Tip Time Preview
Luka Garza looks to set the single season scoring mark on Tuesday night against Purdue.
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
Publisher
@hawkeyereport
PURDUE (15-14, 8-10) vs. IOWA (20-9, 11-7)
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
TV: BTN – Dave Revsine, Shon Morris, and Olivia Dekker on the call.
SERIES: Purdue holds a 91-76 edge in the all-time series between the two schools. Iowa has a 52-28 advantage in the series in games played in Iowa City and an 18-13 edge in games played in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa has won 4 of the last 6 in Iowa City. Purdue won the first meeting this season in West Lafayette, 104-68.
THE LINE: Iowa is a 5.5 point favorite.
THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE: PURDUE – 67.9 PPG, 42.2% FG, 33.6% 3 PT FG, IOWA – 78.1 PPG, 45.2% FG, 34.7% 3 PT FG.
DEFENSE: PURDUE – 62.2 PPG, 40.7% FG, 30.2% 3 PT FG. IOWA – 71.9 PPG, 43.0% FG, 32.2% 3 PT FG.
THE LINEUPS
PURDUE
6-4 guard Eric Hunter Jr. – 10.2 points and 2.6 assists per game
6-4 guard Sasha Stefanovic – 8.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game
6-7 guard Nojel Eastern – 5.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game
6-8 forward Evan Boudreaux – 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game
6-9 forward Trevion Williams – 11.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game
IOWA
6-0 guard Joe Toussaint – 6.3 points and 2.9 assists per game
6-5 guard Connor McCaffery – 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game
6-3 guard C.J. Fredrick – 10.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game
6-6 guard Joe Wieskamp – 14.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game
6-11 center Luka Garza – 23.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game
PLAYER TO WATCH – Evan Boudreaux – At one time, Boudreaux was a potential Iowa recruit. Then the Hawkeyes went in another direction. In the first meeting this year, it felt like the senior forward was still a little angry at Iowa for that decision. Boudreaux scored a game high 18 points, pulled down 8 rebounds, and seemed to be everywhere on the floor. Iowa’s going to have to keep him closer to his season average and not let him get away from them like they did in the first meeting.
KEY MATCHUP – Joe Wieskamp vs. Nojel Eastern – The star sophomore guard for the Hawkeyes kind of broke out of his shooting slump against Penn State. While he didn’t shoot the ball well, he did make three shots, including a three pointer, which is an improvement. He also got to the foul line, which can also help get a shooter back on track. In this game he will go head to head against perhaps the top defensive player in the Big Ten this year in Eastern. He doesn’t score a whole lot and isn’t much of a shooter, but he is an excellent one on one defender and this will be an important head to head battle in this contest.
STATS AND NOTES
This will be Senior Night for three Iowa players. Concluding their home careers as Hawkeyes are Ryan Kriener, Riley Till, and Bakari Evelyn.
With the win on Saturday, Fran McCaffery has led Iowa to 20 wins in six of the last eight seasons.
Guard C.J. Fredrick returned to action on Saturday after missing three games due to a sprained ankle. Fredrick scored 10 points in his return to the lineup.
KemPom.com rates Iowa as the 21st best team in college basketball. Purdue is rated by KenPom.com as the 25th best team in college basketball. Iowa is ranked 29th in the NCAA’s NET ranking. Purdue is ranked 35th in the NCAA’s NET ranking. KenPom.com projects Iowa to win the game 72-68.
Iowa senior guard Jordan Bohannon had surgery on his left hip in December and will be out for the season. This was his second hip surgery in less than a year with a repair to his right hip back in May. He averaged 8.8 points per game this year in ten games.
Jordan Bohannon is the Hawkeyes all-time leader in three point field goals made with 284. He is also 6th on the all-time assist list with 504. Bohannon has led the Big Ten in free throw percentage made the last two years.
Bohannon how has scored over 1,000 points and dished out 500 assists in his Iowa career. He joins five other former Hawkeyes in achieving those numbers. Bohannon is now 22nd on Iowa’s all-time scoring list with 1,310.
Luka Garza went over the 1,000 career point mark while scoring a career best 44 points in the first meeting with Michigan. The 44 points was the third most points scored by a player in Iowa basketball history. Garza has now scored 1,505 points in his Iowa career, which is 17th on Iowa’s all-time list and he pulled down his 600th career rebound recently. Garza is the 8th Iowa player to reach 1,500 points and 600 rebounds in his career.
