JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
With all apologies to Charles Dickens, Iowa's 81-74 win at Illinois on Saturday night was the best of times as well as the worst of times.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 21-point lead in the first half only to go the final 7:34 without a field goal and see that lead shrink to just four points at the half.
In the run up to that collapse, the Hawkeyes looked as good as they have all year and as good as they have in any trip to Assembly Hall since 1987. I've seen every one of Iowa's games at Illinois dating back to the early 1980's and speak from three decades of observation; the Hawkeyes were flat locked in when it was 34-13.
Jarrod Uthoff had just made a three-point shot and Adam Woodbury was fouled on the play and he made two free-throws after the TV timeout to create that 21-point lead. Then it fell apart, reminiscent of the last time Iowa stepped on the court, Tuesday against Michigan State.
In that game, Iowa went the final nine-plus minutes of regulation and the first for-plus minutes of overtime without scoring a basket and lost by two.
Iowa led 40-36 at the break and in some ways it was still remarkable...remarkable that they still led the way they hadn't scored a bucket and remarkable that they had scored 40 points in a half without making a basket for a stretch of over seven minutes.
The second half showed an intensity you come to expect in a Big Ten game, as both teams were diving for loose balls and going for broke to get this win.
Illinois tied it with 14:49 to play and took a 62-61 lead with 10:18 to play. With 9:02 to play, Illinois led by five-points...it was at this point that I began to wonder just what a loss like this would do to this team, to this fan base.
There have been so many parallels to the 1986-1987 team for this year's squad, stylistically, with depth and my belief that this could be the best Iowa team since that team. But this team was about to do the reverse of that 1987 team who rallied from a 22-point deficit with 15:52 remaining in Champaign to win by three in overtime.
The threads were beginning to unravel for this team, on the road to a team who was in the midst of a six-game losing streak and might be the worst in the league this year.
However Iowa then went on a 20 to 8 run to close the game...they hit their free throws...they showed some grit by not falling apart or playing scared and asserted that they were the best team on the floor and pulled out the win.
Is there something to be said for a win like this versus a blowout win I prefer the blowouts because it's easier on the ticker. However this team endured another scoring drought of the same fashion as from their crushing loss to Michigan State. 'Here we go again' had to be going through some of their minds. They could have folded up the tents but that didn't happen.
Winning the way they did after losing the lead the way they did MIGHT have exorcised a few of those Michigan State demons and doubts. No, Illinois isn't on par with the Spartans but the field goal drought and overcoming it this time cannot be ignored. So much about sports is psychological...far more than I would have admitted or believed in my youth.
Winning breeds winning, success breeds success. That applies to so many things in life and is paramount in sports. It's why some people said after Iowa lost to Michigan State that the Spartans just persevere because they've been there and done that and this Iowa team just doesn't have that experience, doesn't have those victories and experiences to draw on.
You don't get those until you get them...and on Saturday night at Illinois, Iowa added those experiences to their mental banks.
Dev Marble would lead Iowa with 17 points and once again those all came in the second half. Dev has had a habit of this as of late (slow starts). Those points came on 12 shots and he was 6-8 from the line. Aaron White scored 14 and those points came on 11 shots; I think those shot totals for these two players is in the winning zone for the most part, at least for White.
Gabe Olaseni had a monster first half for Iowa, aggressively attacking the post and feeding the post was most certainly a huge part of Iowa's scouting report for this game. Gabe scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, including nine free-throws. He finished with 12 rebounds for his second double-double of his career. Uthoff and Zach McCabe had seven apiece.
Iowa dominated the glass 41-28 including a +7 advantage on the offensive glass. Iowa was also 24-30 from the line in this one, which saved their bacon as they were too sloppy with the ball for much of the night (15 turnovers).
This was Iowa's first win in Champaign since 1999 and second win since 1987. Iowa is now 5-0 this year coming off of losses and their next game will be at home on Tuesday night.
Iowa is now 17-5 on the season, 6-3 in Big Ten play. They are at the halfway point and the second half schedule is 'easier' than the first half which saw Iowa play road games at Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan.
ESPN will be in Iowa City for another 'Super Tuesday' game with Ohio State as the opponent.
