Game Report: Hawkeyes Keep It Rolling at Home Against Ohio State

[RobHowe]

The DePaul loss at home is hurting as well.

 

[GVGiant44]

I've said all year that Pemsl's issues this year weren't physical at all. I'm pretty sure I was right.

Not quite. They still aren't saying much about it (good ol' HIPAA laws), but Pemsl was struggling with a back issue early in the season. I've had those, and while they can go away (though not always - see Jess Settles), they SO limit how hard you can play. But between him getting healthy and just finally getting back into the swing of playing night in and night out - which he hadn't done in over two years - we are finally seeing the Cordell Pemsl I thought we would see.

He needs to keep his head right and bluntly, he needs to develop some outside shooting as well as refining his free throw method. If he can do that in the off-season, his final year may be really something special.

 

[GVGiant44]

The DePaul loss at home is hurting as well.

Correct. But I dare say that both losses (Nebraska and DePaul) serve as no small reason why we are where we are near the top of the B1G standings.

After the DePaul loss, we went to a quasi-four guard line-up with only Garza for beef. It has served us well except when we've been without C.J. Though even then, the last two games were the two PERFECT games for us to go back to a larger line-up to counter both Oturu and Kaleb Wesson.

And while I join every other Hawkeye fan in not liking what happened in Lincoln, it showed how we need to bring our 'A' game every single night - an 'A' game that has helped us win some tough, tough games (Rutgers, Illinois, Michigan, at Wisconsin and at Minnesota.).

Honestly, we are one win (a close, close loss at the Palestra) away from having probably THE best season anybody could ever have asked of this team, esp. a team that has so many players we were counting on relegated to spending the rest of the season sitting on the bench dressed in suits.

 

[PCHawk]

Iowa has more Quad 1 wins than any team in the B1G right now.

No team in the country has more wins against Top 25 teams.

We have the 4th most efficient offense and the 8th toughest SOS.

How in the hell can teams like Texas Tech, Michigan, MSU, and OSU be ahead of us? It doesn't make any sense.

The only things I can think of are that our defensive efficiency, especially on the road, is keeping us down along with the loss at Nebraska. Nothing else makes sense.

That means efficiency numbers are more important than actual record and strength of schedule. Any metrics like that better not be used to seed a tournament.

 

[GVGiant44]

I thought there would be a Fran Feb Fade and am glad I was wrong.

I think the reason for that was on display last night. First you have a Luka Garza, whose off-season conditioning and care of his body means he is still bringing the same game now he has brought all season. As much as he gets banged around, that is amazing - but it is keeping us really competitive.

Then through a whole series of happenings, you have some relatively fresh players who are now chipping in the performances that we have suddenly stopped getting, esp. from guys like Wieskamp. For better or worse, the games of Kriener, Evelyn and Pemsl were so inconsistent earlier in the year, Fran just couldn't keep them out on the floor for major minutes most nights.

But I'd like to think that "senior-itis" has affected both Kriener and Evelyn - plus Bakari finally getting used to the Fran system and how he fits into that - that they are doing what Seniors should always do. And because they hadn't played tons of minutes earlier in the year, they are fresh where many banged up B1G players are not.

Stephen Bardo said it best on the BTN post-game last night. If these guys like Evelyn, Kriener, Pemsl and Toussaint can bring an effort like that consistently the rest of the year, Iowa is going to become difficult if not nearly impossible to beat. I sure hope he's right.

 

[PCHawk]

Probably right, but with just four games left, I'd say the "fade" has normally already gotten under way by now. Just a week left in February and still looking pretty good, so I feel better this year that the team won't crumble.

Looking at the last four games, it's pretty brutal, though. @MSU. PSU (#9), PU, @ILL. Iowa could conceivably play pretty well and still finish something like 1-3. Obviously I hope for better than that.. 2-2 is probably best case IMO but I'd gladly take that right now if I had the choice. But barring going 0-4 and looking bad doing it, you won't see me calling it a fade.

I meant just after one loss in East Lansing. If we lose that one game, we will probably see some fade posts

 

[WindsorHawk]

I realize ESPN Bracketology is nonsense as it relates to matchups, etc. But isn’t it usually ballpark on seeds. Iowa and OSU are both a 6. TT is an 8.

Edit - I don’t think 3-6 make much difference this year. I think there is benefit to avoiding 7-10.

 

[thedukeofearl]

I think the reason for that was on display last night. First you have a Luka Garza, whose off-season conditioning and care of his body means he is still bringing the same game now he has brought all season. As much as he gets banged around, that is amazing - but it is keeping us really competitive.

