Hawkeyes will contend with poised, productive Purdue freshman pair

Iowa’s Connor McCaffery has five years on Purdue’s two starting men’s basketball guards and wants to put his experience to good use Thursday night.

“There’s definitely some tricks, some veteran tendencies, get away with some fouls here and there that won’t be called that I’ll definitely try to pull,” McCaffery said.

“It won’t be the first time I’m guarding 18-year-olds.”

Boilermakers freshmen Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith are 19, actually. McCaffery is 24, a sixth-year collegian who will try to help the Hawkeyes to an upset over No. 1 Purdue at Mackey Arena.

Purdue’s offense is centered around 7-foot-4 junior center Zach Edey, who averages 22.6 points and 13.2 rebounds for the 22-2 Boilermakers. Matt Painter’s team has a nine-man rotation, though, and a pair of rookie guards who have started every game and handled their business with aplomb.

Loyer is 6-4. He was the third-straight Indiana Boys’ Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year to join Purdue’s program. He averages 12.4 points and has made 48 3-pointers.

Smith is 6-0. He averages 9.3 points and 4.4 assists, and is the team leader in steals. He was the second-straight Indiana high school “Mr. Basketball” to become a Boilermaker, a year after sophomore starting forward Caleb Furst.

“Those two guys are special,” said Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery.

Purdue lost three of its five starters and 62 percent of its offensive production from last season’s 29-win team, yet it’s better this season. It’s a team with a three-game lead in the Big Ten, and will be the champion if it does no more than win its remaining home games.

Iowa is 7-5 in the league, a winner of its last three games and seven of its last nine. The Hawkeyes are 7-1 against Big Ten teams with winning conference records. Getting to 8-1 Thursday will be a chore.

“They're a very connected group,” Fran McCaffery said. “You can see it. You've got two freshman guards that are playing really well, and you have some veterans coming off the bench, accepting their roles and excelling in their roles.

“You've got a deep team. They're big. They've got a multitude of 3-point shooters. They're not a mistake team. They defend. They've always done that.”

Last season, the Hawkeyes won just one of three games against the Boilermakers, but it was the one that mattered most, the Big Ten tournament championship game in Indianapolis.

When Iowa played at Purdue, it did so without eventual All-America forward Keegan Murray, who was nursing an injured ankle. Nonetheless, the then No. 2-ranked Boilermakers had to withstand a big second-half Iowa rally to win, 77-70. A 19-point lead was cut to 70-68 with 3:08 left.

What Purdue had that night and will once again have Thursday evening is a packed, loud arena. The students are at both ends of the court. They call themselves the Paint Crew, they are 2,800 strong, and they come to play.

“I think it’s like the loudest,” Connor McCaffery said. “You show up 90 minutes before, the students are lined up around the block ready to sprint in. The students are already in sections full by the time you’re warming up.”

“It’s really loud,” Hawkeye center Filip Rebraca said. “I remember during shoot-around, every time we would dribble the ball, the ball’s echo would bounce off the roof because the inner roof is lined with metal and whatnot.

“With all their fans in there, it gets so loud that it just becomes a ringing noise at one point.”

Indiana probably did the Hawkeyes no favors by beating Purdue 79-74 at Indiana last Saturday, despite the Boilermakers out-rebounding the Hoosiers 38-22. The Boilermakers will be additionally motivated to get back to winning. They haven’t lost two straight games since late the 2021-22 regular season.

Iowa beat three teams in Iowa City last week that came to town either alone in second place in the Big Ten or tied for second. Now they meet Numero Uno on the road. Oh, how a win Thursday night would enhance the Hawkeyes’ NCAA tourney resume.

“I think most teams would want the chance to take them down, get them out of that No. 1 spot,” Connor McCaffery said.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com