It sure would have done wonders for the team's confidence to have pulled out a victory vs Purdue, especially looking ahead to the next few games but unfortunately the margin for error this season is still quite slim. I'm not a huge numbers guy but here's a rough summary that helped me realize just how slim that margin was tonight.
Offensively - Iowa shot 21-29 (1pt shy of their 75.4% avg) from the charity stripe and 3-11 (essentially 1 miss shy of 35.4% avg) from behind the arc while they more or less matched their season avg from 2pt range for a -4 pt differential in favor of Purdue.
Defensively - Iowa actually held Purdue below their 3pt% season avg of as the defense did a much better job of recognizing shooters and contesting shots in the second half or -3 in terms of pts. Unfortunately, however, this led to over-committing and allowing way too much dribble penetration leading to Purdue shooting 50% or effectively +8 in terms of pts vs Purdue FG% season avg for a +5 differential in favor of Purdue.
I believe Iowa let a much needed win get away from them but let's just hope they continue to play with the intensity shown below and continue to improve throughout the season.
Offensively - Iowa shot 21-29 (1pt shy of their 75.4% avg) from the charity stripe and 3-11 (essentially 1 miss shy of 35.4% avg) from behind the arc while they more or less matched their season avg from 2pt range for a -4 pt differential in favor of Purdue.
Defensively - Iowa actually held Purdue below their 3pt% season avg of as the defense did a much better job of recognizing shooters and contesting shots in the second half or -3 in terms of pts. Unfortunately, however, this led to over-committing and allowing way too much dribble penetration leading to Purdue shooting 50% or effectively +8 in terms of pts vs Purdue FG% season avg for a +5 differential in favor of Purdue.
I believe Iowa let a much needed win get away from them but let's just hope they continue to play with the intensity shown below and continue to improve throughout the season.