Then through a whole series of happenings, you have some relatively fresh players who are now chipping in the performances that we have suddenly stopped getting, esp. from guys like Wieskamp. For better or worse, the games of Kriener, Evelyn and Pemsl were so inconsistent earlier in the year, Fran just couldn't keep them out on the floor for major minutes most nights.

But I'd like to think that "senior-itis" has affected both Kriener and Evelyn - plus Bakari finally getting used to the Fran system and how he fits into that - that they are doing what Seniors should always do. And because they hadn't played tons of minutes earlier in the year, they are fresh where many banged up B1G players are not.

Stephen Bardo said it best on the BTN post-game last night. If these guys like Evelyn, Kriener, Pemsl and Toussaint can bring an effort like that consistently the rest of the year, Iowa is going to become difficult if not nearly impossible to beat. I sure hope he's right.

Having time to rest before the next game is also helping

 

[HuckFinn]

It's weird that these new formulas are supposedly completely numbers based, but for some reason they always seem to favor the bigger name schools. Ohio State has had some ugly losses too. I don't get it.

I think we are better because we beat them.

 

[TJHawkeye]

Just rewatched this game and I can't believe what Ohio Statemgets away with on defense. Hands constantly on their man and slapping at the ball, but getting lots of arm. We would foul out the whole team if we tried that.

 

[WindsorHawk]

Just rewatched this game and I can't believe what Ohio Statemgets away with on defense. Hands constantly on their man and slapping at the ball, but getting lots of arm. We would foul out the whole team if we tried that.

Wesson was whining when he got his 4th and I was thinking shit dude that’s like your 10th foul. He’s a lazy bastard. With Luka’s work ethic he would be a stud.

 

[homes]

Wesson was whining when he got his 4th and I was thinking shit dude that’s like your 10th foul. He’s a lazy bastard. With Luka’s work ethic he would be a stud.

None of the big men in the Big10 have Luka's stamina. He runs these guys ragged. It's fun to watch him beat it down the court and set up down there. These other big lugs are hating having to keep up with him.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

The DePaul loss at home is hurting as well.

Yeah, six weeks ago nobody would have guessed that may end up being a "worse" loss than the Nebraska loss.

 

[RobHowe]

Yeah, six weeks ago nobody would have guessed that may end up being a "worse" loss than the Nebraska loss.

And Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings aren’t walking through the door anytime soon. And if they did, they’d be old and slow.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Not quite. They still aren't saying much about it (good ol' HIPAA laws), but Pemsl was struggling with a back issue early in the season. I've had those, and while they can go away (though not always - see Jess Settles), they SO limit how hard you can play. But between him getting healthy and just finally getting back into the swing of playing night in and night out - which he hadn't done in over two years - we are finally seeing the Cordell Pemsl I thought we would see.

He needs to keep his head right and bluntly, he needs to develop some outside shooting as well as refining his free throw method. If he can do that in the off-season, his final year may be really something special.

Tom Davis years were full of examples of players who would flourish in their senior years after being relatively pedestrian before then. Les Jepsen was the best example but how about Wade Lookingbill, James Winters, Jim Bartles and Russ Millard just to name a few others.

It would nice to see Cordell go out with a nice senior year after everything he has endured with the surgeries and all.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Just rewatched this game and I can't believe what Ohio Statemgets away with on defense. Hands constantly on their man and slapping at the ball, but getting lots of arm. We would foul out the whole team if we tried that.

The only things missing on some of their body checks on Wiescamp were hockey skates and dasher boards.

Last Sunday night BTN had a lengthy discussion about physical contact when players try to move on offense. They should show footage of what Ohio State was doing.

 

[Northside Hawk]

I meant just after one loss in East Lansing. If we lose that one game, we will probably see some fade posts

We see fade posts everytime we give up a basket.

Look at the Minnesota game thread from last week.

If people have issues with the fact that basketball is a game of ebbs and flows, runs and droughts, games within the games, gut wrenching momentum swings, etc., then basketball might not be the game for them to follow.

 

[Northside Hawk]

And Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings aren’t walking through the door anytime soon. And if they did, they’d be old and slow.

Mark and Terry are still trying to figure out how Jim Lynam's St Joseph's team upset them in the opening round of the 1981 NCAA'S, their second consecutive opening round tank.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

And Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings aren’t walking through the door anytime soon. And if they did, they’d be old and slow.

God told Cummings to go to DePaul (not sure what He had against Iowa)

 

[Northside Hawk]

God told Cummings to go to DePaul (not sure what He had against Iowa)

Would have been nice to have him to defend those athletic forwards that were always Lute's Achilles heel. Like Illinois Eddie Johnson and Mark Smith, Ohio State's Clark Kellogg.

How about Wichita State's Cliff Livingston and Antoine Carr in that NCAA game?