Iowa stuns No. 6 Purdue
Purdue was playing for a possible share of the Big Ten title and perhaps even a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Iowa was playing for little more than pride — and yet still played harder than the shell-shocked Boilermakers.
Jarryd Cole had 16 points and 10 rebounds in his final home game, and host Iowa shocked No. 6 Purdue 67-65 Saturday, putting the Boilermakers’ hopes for a top seed in the NCAAs in jeopardy and clinching the league title for top-ranked Ohio State.
Bryce Cartwright and Matt Gatens each added 13 points for the Hawkeyes (11-19, 4-14), who snapped the Boilermakers’ seven-game winning streak along with their own dubious skid of 25 straight losses to ranked opponents.
“Our effort wasn’t as good as Iowa’s,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “They made more hustle plays there at the end.”
JaJuan Johnson had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Purdue (25-6, 14-4), which went 5 of 25 from 3-point range and shot just 36.2 percent from the field. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Boilermakers were also outrebounded 48-40 by Iowa, which isn’t exactly known for its inside play.
What was most striking for Purdue, though, was how it got outworked by a team with almost no postseason aspirations on the first weekend in March.
“They played harder than us (Saturday),” said Johnson, who went 9 of 23 from the field. “It’s just how we respond to it. It could be a blessing in disguise.”
Though the Hawkeyes came in with 3 Big Ten wins, they were in control for nearly the entire second half.
Cartwright hit a floater that bounced up and in with 31 seconds left to put the Hawkeyes ahead 65-61. Purdue’s Lewis Jackson answered with a layup, but Gatens raced down the floor and hit 2 game-icing free throws with six seconds left.
It took 30 games for Iowa to put it all together, but the Hawkeyes finally came through by pulling off perhaps the Big Ten’s biggest upset of the year.
“We have to consistently do what we did (Saturday), play with that kind of composure and that kind of effort, and great things happen,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
Michigan 70, Michigan St. 63:
Tim Hardaway Jr. scored all 20 of his points in the second half, and host Michigan (19-12, 9-9 Big Ten) completed a surprising sweep of Michigan State (17-13, 9-9). The Wolverines are now very much in the running for an NCAA Tournament spot after winning eight of their last 11 regular-season games.
The Wolverines started this impressive stretch in late January when they beat Michigan State in East Lansing for the first time in 14 years. If that win was a shocker, this one was simply confirmation of the strides coach John Beilein’s young team is making.
“When coach first got here, that was one of our main goals,” Michigan’s Zack Novak said. “We wanted to get Michigan basketball going back in the right direction, and beating Michigan State was a big part of that.”
Michigan and Michigan State finished even in the Big Ten standings, but the Wolverines will be seeded higher in the conference tournament — the first time that’s happened since 2003.
Michigan State was considered a national title contender before the season, but the Spartans now find themselves on the bubble along with the Wolverines. Michigan fans chanted “NIT!” at Michigan State players as they left the court.