Garza is just 14 points away from breaking the single season scoring mark for an Iowa player. He has scored 686 points this season and the all-time single season mark is held by John Johnson, who scored 699 points in 1970.
This season, Garza became the first Iowa player to receive player of the week honors from the USBWA and was named a mid-season first team All American by The Sporting News. Garza was named to the top 20 for the Wooden Award, which is given annually to the top player in college basketball. He was also named as a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which is given to the top center in the country.
Joe Wieskamp was one of ten players selected to the All Big Ten preseason team. Last season he was named to the All Freshman team in the league, averaging 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Wieskamp is finalist for the Jerry West Award, which goes to the top shooting guard in college basketball. Last Saturday the sophomore wing scored a career high 30 points in a win over Nebraska.
Starting forward Jack Nunge tore his ACL at the end of the first half in the win over Cal Poly. He will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Nunge was averaging 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds coming off a redshirt season last year.
Iowa’s Connor McCaffery is first in the country in assist to turnover ratio, 4.7 this season. McCaffery is also the only player from a major conference with 110 or more assists and less than 25 turnovers.
Iowa is 2-2 this season in games played on Tuesday. They are 27-22 in the McCaffery era in Tuesday games. Iowa is 10-5 this season on the BTN. Iowa is 81-72 in games on the BTN during the McCaffery era.
THE PICK
This has been a very good year for Iowa basketball.
The low moment of the season is almost certainly the loss to Purdue. Iowa scored the first two points of the game. Purdue scored the next 17 points and it got worse from there. The final was 104-68 and it felt as bad as the final score ended up being.
At just about every turn this year, the Hawkeyes have shown plenty of fight. In this battle, if it were a boxing match, they would have thrown in the towel.
Since that point, Iowa has had Tuesday night’s rematch circled.
With that in mind, you can bet that Purdue will have a true sense of urgency. The Boilers are firmly planted on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into the final week of the season. While they are only one game over .500 this season, they have strong analytics on their side and desperately in need of a Quad 1 win.
In the first meeting, Purdue shot 63% for the game and made 19, yes, 19 three pointers, including 11 in the first half.
It’s unlikely that the Boilers, who shoot 33.6% from three on the season, will be able to come close to duplicate those sort of numbers again on Tuesday evening.
Purdue generally go nine deep in their rotation and Matt Painter will run a lot of personnel in and out of the game. The offense is centered about Trevion Williams in the middle. They have always worked around their big men, with the exception of Carsen Edwards last year, and that’s the case this year. Even Boudreaux had a real hot stretch around the first meeting with Iowa, but he has cooled off a bit as a scorer.
Sasha Stefanovic is their top outside shooter this season and one of their x-factors offensively is Jahaad Proctor. When he goes well, Purdue usually goes well. In the first meeting, Proctor scored 15 points. I would expect that we see a lot of Matt Harmes in this game for one simple reason, he presents size on defense against Luka Garza.
From Iowa’s perspective, I think the one thing the Hawkeyes will focus on is maintaining their poise. In the first meeting and for one of the only times this year, they lost their poise in the first half of the first meeting. Iowa allowed 61 points and resorted to quick shooting and made a lot of careless mistakes.
The big storyline in this game from a general sense is Luka Garza going for the single season scoring record. He needs 14 points and given that he has scored 20 or more points in 14 straight games, so he has a good opportunity to get there.
Under normal circumstances, this game would be cause for concern for Iowa. Purdue desperately needs this game and the Hawkeyes have locked up their spot in the NCAA Tournament. But, given what happened in the first meeting, Iowa will be just as desperate to right their wrongs from the first game. Also, Iowa is still seeking the opportunity to earn a top four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which would mean a double bye next week.
Look for Iowa to come out of the gate with a purpose in this one and avoid the bad start that harmed them in the earlier game. I do expect Purdue to put up a big time fight. However, I just don’t think they are going to score enough to keep up with the Hawkeyes. IOWA 75 PURDUE 66
Luka Garza looks to set the single season scoring mark on Tuesday night against Purdue.
