WHO: #1 Purdue Boilermakers (22-2, 11-2 Big Ten)
WHEN: 6:01 PM CT
WHERE: Mackey Arena (West Lafayette, IN)
TV: ESPN2 (Rece Davis and Seth Greenberg)
RADIO: Hawkeye Radio Network (Gary Dolphin and Bobby Hansen) | XM 380 or SXM 970
MOBILE: www.espn.com/watch
ONLINE: www.espn.com/app
FOLLOW: @IowaAwesome | @IowaHoops | @IowaonBTN
LINE: Purdue -8
KENPOM: Purdue -9 (81% chance of winning)

Iowa
G Tony Perkins (11.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 41.4 FG%, 31.1 3FG%)
G Ahron Ulis (6.6 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.4 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.1 bpg, 41.0 FG%, 32.7 3FG%)
F Connor McCaffery (7.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.3 spg, 0.0 bpg, 42.6 FG%, 36.6 3FG%)
F Kris Murray (20.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 1.2 bpg, 50.2 FG%, 35.0 3FG%)
F Filip Rebraca (13.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.1 apg, 0.6 spg, 1.3 bpg, 56.7 FG%, 40.0 3FG%)

Purdue
G Braden Smith (9.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.2 spg, 0.2 bpg, 43.8 FG%, 39.4 3FG%)
G Fletcher Loyer (12.4 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.1 bpg, 38.7 FG%, 35.3 3FG%)
F Ethan Morton (4.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.7 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.6 bpg, 31.9 FG%, 27.0 3FG%)
F Mason Gillis (6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.1 bpg, 45.9 FG%, 39.7 3FG%)
C Zach Edey (22.4 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, 0.3 spg, 2.2 bpg, 62.7% FG, 0.0%)

At the same time the Iowa women's basketball is taking on a highly-ranked Indiana team in a rematch of last year's Big Ten Tournament final, the Iowa men will be playing in their own Big Ten Tournament final rematch -- against a highly-ranked Purdue team. "Highly-ranked" undersells Purdue too, to say the least -- they're #1 in the polls. There's no one ranked higher than the Boilermakers right now, and only one other team (Houston) is also receiving multiple first-place votes in the latest AP poll.

Iowa's history in games against #1-ranked teams is a mix of good and (mostly) bad results. The good? Iowa won its last game against a #1 team, knocking off Michigan State 83-70 on December 29, 2015. The bad? Iowa is 3-21 overall against #1-ranked teams -- and 0-9 in road games against top-ranked teams.

Purdue has been the Big Ten's most effective and most balanced team this season by a landslide. The Boilermakers rank 2nd nationally in offensive efficiency and 22nd nationally in defensive efficiency. They're outstanding on both ends of the court. In terms of points per game, Purdue is scoring 74.0 per game, 5th best in the Big Ten, while allowing just 61.1 per game, 2nd best in the Big Ten. That +13 scoring margin is the Big Ten's best.

The story of Purdue's dominance this season begins at an individual level, with Zach Edey, the colossal (7'4", 290 lbs) center who has taken his game to all-new heights this season.

Edey in 2021-22: 14.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.2 bpg, 64.8 FG%
Edey in 2022-23: 22.4 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 1.4 apg, 2.2 bpg, 62.7 FG%

He ranks 4th nationally in scoring, 2nd nationally in rebounding (just 0.1 behind the national leader in rebounds per game), and 21st nationally in blocks per game. He's maintained an excellent field goal percentage (62.7%, 14th best nationally) despite a significant increase in volume (he's attempting over five more shots per game than he did a season ago, and his 322 field goal attempts this year are significantly more than anyone else on the field percentage leaderboard). He's also getting to the free throw line more often (6.6 times per game this season versus 4.7 trips per game a year ago) and converting those chances at a higher rate (73.2% versus 64.9%).

Edey gets more opportunities this season without having to share any time with fellow big Trevion Williams (who left Purdue for the NBA Draft after last season), but he's also simply gotten better at every aspect of his game this season. He has, frankly, leveled up in a way that's a bit reminiscent of what Luka Garza did at Iowa in his final two seasons in Iowa City. He's turned himself into the runaway favorite for National Player of the Year honors.

Edey played limited minutes in Purdue's games against Iowa last season -- 16 minutes in West Lafayette, 15 minutes in Iowa City, and 17 minutes in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis. He averaged 6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in the two regular season encounters, though he did have 12 points and 14 rebounds in the Big Ten title game. It's fair to expect a lot more of Edey on the court tonight -- he's played 25+ minutes in every game this season and exceeded 30 minutes in 17 of Purdue's 24 games. He's been good at avoiding foul trouble, too -- he's picked up four fouls just twice (both in November games) and had a handful of three-foul games as well. He's doing what he needs to do to stay on the court -- and dominate.

