IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa needed to quickly rebound from a crushing, overtime loss to top-ranked Illinois.
The Hawkeyes did just that Saturday, easily beating Purdue 71-57 on just one-day's rest.
"This was a very difficult turnaround," said Iowa coach Steve Alford, who challenged his team to come back strong after Thursday's 73-68 loss against the Illini.
"This was a big concern for us and you have to hold serve at home, especially now as we get into the thick of the Big Ten season," he said.
Greg Brunner and Doug Thomas scored 14 points each and the 23rd-ranked Hawkeyes (14-4, 2-3 Big Ten) built an 18-point halftime lead. They were never threatened in the second half.
Jeff Horner added 13 points, the reserves accounted for 21 points and the Hawkeyes shot 45 percent from the field to hand Purdue (4-12, 0-6) its sixth straight defeat and worst Big Ten start since the 1962-63 season.
"We knew we had to win this game," Horner said. "Our bench came in and just did a great job. I think that's why our offense was so good in the first half."
Carl Landry led the Boilermakers (4-12, 0-6) with 16 points and eight rebounds, and David Teague chipped in 11 points, including three 3-pointers.
The Boilermakers hit 50 percent of the 3s, but turned the ball over 19 times and, as they have all season, were hampered by a lackluster offense.
Entering the game ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten in scoring, the Boilermakers managed just eight points in the first 12 minutes, and their 17 first-half points were a season low.
They were also outmuscled underneath the basket, where Iowa won the rebound battle 38-35 and outscored the Boilermakers 34-14 in the paint.
Purdue coach Gene Keady said the burden for turning the season around falls on everyone.
"I can't afford to be disappointed," said Keady, who coached his final game in Iowa City and was honored with a standing ovation before tip-off.
"You've got to come back and teach, be positive and not let things get you down. There are a lot worse things than this. We got ourselves in this fix and we're going to try to fight through it and get out of it," said Keady, who is retiring at season's end after 25 years at Purdue.
Iowa twice built leads of 21 points in the second half, the first coming on Thomas' putback to make it 59-38 with 8:12 remaining.
For Thomas, a junior college transfer who is among the first players off Iowa's bench, the performance was his best in a long while.
He shot 7-for-13 and had his best scoring game since the season opener. He also grabbed nine rebounds and blocked a shot, but it was his three thundering dunks that seemed to energize the Hawkeyes early.
"When Doug's in there, it gets the crowd going, it gets us going and that's definitely what we need," Horner said.
