WEST LAFAYETTE -- Iowa played in its first conference contest of the season on Monday night at Purdue, falling to the Boilermakers, 87-68.
Here are three takeaways from the road loss:
Edey is a Cheat Code
Well, 7'4" Zach Edey was the 2022 National Player of the Year for a reason. And he matched up with Iowa in one of its weakest spots on the team this year -- on the interior of the defense, matching up with 6'9" Ben Krikke and 6'10" true freshman Owen Freeman.
"He's obviously a load to deal with and he requires a full team effort," Krikke said post-game. "He's on the glass and catches the ball deep [on our defense]. He's a tough cover."
Edey finished the night with 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the floor and 7-9 at the stripe. He also added 12 rebounds, nine of which were offensive boards.
"A lot of other big guys like that can't really shoot free throws, and he makes all of them, so that makes it tough," Payton Sandfort said after the game.
"He just takes up so much space, that you have to commit so many guys to him. That's why they get so many other open guys and open actions. He attracts so much attention that he makes a massive difference, and credit to him for continuing to get better."
It wasn't just the matchup with Edey, either. His teammates took full advantage of the opportunities he provided them offensively.
"They really executed tonight in terms of screening, cutting and ball movement which makes it really hard if you're trying to focus on him," Fran McCaffery said after the game. "They're not a one-man show at all. They have shooters, drivers and size. They stretch your defense in ways that makes it very difficult [to guard them]."
"I thought we'd do better than we did. We really worked hard this week, but you've really got to give credit to that team collectively."
(Almost) Nothing Goes Right
Krikke and Tony Perkins were Iowa's only scorers to reach double figures on the night, as Krikke poured in 16 and Perkins added 12. Krikke grabbed seven rebounds and Perkins hauled in six as well.
As a team, Iowa shot just 38.5 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from three-point range. They shot just 1-of-9 from deep in the first half.
"I think it's a lot of different things. We didn't get a lot of good looks, we didn't move the ball well enough at all, and ultimately it's a lot harder to make shots when you get down like that early," explained Sandfort.
The Purdue lead first reached 18 with 9:18 remaining in the first half, at 32-14. They led 45-24 at halftime and the lead reached 30 points early in the second half.
McCaffery also pointed to the way the offense moved the ball, saying they didn't get to the basket enough.
"Our offense got really east and west tonight," he said. "That's a credit to their defense and their pressure. We were trying to move it and get some shot opportunities, but we just got way too east and west."
Another Blowout Loss at Mackey
Prior to Monday evening, Iowa hadn't beaten Purdue in Mackey Arena since 2016. Over the six losses at Purdue over the ensuing seven seasons, Iowa has lost by an average of 19 points.
"This is the loudest arena I'll probably ever play in in my life," Sandfort said. "You can't hear each other in timeouts, you can't hear each other anywhere."
"It's only going to get easier, I guess. It can't get any worse," he added.
Though Mackey is traditionally a difficult place to play, McCaffery doesn't see that as an excuse.
"Any time you play on the road, it's difficult to communicate. That's why you have to be connected on both ends. You're still able to make play calls if you want to run plays. We're primarily a motion team anyway, so we're not making a lot of play calls. So that's what the road environment is supposed to be, and it was tonight."
The Hawkeyes will take on 6-2 Iowa State in Ames on Thursday evening (6:30 PM CT, ESPNU).