Iowa is likely to use an all-bigs-on-deck approach when it comes to guarding Edey. Fran McCaffery indicated that Josh Ogundele should be available for Iowa in this game, which will be a nice boost -- in addition to just having another big body (and five fouls) to use against Edey, Ogundele played pretty well against Purdue last season, including a 4-point effort in the Big Ten title game and a 7-point, 5-rebound game in Iowa's loss in West Lafayette. Riley Mulvey also saw spot minutes in two of three games against Purdue last season; more may be in store in this one.

Purdue is a dominant rebounding team, leading the nation in offensive rebound rate (38.7%) and ranking 16th nationally in preventing opponents from getting offensive rebounds. That's no shock with Edey alone getting over 13 rebounds per game. On offense, Purdue doesn't turn the ball over much (just 17% of possessions, 74th nationally) and shoots the ball fairly well (52.8 effective FG%, 63rd nationally), though primarily on two-point tries (54.1%, 42nd). If there's a weakness for Purdue on offense, it's three-point shooting -- the Boilermakers are making just 33.9% (185th) of their tries from long range this season. Freshman guard Fletcher Loyer is their most dangerous shooter, making 35.3% while attempting a team-high 5.7 tries per game. Braden Smith and Mason Gillis are each making around 39% of their 3-point attempts, but at a far lower volume (around 3 per game).

Defensively, Purdue excels at turning the game into a half-court battle -- and smothering opponents. They contest shots well (holding opponents to just 46.3 effective FG%, 27th nationally) and are outstanding at not fouling (their defensive free throw rate, or FTA/FGA, is tops in the nation at just 17%).

That could be a red-flag stat for Iowa, given how much of the Hawkeyes' offensive strength has come from getting to the line and making free throws. The one thing the Boilermakers don't do on defense is force a lot of turnovers (they rank 328th nationally in defensive turnover rate).

Since so much of Purdue's production this season revolves around Edey, his teammates have found themselves more as supporting players than co-stars in many ways. Loyer is the only other Boilermaker averaging in double figures (12.4 ppg) and he's the one to watch on the perimeter. Braden Smith, another impressive freshman guard, is third on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and leading the team in assists (4.4 apg), while also hauling in 4.5 rebounds per game. He's able to do a lot of things well for this team. Gillis is a player who could hurt Iowa as well -- he scored 29 points just two games ago, on 9/12 (!) shooting from 3-point range. While Purdue only has two double-figure scorers, five other players are averaging at least 5.0 ppg and nine players averaging at least 12 minutes per game.

Speed it up. The juxtaposition in preferred tempos between these teams is stark -- Iowa plays at the fastest tempo in the Big Ten (69.7 possessions per game, 51st nationally), while Purdue plays at the second-slowest tempo in the Big Ten* (63.7 possessions per game, 333rd nationally). Purdue wants this to be a slow, methodical, half-court grind -- that style of play will favor them immensely. Iowa wants to play in transition -- and the Hawkeyes need to get this game going up-and-down the court. Make Edey run.

*Only Wisconsin plays at a slower tempo among Big Ten teams, naturally.

Encore. Tony Perkins had the best game of his career in Iowa's last outing, exploding for a career-high 32 points on 8/11 shooting (15/16 FT). Does the fast-paced guard have an encore performance in him? Perkins came up clutch for Iowa in last year's Big Ten title game, with 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists -- the Hawkeyes need another big game out of him to have a shot at the upset here.

Don't foul. The specter of foul trouble looms over this game as something that could massively derail any hope for an Iowa upset. Iowa's two best players this season have been Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca -- they have to stay on the court as much as possible tonight. Iowa can't afford to have them sitting long stretches of the game with foul trouble.

Lack of expectations. Iowa enters this game on a 3-game winning streak and winners of seven of nine. But the Hawkeyes also enter this game without the burden of any expectations -- Purdue is the #1-ranked team and the Boilermakers are at home. They're heavy favorites among the analytics crowd (-9 by KenPom) and the Vegas crowd (-8 spread) This is not a game Iowa is supposed to win. Purdue is the team that needs to defend home court (and its #1 ranking) and get back on track after losing to Indiana over the weekend. A loss here won't break Iowa's season -- though a win would obviously be worth its weight in gold. But hopefully Iowa can play looser without the burden of expectations.