Game Awards: Iowa Basketball Stuns Purdue Boilermakers
Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Iowa basketball upset Purdue 83-78 in Iowa City on Thursday night
Just 10 days after Purdue blew out Iowa basketball 89-67 in West Lafayette, the Hawkeyes miraculously bounced back and stunned the Boilermakers in Iowa City. Overcoming poor free-throw shooting, Purdue’s hot three-point shooting in the first half and 30 combined points from Caleb Swanigan and Isaac Haas, Iowa took down Purdue 83-78.
Iowa started out much better this time around. Instead of going down 8-0 to start the game, Iowa led 6-5 three minutes into the game. It evidently gave them the confidence they needed to believe they could beat a ranked team.
The Hawkeyes and Boilermakers played each other tight for most of the game, however, it almost got away from Iowa late in the first half. Purdue made two three-pointers in the final two minutes and held Iowa scoreless in the final 2:47 to take a 47-38 lead into halftime.
Needing a small run to get back into the game, Iowa went on a 9-1 run to pull within one. From then, no team led by more than five points and Iowa proved they were a legitimate threat when they took a 75-71 lead with five minutes left.
Purdue battled back to take a 78-77 lead with 2:51 left but did not score again.
Tyler Cook, who finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two steals, had a chance to give Iowa a decent sized lead, however he made just 2-of-4 free-throws in the closing minutes. He and Cordell Pemsl combined to shoot 2-of-5 from the line to close the game, as Iowa finished the game 9-of-18 from the line compared to Purdue’s 21-of-25.
With less than a minute left, Nicholas Baer came up with a huge steal after multiple offensive rebounds from Purdue. Iowa turned it over on their next possession, which led to a missed Swanigan jumper, however Pemsl missed the ensuing free-throw.
On Pemsl’s missed free-throw, the ball looked like it went out-of-bounds off of Tyler Cook’s finger, but the refs gave the ball to Iowa. They did not see any definitive video of it going off him, so it stayed with the Hawkeyes after video review.
Jordan Bohannon gave Iowa a three point lead with two makes at the free-throw line, with Baer sealing the game 83-78 with two makes of his own at the line following a Dakota Mathias missed three.
Baer added four points and 10 rebounds off of a bench that contributed 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Iowa’s bench play helped them overcome five double-digit scorers on Purdue.
Here’s a look at who played well for Iowa in their upset win.
Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Starter Of The Game: Peter Jok
For a while, Peter Jok looked like he had a chance to record the first triple-double of his career. He ended short with 29 points, six rebounds and a career-high eight assists. In fact, he finished behind Jordan Bohannon in assists and tied with Tyler Cook for fourth in rebounding on the team, but he was the star Iowa needed to pull the upset.
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Jok, one of the best scorers in the nation, dropped 29 points, but it was his willingness to make the right basketball play which impressed the most. He didn’t force shots or look for deep threes if it wasn’t there. It led to him recording a career-high in assists but also shoot extremely well from the field.
Jok shot 11-of-19 from the field, 4-of-7 from three and 3-of-4 from the line. He accounted for 33.3 percent of their made free-throws and 66.7 percent of their made threes. Outside of Jok, Iowa shot 2-of-7 from three and 6-of-14 from the line.
Plus, he was an integral part of Iowa’s 13-5 run to start the second half after going down 47-38 at halftime. Jok scored nine points and assisted on a Dom Uhl dunk during the run. Just like any star should, Jok stepped up when the game started to get out of Iowa’s hands and kept the Hawkeyes competitive.
Iowa needs Peter Jok to be the best player on the floor for them to win big games, and, even with Caleb Swanigan starting across from him, Jok shined the brightest on Thursday night.
Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Bench Player Of The Game: Ryan Kriener
Ryan Kriener only played eight minutes, the fourth most off the bench, but he had a sizable impact in the second half, nonetheless. He recorded six points on 3-of-4 shooting to go along with two rebounds.
He did commit two fouls, but he gave Iowa a spark off the bench late in the game. He surprisingly entered the game for Cordell Pemsl with 12 minutes left and played until the under-four minute media timeout.
In that span, Iowa outscored Purdue 18-14 and shot extremely well from the field. The Hawkeyes made 8-of-13 shots from the field, 61.5 percent, which is almost five percent better than their 56.7 percent shooting in the game.
Kriener helped spark Iowa’s offense with easy looks. He and Jordan Bohannon looked impressive in their pick-and-roll/pop game. It led to a couple of easy layups and an open jumper from Kriener, in which Bohannon assisted on all three.
Plus, in the eight minutes Kriener played, Swanigan and Haas didn’t score. The Hawkeyes held one of the best frontcourts in the nation, which scored 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting, scoreless for eight minutes late in the second half.
Of course, it wasn’t all Kriener, but it’s evident that Iowa played very well with him on the floor. He helped lead a mini comeback in his little playing time and forced Purdue to pay attention to another player outside of Peter Jok on offense.
Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Please Be Better: Isaiah Moss
After being named Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week last month, Isaiah Moss has quickly started to fall out of the rotation. On Thursday, Moss recorded just two points on 1-of-4 shooting and a foul in 16 minutes.
The only game Moss has played more than 20 minutes in during conference play was against Nebraska in Iowa’s double-overtime loss. In fact, Moss has seen 20 minutes or less in six of Iowa’s past eight games.
It’s led to him averaging just 7.5 points per game in that span after scoring a combined 35 points against Stetson and Iowa State.
It could partly be due to Nicholas Baer’s impact off the bench and Tyler Cook’s return. Plus, Dom Uhl looked great against Rutgers and played another 15 minutes against Purdue on Thursday.
In turn, it’s led to Moss being forgotten on offense and Iowa losing a floor spacer. Moss is shooting a solid 38.3 percent from three this season, but he has attempted three or fewer three-pointers in seven of Iowa’s last eight games. His impact on offense has become non-existent, to say the least.
Iowa has a strong starting five that they won’t want to mess with, but Isaiah Moss is quickly falling out of the rotation and acting as a placeholder rather than starter. Nicholas Baer has been great off the bench, but Moss was playing great, too, before his decrease in playing time.
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