WEST LAFAYETTE — As the Purdue community mourned the loss of fellow Boilermaker, Tyler Trent, this week the hoop team honored him with a tribute before the game wearing #TylerStrong shooting shirts. The visitors in Mackey Arena, the Iowa Hawkeyes did the same. It was great to see both teams honor the homie Tyler’s life. Then it was time to get down to business. Purdue wasted no time jumping all over Iowa as they beat the breaks off of them 86-70.
The Purdue Boilermakers (9-5, 2-1 Big Ten) jumped out of the ride and went to work on the Iowa Hawkeyes. They were riding a two game winning streak and looked every bit of it from the word go and the led all but a little over a minute in this one.
Carsen Edwards scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half as the Boilermakers shot the lights out of the gym. They dropped 52 points on the Hawkeyes in the opening half shooting 63 percent from the field and 50 percent from behind the arc. To top things off they shot 90 percent from the foul line just to let boyz know that they weren’t playing around.
That was the most points that Iowa had given up in a half all season.
Matt Painter’s squad threw 13 dimes on their way to the break as well. Ball movement was at a premium as the Boilermakers were serious about not allowing the ball to stop. They got crazy production off of the bench in this one as Matt Harms dropped off 14 points and Aaron Wheeler finished with 10.
The Boilermakers finished with 23 assists shooting 55 percent from the field!!! That’s NUTS!!! Now it’s time to take the show on the road to play two ranked opponents in No.8 Michigan State and then No.22 Wisconsin. Then they’ll be at home for Rutgers before wrestling with their biggest rival No. 21 Indiana before going back on the road to play No.14 Ohio State. Oh and then that same Michigan State team comes calling at Mackey Arena.
So in other words playa, no days off!! It should be fun to watch. Stop me when I start lyin’!