through ball screens. Joe’s matchup sort of shoved him off him. Joe came down with the ball and just kind of wild kamikazee shit and turned it over. Program desperately needs his edge—can’t wait for his edge to be complimented by Jordan’s sort of cocksure calm. And Connor got frustrated towards the end and took an out of character shot on zero passes.
Anyways if anyone dares to watch that again I think the effort is better than watching live made it seem.
