(West Lafayette, IN) — Purdue is tough to beat on their home floor and Iowa could not hold on to a 9 point lead, falling to the Boilermakers 79-72 in a Big Ten men’s basketball game on Wednesday night.
Iowa used a 9-0 run in the 2nd half to build a 48-39 lead with just over 14 minutes to play. However, Purdue’s Braden Smith took control of the game to key a 14-4 run to get back in the game. Iowa retook the lead twice more — Tate Sage hit a three to tie the game at 64-64. However, Trey Kaufman-Renn hit 1-2 at the free throw line and Smith found Oscar Cluff for a lay-up. Purdue sealed the game at the foul line.
Smith scored all 16 of his points in the 2nd half to lead the comeback. Smith also had 8 assists in the game and tied the Big Ten record for 478 career assists with Michigan St.’s Cassius Winston.
Purdue (16-1, 6-0) also had double figures from Kaufman-Renn with 12, Fletcher Loyer had 11, and Cluff added 10.
Bennett Stirtz led Iowa (12-5, 2-4) with 19 points, Kael Combs had 16 and Cam Manyawu added 13.
