Purdue visits Iowa looking to improve to 8-0 in conference play
Purdue's Vincent Edwards is averaging 14.7 points per game this season.
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- As No. 3 Purdue prepares for its lone matchup of the season with Iowa Saturday, the Boilermakers ride the nation's longest win streak, having won 14 consecutive games dating to November.
Purdue (18-2, 7-0 Big Ten) has not won a game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena since Dec. 28, 2011 -- a 79-76 victory -- but if the Boilermakers win Saturday, it will mark the first 8-0 start to conference play in school history.
Having lost three of the last four meetings with Iowa, Purdue coach Matt Painter is focusing more on last year's loss than the historic start.
"It is good to remind your guys especially about the last meeting," Painter said. "Sometimes you go searching for things, but you're not searching there. We lost that game last year."
Iowa (10-10, 1-6) defeated the Boilermakers 83-78 last season, but has lost four of its last five games and currently ranks last in the conference in scoring defense, giving up 76.4 points per game.
Sophomore guard Jordan Bohannon, who averages 13.5 points and a team-best 4.9 assists per game, expressed his frustration with the dialogue surrounding the Hawkeyes' struggles this season.
"It's getting to the point where outside people don't have to tell us anymore," he said. "We know what the heck is going on. We know we're losing. We know we have a lot of talent, and we know we haven't provided the high expectations like we were supposed to.
"We have to just keep working. It's going to take the entire team to get this thing turned around and I think we're still capable of doing that."
As the Hawkeyes' primary ball handler, Bohannon averages a team-high 30.4 minutes per game and has averaged 35.4 minutes over the last five games. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery is unconcerned with Bohannon's playing time.
"I don't really think about that," McCaffery told reporters Friday. "I will assess how he's playing and if he's tired during the games, I'll take him out. He doesn't want to come out, and I think he's perfectly capable of playing 40 minutes if he had to. ... Jordan's in pretty good shape, and he's a pretty tough kid. He's more than capable of playing the minutes we're giving him."
Purdue is an unfavorable matchup for Iowa's recent defensive woes, ranking second in the Big Ten in scoring (84.7 points per game) and first in 3-point shooting percentage, averaging 42.6 percent from long range. The Boilermakers also lead the nation in scoring margin, defeating opponents by an average of 22.6 points.
One advantage Iowa has is rebounding. The Hawkeyes average 40 rebounds per game, which ranks fourth in the conference.
"They're a very good rebounding team so it's going to be important for us to keep them off the glass," Painter said. "They throw a lot of different people at you. You just have to be prepared. Try your best not to let them get angles and try to keep them off the glass.
"They'll mix it up and zone you, man-to-man, press you, so they'll throw a lot of different looks at you, and you just have to be prepared for all those looks."
