The No. 10 Cyclones have arguably their toughest matchup of the season in just the ninth game, facing No. 1 Purdue in Mackey Arena, one of the most hostile environments in the country.
“I’ve heard Mackey Arena is insane,” junior forward Blake Buchanan said. “Actually me and Fletcher [Loyer] are in the same agency, so I was training with him this summer, so we were talking about it a little bit, but he was telling me how crazy it is.”
One of the biggest difference makers for Iowa State is senior guard Tamin Lipsey, who has been out with a groin injury since the second half of the Cyclones’ win over St. John’s. His status has been deemed day-to-day, and whether or not he will play in this one will be decided closer to the tipoff.
“Tamin practiced today, we’ll keep evaluating as we go into the game, but that’s a positive sign that he did practice,” head coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “We go over to the hotel this afternoon, evaluate him again in the morning, and we won’t put him in a position to do anything his body is not ready to do.”
The Boilermakers, like the Cyclones, are 8-0 so far this season. Two of those eight wins came over top 15 opponents, the first being an 87-80 win over No. 8 Alabama, and the other being a dominant 86-56 win over No. 15 Texas Tech.
Leading the charge for Purdue are senior guard Braden Smith and senior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn. Smith averages just over 13 points per game, but his biggest impact might be distributing the ball, averaging 8.9 assists per game. Kaufman-Renn is dominant in the paint at 6-foot-9, averaging a 15 point, 11 rebound double-double per game.
Despite Smith and Kaufman-Renn being the main guys, the leading scorer is actually senior guard Fletcher Loyer, who shoots 49% from three while putting up 15.6 points per game. The Boilermakers have seven players who average at least seven points per game.
“They’re definitely a really complete team, and you can’t really just go off of one guy,” redshirt senior guard Nate Heise said. “You got to look at all five guys, and they play as a unit, so I think we’re going to have to be really connected and communicate well in order to guard them.”
Another matchup to watch will be Buchanan taking on Purdue senior center Oscar Cluff. The Cyclones were targeting Cluff in the transfer portal this offseason, but the Boilermakers won the recruiting battle, which may have influenced Iowa State landing Buchanan.
“He’s a big body, he’s physical, he does a good job rebounding the ball,” Buchanan said. “That’s gonna be my biggest thing, to just keep him off the boards on both ends, and then, you know, we do a good job guarding the bigs and the post.”
Cluff, close behind Kaufman-Renn, is averaging 11.3 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, just .7 rebounds shy of averaging a double-double himself. With a 6-foot-11 and 255 pound stature, Cluff has about 20 pounds on Buchanan, but looking back at the matchup with St. John’s, Buchanan did a solid job guarding Zuby Ejiofor.
“The last six minutes of the St. John’s game, he had the greatest impact on winning of anybody,” Otzelberger said. “He had three offensive rebounds and finishing plays, making foul shots and doing it against the guy picked as Big East Player of the Year.”
As the Cyclones head to West Lafayette, Indiana, they have a chance to take down the No. 1 team in the country on the road for the first time in school history.
“I mean, you want to make history as much as you can and be remembered for what you did,” Heise said. “I know we’re definitely capable of it.”
The No. 10 Cyclones and No. 1 Boilermakers tip off at 11 a.m., and the game will be televised on CBS.
