Different year, same result for Iowa men at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The coaches may change, but the results stay the same.

For the third consecutive season, Purdue pulverized the Hawkeyes at Mackey Arena, this time 75-52. It was just as close as last year's 23-point loss and about the same as the 22-point setback in 2009.

The previous two defeats belonged to former coach Todd Lickliter, who all but disappeared from the program save a few taunts from No. 11 Purdue's student section. Sunday's loss belonged to new coach Fran McCaffery, who suffered his worst setback in 15 games at Iowa.

"I think it's pretty simple: if you go on the road and you play the 10th-ranked team in the country, you've got to compete harder than we competed today," McCaffery said. "If there's one thing about Purdue that's been most impressive to me in the last two years is how they fight and how they compete. 

"We tried to get our guys ready for that type of effort and obviously we were unsuccessful. Hopefully we will learn from it and get better."

Iowa (7-8, 0-3 Big Ten) dropped its eight straight to the Boilermakers (15-1, 4-0), the Hawkeyes' longest losing streak to Purdue in the series' 102 years. The game virtually was over in the first 5 minutes, 8 seconds when Purdue took an 11-0 lead. Jarryd Cole scored Iowa's first basket with 14:37 left in the first half. The Hawkeyes had eight turnovers before they scored their eighth point.

"We wanted to come out and get a good job on them," Cole said. "We didn't do that. We couldn't do that. I credit to their defense. They got pretty much what they wanted in the first part of the first half."

Iowa did scrap together some decent possessions early in the second half, but failed to identify Purdue guard Ryne Smith to cut into the Boilermakers' lead. After Iowa sophomore Eric May hit a 3-pointer to open the second half to cut Purdue's lead to 11 points, Smith drilled a 3-pointer. Then Melsahn Basabe hit one of two free throws, but Smith followed with another 3-pointer. One possession later Cole hit a traditional three-point play, but D.J. Byrd rallied with a jumper on Purdue's next possession.

The Boilermakers put the game away with a 14-5 run with help from four Iowa turnovers. Purdue eventually built the lead to 30 points before replacing most of its starters late in the game.

"We weathered the storm to start the game," McCaffery said. "We were within striking distance and we settled down. It's one turnover leads to another, leads to a quick shot, leads to another turnover. That's inexperience, but it's also not the competitive instincts that we need to have to beat a team of this caliber."

There was plenty of blame to spread around. Point guard Bryce Cartwright missed eight of 10 shots and had four turnovers. Freshman Melsahn Basabe, who was coming off a spectacular game against Ohio State, scored eight points but six came on free throws. He had four turnovers in 19 minutes.

"(Cartwright) was out of sorts," McCaffery said. "I think he was a little bit too concerned with their pressure and I think it made him a little bit ... not aggressive. His game is aggressiveness. He's got to be an aggressive offensive player. 

"He was sort of in-between on his decisions all game. Then he started shooting quick and shooting floaters and shots that had no chance to go in."

Smith scored 18 points, sinking 6-of-9 3-point attempts. Seniors JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore scored 16 and 11 points, respectively. During the game, Moore set a Purdue record for most career minutes played.

Gatens scored 13 points and was the only Hawkeye in double figures.

For Iowa, it was yet another reminder of how far the Hawkeyes are from competing consistently against the Big Ten's best on the road.

"This is a team that fights, and it seems like we fought in every game this year," Gatens said. "I'm not saying that we didn't tonight, but it just seemed like they played harder, they executed a lot better."