IOWA CITY -- Facing the most adversity Iowa (13-9, 4-7) has seen all season, in the midst of defeats in four of five games and losing Owen Freeman for the remainder of the year, the Hawkeyes took No. 7 Purdue (18-5, 10-2) down to the brink, eventually falling to one of the best teams in the country on Tuesday night at home, 90-81.
Despite the stellar offensive efforts of Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort and the improved play of all three reserve centers, the Boilermakers' star point guard Braden Smith led Purdue to a decisive victory down the stretch.
Here are three takeaways from Iowa's fifth loss in its last six games.
Dix and Sandfort Do What They Can
Without Freeman, the Hawkeyes needed anything and everything they could get from their two best available players. Dix and Sandfort both looked like they came out of the locker room on a mission, with Dix putting up 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and Sandfort adding 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Both hit big three-pointers to keep the Hawkeyes within reach for the majority of the contest.
"I'm really proud of them," Fran McCaffery said postgame. "They've been great all year long. They were ready to go tonight. Both of them were spectacular. I'm not surprised. They're both leaders."
"We both know that we've got to be aggressive," Dix, who led the team in steals with three, said after the loss. "We've got to score on the offensive end, and I feel like Payton finds me all the time when I'm open, so I just love playing with him. I felt like our motion game to start the game was really good, and then just our ball movement was good."
Sandfort, who finished with a team-leading six rebounds and five assists, pointed to the team effort for the way the duo was able to score against the Boilermakers.
"I thought the whole team came out inspired, and I think we knew what we had to do," he said. "We really competed, and I'm proud of the guys for the way they stepped up."
Purdue head coach Matt Painter heaped praise on Iowa's two leading scorers on the night as well.
"They're so good with it, but they're also really good without the basketball. Their movement really caused a lot of problems for us," he said. "Once they get going, they'll make tough [shots]. That's the problem."
Painter got a little sarcastic about his team's ability to defend Dix, too.
"Then we started fouling Josh Dix. I thought that was a really good move. That was pretty smart," he said, before eventually getting serious. "I was like, 'What are we doing?' Keep making him make tough pull-ups. I know he made a couple, but fouling him doesn't help anything."
The Council Bluffs native didn't make Purdue pay for fouling him though, as he went just 4-of-7 from the free throw line, to add to Iowa's seemingly perpetual problem of not making free throws. The Hawkeyes finished 10-of-16 from the stripe, just 62.5%, somehow making their season average of 68.3% even worse.
Braden Smith Goes Nuclear
It wasn't just the difficulty from the free throw line, either. Braden Smith, one of the best point guards in the country and arguably the best player in the Big Ten, would not be denied.
The All-American not only kept the Boilermakers in the game in the first half, tying the game at 36 with a last-second three at the buzzer and putting up 13 points over the first 20 minutes, his 18 points in the second half helped propel Purdue to victory.
Seemingly every time the Hawkeyes looked to get the game within their grasp and have a shot to take the lead or get it down to three or fewer points, Smith would make a play to keep Iowa at arm's length.
"You have to account for his ability to distribute, but then he obviously can still score the ball," Sandfort said of Purdue's starting point guard. "He plays with great change of pace. He controls the game. I think we did a really good job making him uncomfortable there for the first 18 minutes, and then we let him kind of get in his rhythm. When he's comfortable, that's when he's just dangerous."
Smith oozed confidence in second half in particular, hitting a barrage of three-pointers that kept Iowa from reaching striking distance, and finishing 5-of-7 from three.
"Him being so good, every screen with he and (Trey) Kaufman-Renn, you've almost got to guard with three people," Dix said. "So it opens up everything for everyone else. He's good, and he just makes everyone around him better."
Smith finished with four assists, and thanks in part to his play at point guard, Kaufman-Renn added 25 points for the Boilermakers.
"[Smith controls the game] in a variety of ways," McCaffery added. "He gets people involved, he makes threes, he makes pull-ups, and he gets them into their stuff."
Three Bigs Split the Load
McCaffery and Sandfort said it on Monday -- given the absence of Freeman for the rest of the season, Iowa would need all of Ladji Dembele, Even Brauns and Riley Mulvey to step up in the biggest way possible. Mulvey was given the opportunity to start in lieu of Freeman.
"Ev gave us some great minutes. Ladji was great down the stretch defensively. So they're all a little bit different. They just have to rebound a little bit better, but I thought they were solid," McCaffery said. "I thought Riley, based on how he's been playing lately, deserved to start."
The trio finished with a combined six points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks over their shared 40 minutes.
Their play earned a seal of approval from the team's leader, despite the loss.
"They really brought it, they brought a lot of great energy," Sandfort said. "They made Big Ten plays, and they did their role really well. They made a few mistakes, but there was so much effort there that they covered up for a lot of them, and I'm proud of those guys. They stayed ready the whole year. They were ready for their opportunity, and they're going to be big pieces moving forward."
Dix shared the sentiment.
"I thought they were really good," Dix said. "They kind of played in spurts, so it gave them the chance to go out there and play with a lot of energy, but I feel like they did their job. They battled with Kaufman-Renn, and he's one of the best bigs in the Big Ten. So I felt like they did their job really well, and they worked as hard as they could."
NEXT: Iowa will take on No. 21 Wisconsin (17-5, 7-4) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at noon on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on NBC.
