JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
The Iowa men's basketball team ran into an athletic Louisana Tech team on Tuesday night. They clung to a one-point halftime lead and there were times where La Tech looked capable of beating Iowa. They played solid defense and were disruptive due to their individual abilities.
However, Iowa played more as a team and that was a difference down the stretch as Iowa won 77-58 in its final game before things get really, really tough in the Big Ten this year, a league that might be as good as it's been in more than two decades.
Matt Gatens scored 22 points to lead Iowa. It was his second game in a row with 19 or more points as well as the second game in a row where he has played without a brace on his left hand. He hit 5-9 three point shots to go along with 7-8 from the foul line.
Bryce Cartwright played his best game as a Hawkeye, running the floor well and playing under control. He also scored 19, dished out 7 assists, had 6 rebounds and just 2 turnovers. Jarryd Cole led Iowa on the glass with 12 in addition to 10 points. Eric May scored 10 while Melsahn Basabe had seven second half points after going scoreless in the first half; he also failed to collect a rebound in the first half and finished with three.
Iowa took advantage of 17 La Tech turnovers, scoring 26 points off of those takeaways. La Tech scored just eight points off 12 Iowa turnovers.
For the game, Iowa hit 25-57 shots (44%), 9-22 trey's (41%) and 18-23 from the line (78%). The free throw shooting was encouraging as this has not been a strong suit for Iowa this year.
The Hawkeyes record improved to 7-5...now the tough part of the season begins as Iowa will play four ranked teams in the first five games, including two against the #2 ranked team in the nation.
Iowa hosts #21 Illinois next week followed by a home game against #2 Ohio State. After that is a road game at #13 Purdue. Iowa comes back home to play 8-0 Northwestern and John Shurna, who is averaging 24 points per game followed by a road trip to #16 Minnesota and then to #2 Ohio State.
To review, five of Iowa's first six Big Ten games are against ranked teams with the lone unranked team being undefeated with the league's leading scorer to deal with.
The Big Ten has five teams ranked inside the Top 16; Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota and #12 Michigan State.
10 of Iowa's 18 league games, or 55% will come against those five teams as Iowa plays every one of them twice. Wisconsin & Michigan are unranked at this time with 9-2 records
The Hawks won 10 games last year and it will be a minor achievement to win four or five more this year. This is not Steve Alford's Big Ten...wait, it might be...not Alford the coach, as he was in this league during one of its 'worst' stretches in 40 years as far as the number of very good teams...this is more like Alford's Big Ten during his playing days in the 1980's, which is the apex of basketball for this conference in my opinion.
The Hawks have an uphill climb this year. I hope they can stay healthy and not get too discouraged as the losses mount, because they will.
However, Iowa played more as a team and that was a difference down the stretch as Iowa won 77-58 in its final game before things get really, really tough in the Big Ten this year, a league that might be as good as it's been in more than two decades.
Matt Gatens scored 22 points to lead Iowa. It was his second game in a row with 19 or more points as well as the second game in a row where he has played without a brace on his left hand. He hit 5-9 three point shots to go along with 7-8 from the foul line.
Bryce Cartwright played his best game as a Hawkeye, running the floor well and playing under control. He also scored 19, dished out 7 assists, had 6 rebounds and just 2 turnovers. Jarryd Cole led Iowa on the glass with 12 in addition to 10 points. Eric May scored 10 while Melsahn Basabe had seven second half points after going scoreless in the first half; he also failed to collect a rebound in the first half and finished with three.
Iowa took advantage of 17 La Tech turnovers, scoring 26 points off of those takeaways. La Tech scored just eight points off 12 Iowa turnovers.
For the game, Iowa hit 25-57 shots (44%), 9-22 trey's (41%) and 18-23 from the line (78%). The free throw shooting was encouraging as this has not been a strong suit for Iowa this year.
The Hawkeyes record improved to 7-5...now the tough part of the season begins as Iowa will play four ranked teams in the first five games, including two against the #2 ranked team in the nation.
Iowa hosts #21 Illinois next week followed by a home game against #2 Ohio State. After that is a road game at #13 Purdue. Iowa comes back home to play 8-0 Northwestern and John Shurna, who is averaging 24 points per game followed by a road trip to #16 Minnesota and then to #2 Ohio State.
To review, five of Iowa's first six Big Ten games are against ranked teams with the lone unranked team being undefeated with the league's leading scorer to deal with.
The Big Ten has five teams ranked inside the Top 16; Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, Minnesota and #12 Michigan State.
10 of Iowa's 18 league games, or 55% will come against those five teams as Iowa plays every one of them twice. Wisconsin & Michigan are unranked at this time with 9-2 records
The Hawks won 10 games last year and it will be a minor achievement to win four or five more this year. This is not Steve Alford's Big Ten...wait, it might be...not Alford the coach, as he was in this league during one of its 'worst' stretches in 40 years as far as the number of very good teams...this is more like Alford's Big Ten during his playing days in the 1980's, which is the apex of basketball for this conference in my opinion.
The Hawks have an uphill climb this year. I hope they can stay healthy and not get too discouraged as the losses mount, because they will.
