Boilers, Hawkeyes meet looking for consistency

Purdue is on a two-game winning streak but needed a furious late rally to beat Northwestern 63-61 on Thursday.

Despite having one of the Big Ten’s best defenses, Iowa can’t seem to manage enough points to win and has lost two straight.

All both coaches want is some consistency.

The No. 19 Boilermakers need it in the form of toughness and disciplined offense, coach Matt Painter said.

Iowa coach Todd Lickliter would like his team to be more efficient on offense, starting with today’s noon game at Mackey Arena. That may not be an easy task against Purdue, which is second in the NCAA in field goal-percentage defense (36 percent).

The Hawkeyes (11-6, 1-3 Big Ten) have scored at least 60 points only twice in the last six games and failed to reach 50 points three times in that stretch, including back-to-back, 49-point efforts in losses to Minnesota and Michigan.

Lickliter said he’s emphasized defense most of the season in practice – it’s helped his team lead the league in scoring defense (56.1) – but that has come at the expense of offensive productivity.

Though the Hawkeyes lead the league in three-point shooting (40 percent), they’re 10th in scoring offense (62.8).

“We have to address effectiveness and purpose on offense,” Lickliter said.

So do the Boilermakers (13-4, 2-2).

Perhaps it will help that Iowa typically relies on man-to-man defense, not the aggressive trapping zone that Northwestern produced 22 turnovers by Purdue on Thursday. The Boilermakers had trouble with the simple things – passing and catching – against the Wildcats. But they rebounded in the final minutes to pull out at victory on JaJuan Johnson’s two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining.

“We’re hoping it will help us make some improvements, get us going in the right direction,” Painter said of the victory. “We’ve talked about just getting healthy and playing smart but also playing tough. I thought at the end of the game, we made some tough plays. We made some smart plays. We just have to show more consistency in those areas.”

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