Tom Kakert • HawkeyeReport
Publisher
@hawkeyereport
PURDUE (15-14, 8-10) vs. IOWA (20-9, 11-7)
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
TV: BTN – Dave Revsine, Shon Morris, and Olivia Dekker on the call.
SERIES: Purdue holds a 91-76 edge in the all-time series between the two schools. Iowa has a 52-28 advantage in the series in games played in Iowa City and an 18-13 edge in games played in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa has won 4 of the last 6 in Iowa City. Purdue won the first meeting this season in West Lafayette, 104-68.
THE LINE: Iowa is a 5.5 point favorite.
THE NUMBERS
OFFENSE: PURDUE – 67.9 PPG, 42.2% FG, 33.6% 3 PT FG, IOWA – 78.1 PPG, 45.2% FG, 34.7% 3 PT FG.
DEFENSE: PURDUE – 62.2 PPG, 40.7% FG, 30.2% 3 PT FG. IOWA – 71.9 PPG, 43.0% FG, 32.2% 3 PT FG.
THE LINEUPS
PURDUE
6-4 guard Eric Hunter Jr. – 10.2 points and 2.6 assists per game
6-4 guard Sasha Stefanovic – 8.8 points and 2.4 rebounds per game
6-7 guard Nojel Eastern – 5.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game
6-8 forward Evan Boudreaux – 5.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game
6-9 forward Trevion Williams – 11.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game
IOWA
6-0 guard Joe Toussaint – 6.3 points and 2.9 assists per game
6-5 guard Connor McCaffery – 6.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game
6-3 guard C.J. Fredrick – 10.7 points and 2.0 rebounds per game
6-6 guard Joe Wieskamp – 14.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game
6-11 center Luka Garza – 23.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game
PLAYER TO WATCH – Evan Boudreaux – At one time, Boudreaux was a potential Iowa recruit. Then the Hawkeyes went in another direction. In the first meeting this year, it felt like the senior forward was still a little angry at Iowa for that decision. Boudreaux scored a game high 18 points, pulled down 8 rebounds, and seemed to be everywhere on the floor. Iowa’s going to have to keep him closer to his season average and not let him get away from them like they did in the first meeting.
KEY MATCHUP – Joe Wieskamp vs. Nojel Eastern – The star sophomore guard for the Hawkeyes kind of broke out of his shooting slump against Penn State. While he didn’t shoot the ball well, he did make three shots, including a three pointer, which is an improvement. He also got to the foul line, which can also help get a shooter back on track. In this game he will go head to head against perhaps the top defensive player in the Big Ten this year in Eastern. He doesn’t score a whole lot and isn’t much of a shooter, but he is an excellent one on one defender and this will be an important head to head battle in this contest.
STATS AND NOTES
This will be Senior Night for three Iowa players. Concluding their home careers as Hawkeyes are Ryan Kriener, Riley Till, and Bakari Evelyn.
With the win on Saturday, Fran McCaffery has led Iowa to 20 wins in six of the last eight seasons.
Guard C.J. Fredrick returned to action on Saturday after missing three games due to a sprained ankle. Fredrick scored 10 points in his return to the lineup.
KemPom.com rates Iowa as the 21st best team in college basketball. Purdue is rated by KenPom.com as the 25th best team in college basketball. Iowa is ranked 29th in the NCAA’s NET ranking. Purdue is ranked 35th in the NCAA’s NET ranking. KenPom.com projects Iowa to win the game 72-68.
Iowa senior guard Jordan Bohannon had surgery on his left hip in December and will be out for the season. This was his second hip surgery in less than a year with a repair to his right hip back in May. He averaged 8.8 points per game this year in ten games.
Jordan Bohannon is the Hawkeyes all-time leader in three point field goals made with 284. He is also 6th on the all-time assist list with 504. Bohannon has led the Big Ten in free throw percentage made the last two years.
Bohannon how has scored over 1,000 points and dished out 500 assists in his Iowa career. He joins five other former Hawkeyes in achieving those numbers. Bohannon is now 22nd on Iowa’s all-time scoring list with 1,310.
