Purdue edges Iowa at Mackey Arena

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery had two defensive options in the waning seconds of his team's game at Purdue on Saturday.

With the Hawkeyes leading by a point and the Boilermakers with the ball, McCaffery shifted from his man defense to a zone. Purdue had made only 3 of 19 3-pointers in the game, so the move made sense.

But Purdue's Rapheal Davis made McCaffery pay for his decision. With only three seconds left in the shot clock, Davis took a pass from Jon Octeus, spotted up from the top of the key and drilled a game-leading 3-pointer over Iowa guard Mike Gesell with 44 seconds left. That shot gave Purdue a two-point lead and led to a 67-63 win against Iowa at Mackey Arena.

'It was a struggle because we had probably had been better in zone,” McCaffery said. 'If you look at the whole game but in the recent period of time, I think we were better in man, so you're going back and forth. Do we go man or do we go zone?

'We opted to go zone and kind of keep it in front of us and not risk either a basket or a foul by (Purdue center A.J.) Hammons. I felt like they were going to go right in and (Adam Woodbury's) got four (fouls), Gabe's (Olaseni) got four, so we felt like if we could keep them out on the perimeter and contest and rebound the miss, that was the best way to go. The kid made it. Congratulations to him.”

Davis entered the game averaging 9.5 points and hit just four of 21 3-point attempts this year. But on Saturday, he led all scorers with 24 points and was three of five from 3-point range.

'Once I caught it, I knew it was going in,” Davis said of his last shot. 'I just had that kind of confidence.”

Iowa (13-7, 4-3 Big Ten) still had two chances after Davis' basket. Gesell, who scored a team-best 18 points, missed a jumper that Purdue's Basil Smotherman rebounded. Smotherman was fouled and converted one of two free throws to put Purdue up 66-63.

Iowa took the ball with 17 seconds left and moved up the floor. Iowa guard Peter Jok was open from the right wing for a 3-pointer, but missed and Smotherman rebounded once again. He made one more free throw that provided the final margin.

'There's multiple options on that play,” McCaffery said of Jok's shot. 'That's one of them. It's hard in that situation because you know that they're going to be switching. I thought he did a good job of getting open. That's a hard call: do you shoot the 3? It would have been nice if he would have made it. Do you drive the ball to the basket? We're in the bonus. But there was still plenty of time so if it doesn't go in, we can get the rebound and we can foul them again. It just didn't work.”

Iowa raced to a 10-2 lead early, then leading scorer Aaron White suffered a stinger that forced him from the game. He returned for just three minutes before leaving the game for good.

Purdue (12-8, 4-3 Big Ten) then took advantage, going on a 15-4 run and taking a 17-14 lead. After making four of its first six shots, Iowa struggled the rest of the half, making four of its final 27. Purdue raced to a 34-24 halftime lead.

Iowa gathered itself in the second half and battled back. Three different times the Hawkeyes cut their deficit to three points, and Gesell trimmed Purdue's lead to 56-53. It was the start of an impressive run by Gesell, who became an offensive threat the rest of the game.

Gesell, a junior, scored 10 points on five consecutive possessions and his final jumper gave Iowa a 63-62 advantage, its first lead in 31 minutes, 12 seconds of game action.

Part of Gesell's success came with a four-guard Iowa lineup. The Hawkeyes spaced the floor, which enabled Gesell to drive to the basket with little resistance. After missing six of his first seven shots, Gesell sank six of his final eight. He led the Hawkeyes with 18 points.

'Coach kind of told me we need you to kind of keep the team together and be the leader out there and when things start to get sideways, be a leader out there,” Gesell said. 'So I continued to just be aggressive out there.”

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