While the Buckeyes are down this year, they are certainly not going to be a pushover and they will try to much it up much like Michigan State did one week ago. The game tips off at 6:05.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 21-point lead in the first half only to go the final 7:34 without a field goal and see that lead shrink to just four points at the half.
In the run up to that collapse, the Hawkeyes looked as good as they have all year and as good as they have in any trip to Assembly Hall since 1987. I've seen every one of Iowa's games at Illinois dating back to the early 1980's and speak from three decades of observation; the Hawkeyes were flat locked in when it was 34-13.
Jarrod Uthoff had just made a three-point shot and Adam Woodbury was fouled on the play and he made two free-throws after the TV timeout to create that 21-point lead. Then it fell apart, reminiscent of the last time Iowa stepped on the court, Tuesday against Michigan State.
In that game, Iowa went the final nine-plus minutes of regulation and the first for-plus minutes of overtime without scoring a basket and lost by two.
Iowa led 40-36 at the break and in some ways it was still remarkable...remarkable that they still led the way they hadn't scored a bucket and remarkable that they had scored 40 points in a half without making a basket for a stretch of over seven minutes.
The second half showed an intensity you come to expect in a Big Ten game, as both teams were diving for loose balls and going for broke to get this win.
Illinois tied it with 14:49 to play and took a 62-61 lead with 10:18 to play. With 9:02 to play, Illinois led by five-points...it was at this point that I began to wonder just what a loss like this would do to this team, to this fan base.
There have been so many parallels to the 1986-1987 team for this year's squad, stylistically, with depth and my belief that this could be the best Iowa team since that team. But this team was about to do the reverse of that 1987 team who rallied from a 22-point deficit with 15:52 remaining in Champaign to win by three in overtime.
The threads were beginning to unravel for this team, on the road to a team who was in the midst of a six-game losing streak and might be the worst in the league this year.
However Iowa then went on a 20 to 8 run to close the game...they hit their free throws...they showed some grit by not falling apart or playing scared and asserted that they were the best team on the floor and pulled out the win.
Is there something to be said for a win like this versus a blowout win I prefer the blowouts because it's easier on the ticker. However this team endured another scoring drought of the same fashion as from their crushing loss to Michigan State. 'Here we go again' had to be going through some of their minds. They could have folded up the tents but that didn't happen.
Winning the way they did after losing the lead the way they did MIGHT have exorcised a few of those Michigan State demons and doubts. No, Illinois isn't on par with the Spartans but the field goal drought and overcoming it this time cannot be ignored. So much about sports is psychological...far more than I would have admitted or believed in my youth.
Winning breeds winning, success breeds success. That applies to so many things in life and is paramount in sports. It's why some people said after Iowa lost to Michigan State that the Spartans just persevere because they've been there and done that and this Iowa team just doesn't have that experience, doesn't have those victories and experiences to draw on.
You don't get those until you get them...and on Saturday night at Illinois, Iowa added those experiences to their mental banks.
Dev Marble would lead Iowa with 17 points and once again those all came in the second half. Dev has had a habit of this as of late (slow starts). Those points came on 12 shots and he was 6-8 from the line. Aaron White scored 14 and those points came on 11 shots; I think those shot totals for these two players is in the winning zone for the most part, at least for White.
Gabe Olaseni had a monster first half for Iowa, aggressively attacking the post and feeding the post was most certainly a huge part of Iowa's scouting report for this game. Gabe scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, including nine free-throws. He finished with 12 rebounds for his second double-double of his career. Uthoff and Zach McCabe had seven apiece.
Iowa dominated the glass 41-28 including a +7 advantage on the offensive glass. Iowa was also 24-30 from the line in this one, which saved their bacon as they were too sloppy with the ball for much of the night (15 turnovers).
This was Iowa's first win in Champaign since 1999 and second win since 1987. Iowa is now 5-0 this year coming off of losses and their next game will be at home on Tuesday night.
Iowa is now 17-5 on the season, 6-3 in Big Ten play. They are at the halfway point and the second half schedule is 'easier' than the first half which saw Iowa play road games at Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan.
ESPN will be in Iowa City for another 'Super Tuesday' game with Ohio State as the opponent.
While the Buckeyes are down this year, they are certainly not going to be a pushover and they will try to much it up much like Michigan State did one week ago. The game tips off at 6:05.
