Second-half defense, Braden Smith carry No. 5 Purdue past Iowa

The electricity. The intensity.

And that was Purdue’s defense in the second half.

From there, the 100^th straight sellout at Mackey Arena helped the fifth-ranked Boilermakers put Wednesday’s Big Ten game against Iowa in the win column.

The 79-72 victory wasn’t decided until the final moments, but Purdue ramped up the pressure, forcing turnovers and converting those mistakes into much-needed offense. The win extended the winning streak to eight, ahead of the upcoming trip to USC and UCLA.

The defense was triggered by Gicarri Harris, Daniel Jacobsen, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Braden Smith.

What was billed as a matchup between two of the nation’s top point guards didn’t materialize in the first half, but Smith and Bennett Stirtz made sure it did after halftime.

Smith was in a takeover mode on both ends, being a pest defensively and delivering clutch baskets on offense. Meanwhile, Stirtz was saddled with two early fouls but put the Hawkeyes in position to spring the upset in the second half.

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PURDUE COACH MATT PAINTER

PURDUE’S GICARRI HARRIS, BRADEN SMITH AND DANIEL JACOBSEN

Smith scored all 16 of his points after halftime. Stirtz had 11 of his 19 in the second half.

The Boilermakers closed the game by hitting 9 of their last 10 shots. They shot 72.7% in the second half.

Purdue wrestled control of the game away from Iowa following Harris’ 3-pointer and Kaufman-Renn’s layup with 6:04 to play. The Boilermakers extended the advantage to 69-64 with three minutes left. The Hawkeyes closed within 69-66, but C.J. Cox‘s corner 3-pointer increased the margin with 2:04 to play.

Oscar Cluff and Kaufman-Renn combined for 22 points after both players battled through foul trouble.

The Boilermakers dug themselves into a nine-point hole during the first five minutes of the second half, committing four turnovers and watching the Hawkeyes sprint out to a 48-39 lead.

“WE NEEDED TO GET HIM GOING”

These are Smith’s words.

“I woke up, too,” the senior point guard said. “That helps.”

After going scoreless in the first half, Smith reached his usual level of play at both ends of the floor. He was active on defense. He was efficient on offense. He took over, and his teammates followed his lead.

We’ve seen this script before, and now Iowa coach Ben McCollum has seen it in person.

“It’s the Braden ball screen,” McCollum said. “Everybody knows what they’re going to run. We chose to sit back, and he was able to race outside. Once he races outside and stretches that floor, and he stretches the tag so much, and then that tag is indecisive. When the tags are indecisive, they’re able to skip and play in rotation. That makes those other guys so much better.”

Smith called out his three first-half turnovers and counted a blocked shot as another turnover in his mind. The Hawkeyes made 7 of 10 from 3-point range, including Tavion Banks and Kael Combs, both of whom aren’t the strongest perimeter shooters.

Banks and Combs finished a combined 7 of 8 from 3-point range.

“That’s also part of it,” Smith said. “The game, it’s gonna happen. Guys are gonna have nights like that where guys can’t shoot, but they make shots. We’ve got to take care of the ball, but just do our job. Our offense is so good that it’s really us that messes it up. If it’s not working, it’s usually one of us doing something dumb or stupid, like in the first half.”

But redemption for Smith began with the Boilermakers down nine points. Smith made two pull-up jumpers, and Purdue inched closer to putting game pressure on the Hawkeyes.

“Just to get that confidence, we needed to get him going, and he did,” Painter said.

“MORE DIFFICULT TO DEFEND”

The foul trouble maybe should’ve put the Boilermakers in a bigger role.

Cluff and Kaufman-Renn played a combined 14 minutes in the first half but were saddled with two fouls. Enter Daniel Jacobsen. Enter Jack Benter. Enter Harris. Enter Omer Mayer.

The group accounted for 21 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Benter drained a pair of 3-pointers in the first half, filling in for Kaufman-Renn. Jacobsen pulled down nine rebounds, including seven in the first half, replacing Cluff. Harris’ second-half 3-pointer gave the Boilermakers the lead for good, and Mayer delivered another deep corner 3-pointer in the first half.

“I thought they almost became better,” McCollum said. “It became more difficult to defend because they got all those shooters out there, and they’ve got a lot of weapons.”

Mayer didn’t record an assist, but in McCollum’s mind, all of the freshman’s passes were hockey assists.

“They’re all plus one assists,” the first-year coach said. “He was really good at reading that ball screen, and we didn’t adjust to it quick enough. Those players are good players. It’s not like they’re bringing bad players off the bench.

“Honestly, it probably went against our game plan a little bit, and probably helped them. You have to adjust, and then when it’s time, the bigs come back in, and you have to adjust back.”

It’s the sixth time in the last eight games the reserves have totaled at least 20 points.

“(Harris) made that big 3 in the second half,” Painter said. “I thought that was huge. He had active hands, getting a couple of steals. We talked about Daniel’s rebounds, but JB, hitting those two 3s, was big for us. I thought Omer did some really good things. I thought our bench was really good.”

DEFENSE STEPS UP

Look at the second-half stretch from the 12:43 mark to 10:17 on the clock.

It was one of the keys to the victory.

Harris had two steals, and Smith and Kaufman-Renn each added one during the sequence as the Boilermakers fought their way back.

“Our defensive intensity,” Smith said. “We did a little bit better, and we were able to push the ball out, get some buckets. Everybody does their job always, and that’s what makes our team so special, even if we’re having a rough night. Everybody is expected to do what they normally do.”

Although the Hawkeyes didn’t go away and even held a 61-59 lead with 7:18 to play, the aggressiveness on the defensive end brought Painter’s team back into the game and filled the arena with energy.

“Every time I got a steal or forced to turnover, I feel like that everybody in the crowd and all of our teammates, they got hyped and you know that helped our offense,” Harris said.

Purdue’s lack of communication on switching ball screens contributed to defensive breakdowns in the first half and early in the second.

“Either they don’t say it, or they don’t listen, and when you go and ask them, you normally get two different answers,” Painter said. “We had some breakdowns, and they took advantage of it.”