Luka Garza went over the 1,000 career point mark while scoring a career best 44 points in the first meeting with Michigan. The 44 points was the third most points scored by a player in Iowa basketball history. Garza has now scored 1,505 points in his Iowa career, which is 17th on Iowa’s all-time list and he pulled down his 600th career rebound recently. Garza is the 8th Iowa player to reach 1,500 points and 600 rebounds in his career.
Garza is just 14 points away from breaking the single season scoring mark for an Iowa player. He has scored 686 points this season and the all-time single season mark is held by John Johnson, who scored 699 points in 1970.
This season, Garza became the first Iowa player to receive player of the week honors from the USBWA and was named a mid-season first team All American by The Sporting News. Garza was named to the top 20 for the Wooden Award, which is given annually to the top player in college basketball. He was also named as a finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award, which is given to the top center in the country.
Joe Wieskamp was one of ten players selected to the All Big Ten preseason team. Last season he was named to the All Freshman team in the league, averaging 11.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Wieskamp is finalist for the Jerry West Award, which goes to the top shooting guard in college basketball. Last Saturday the sophomore wing scored a career high 30 points in a win over Nebraska.
Starting forward Jack Nunge tore his ACL at the end of the first half in the win over Cal Poly. He will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Nunge was averaging 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds coming off a redshirt season last year.
Iowa’s Connor McCaffery is first in the country in assist to turnover ratio, 4.7 this season. McCaffery is also the only player from a major conference with 110 or more assists and less than 25 turnovers.
Iowa is 2-2 this season in games played on Tuesday. They are 27-22 in the McCaffery era in Tuesday games. Iowa is 10-5 this season on the BTN. Iowa is 81-72 in games on the BTN during the McCaffery era.
THE PICK
This has been a very good year for Iowa basketball.
The low moment of the season is almost certainly the loss to Purdue. Iowa scored the first two points of the game. Purdue scored the next 17 points and it got worse from there. The final was 104-68 and it felt as bad as the final score ended up being.
At just about every turn this year, the Hawkeyes have shown plenty of fight. In this battle, if it were a boxing match, they would have thrown in the towel.
Since that point, Iowa has had Tuesday night’s rematch circled.
With that in mind, you can bet that Purdue will have a true sense of urgency. The Boilers are firmly planted on the NCAA Tournament bubble heading into the final week of the season. While they are only one game over .500 this season, they have strong analytics on their side and desperately in need of a Quad 1 win.
In the first meeting, Purdue shot 63% for the game and made 19, yes, 19 three pointers, including 11 in the first half.
It’s unlikely that the Boilers, who shoot 33.6% from three on the season, will be able to come close to duplicate those sort of numbers again on Tuesday evening.
Purdue generally go nine deep in their rotation and Matt Painter will run a lot of personnel in and out of the game. The offense is centered about Trevion Williams in the middle. They have always worked around their big men, with the exception of Carsen Edwards last year, and that’s the case this year. Even Boudreaux had a real hot stretch around the first meeting with Iowa, but he has cooled off a bit as a scorer.
Sasha Stefanovic is their top outside shooter this season and one of their x-factors offensively is Jahaad Proctor. When he goes well, Purdue usually goes well. In the first meeting, Proctor scored 15 points. I would expect that we see a lot of Matt Harmes in this game for one simple reason, he presents size on defense against Luka Garza.
From Iowa’s perspective, I think the one thing the Hawkeyes will focus on is maintaining their poise. In the first meeting and for one of the only times this year, they lost their poise in the first half of the first meeting. Iowa allowed 61 points and resorted to quick shooting and made a lot of careless mistakes.
The big storyline in this game from a general sense is Luka Garza going for the single season scoring record. He needs 14 points and given that he has scored 20 or more points in 14 straight games, so he has a good opportunity to get there.
Under normal circumstances, this game would be cause for concern for Iowa. Purdue desperately needs this game and the Hawkeyes have locked up their spot in the NCAA Tournament. But, given what happened in the first meeting, Iowa will be just as desperate to right their wrongs from the first game. Also, Iowa is still seeking the opportunity to earn a top four seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which would mean a double bye next week.
Look for Iowa to come out of the gate with a purpose in this one and avoid the bad start that harmed them in the earlier game. I do expect Purdue to put up a big time fight. However, I just don’t think they are going to score enough to keep up with the Hawkeyes. IOWA 75 PURDUE 66
