Loss to Purdue still drives Iowa players

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Iowa's final test in a rugged seven-game slate to open the Big Ten season loops back to its first opponent Tuesday night.

It's arguable that no Big Ten team has experienced as many highs or depths as the Hawkeyes (11-8, 3-3 Big Ten) in league play so far. Iowa has beaten a pair of ranked opponents in Wisconsin and Michigan, won twice on the road and ended three significant losing skids (nine straight at Kohl Center, six straight to both Minnesota and Michigan).

But Iowa also has felt the backhand of defeat in a 29-point home loss to Ohio State and a 34-point loss at Michigan State. Still, for a team coming off four consecutive losing seasons, it's a positive development so far.

"If you'd ask me would I take 3-3, I'd still say let's play the games," Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

Iowa plays at Purdue (13-5, 3-2) Tuesday in a rematch of the teams' opener on Dec. 28. Purdue won 79-76 in a game that still irritates Iowa's players. The Hawkeyes fought possession-by-possession throughout the game, but failed to get stops in the last minute.

"It was definitely a game that I thought we could have had and probably should have had," Iowa senior Matt Gatens said. "A great team, a great coach, a team that plays great on their home court, so it's going to be a tough test for us. But we've done pretty well on the road so far except for one."

Iowa has lost four straight at Purdue's Mackey Arena and the last three have come by a combined 68 points. Each of those losses featured a different, yet equally massive breakdown that collapsed on the Hawkeyes. Last year, the Boilermakers started with an 11-0 lead and forced eight Iowa turnovers before the Hawkeyes scored eight points.

Two years ago, Iowa scored one basket in a 20-possession span. In 2009, the Hawkeyes saw their five-point deficit explode when Purdue sank four 3-pointers in an 18-2 run.

Gatens said taking care of the ball is vital for Iowa to compete at Purdue.

"They're a team that likes to get up in you and force turnovers," Gatens said. "They've got a lot of good shooters, (they) take smart shots and have good decisions on the offensive end. We'll watch the tape from a few weeks ago and learn what we did wrong but use the things we did right and go get another one on the road."

McCaffery said to compete at Purdue will take a similar effort to the Hawkeyes' win at then-No. 11 Wisconsin more so than Iowa's 16-point victory against then-No. 13 Michigan on Saturday.

"I think when you go on the road and win at the Kohl Center, that's a little bit harder," McCaffery said. "No disrespect to Michigan, but that's when you go in there and win - but it was the first time we had done it in a long time. And we knew that we had to have a similar kind of effort.

"I felt we showed great maturity in terms of refocusing our preparation for the Michigan game. Again, the next step, we're going to one of the most difficult venues in the country against a team that's playing well and we have to get refocused and re-energized and figure out a way to defend a team that we didn't defend so well last time we played them."