The thing I liked about last night's game

homes

homes

Well-Known Member
. . . as opposed to the past 3 years of low scoring games - the points Iowa scored in the paint. UNI dictates a slower paced game, so I expected a low scoring game (although not quite that low - you got to make free throws), but it wasn't pass around the perimeter and fire up a shot. They were constantly trying to attack the basket with interior passes and drives - much more promising and encouraging to watch. I'm not necessarily putting this team in a postseason tournament, but they're definitely better now than they were against So. Dakota State, so, who knows.
 


I think the team has definitely improved, and this should be a fun season to watch them continue to develop in the new system. I'm not sure just how good at defense UNI is, but it seems that they were able to (for the most part) shut down the dribble drive. We didn't see as many times where Iowa was able to get to the rim compared to earlier games, yet they still won and thats a good sign. I did love to see coach's adjustments of moving Cartwright off the ball and have him coming off of screens to get him a little space to try to create something in the second half. You wouldn't have seen anything like that with Lick, but Fran saw what UNI was doing, knew that Cartwright is one of the better players at driving and dishing it off, and so he moved Cartwright into a position to do that.
 


100% agree. Like Kenyon said on the air...despite the score this was a well played game except the teams weren't making the open looks. I like watching well executed half-court basketball which we did for the most part. We had good looks. Gatens struggles from 3 (again), May had a couple of 10 foot jumpers that he normally knocks down, Cartwright had trouble finishing, plus the terrible free throw shooting.

Scoring 51 last night gives me so much more hope for the future than the 51 we often scored with Lick. The offense is getting the players good shots and opportunities, not stalling out with meaningless ball screens and throwing up a desperation 3. We worked the ball inside and were constantly trying to create early in the shot clock with drive and kicks. UNI plays great defense; they won't give up anything on the baseline, they close out well, they have incredible transition defense, their bigs know how to position despite being not great shot blockers.

I thought every player on our team was very unselfish. I love how we drived and kicked or how our bigs moved the ball. Basabe in his first game completely panicked in the post when he was doubled. You can tell the coaches have worked with him and he is really improving in his recognition. I thought it at the time but anybody who said Basabe is a project really doesn't understand the meaning of the word or doesn't understand basketball.
 


Agree. There is a difference between a low-scoring, defensive battle and a low-scoring because you took a nap at half-court kinda game. I never once felt "bored" watching that game. Listening to the radio yesterday, Perrault thought Iowa didn't have a chance because of their half-court offense, but he didn't take into account their half court defense and that is what won that game. We got to see them win a half court game, now on Friday we will see if they can outrun a running team. Either way I am feeling better about the future (real, not wishful thinking like 3 years ago) than I have in a long time.
 


I agree. After the first 5 minutes of the game, it was pretty obvious that the game wasn't going to be played in the 70's or 80's, but more like the 50's or 60's. UNI played pretty tough defense, but we were able to execute enough to get the win.

We don't win this game without playing good defense ourselves.

We still have to find a way to get more shots to fall from the outside I think, which will help open up the interior, but I agree, our team is much improved since SDSU. We're playing good defense and taking much better care of the ball. Couldn't say that when we played SDSU.
 


Agree with the other posts, anyone that plays UNI is not going to score a lot of points , UNI is very well coached and very physical and tough but they are not going to outscore people, it was an ugly game but the Hawks were the tougher team!
 




Loved the Iowa defense last night, how they changed up almost every trip down the floor. That was a pleasure to see.
51 pts but the points were interesting, not like last year. So much better this year than the last 3.
Things just looked crisper (if that makes sense).
We are looking at the building blocks of an NCAA team in 2 yrs.
 


It's fun to watch a team that is progressively improving! The coaching staff has really impressed me with their ability to get this team ready against various styles of basketball. Imagine what it'll be like once the coaching adjustments are second in nature vs. having to think it through... Very, very excited about the future of the program. I would think that Paige could see himself playing this style of basketball.
 


Can't locate the source now but saw a rating of the Big Ten yesterday that (appropriately) had Iowa listed as #11 but added the comment that Iowa was the most improved team in the Big Ten.
I think both the ranking and the comment are correct - just tells us how far our program had dropped and how far it has to travel to get to where we all want it to be.
Glad to see so many positive comments about improvements instead of criticism of work that still needs to be done.
 


Totally agree. Probably because we scored 51 when we were struggling to hit shots. With Lick, we hit 51 when we played well on offense. Plus, the W always makes everything feel much better. The future is definitely bright. I'm MAD again and am definitely a Fran-atic

urohawk said:
100% agree. Like Kenyon said on the air...despite the score this was a well played game except the teams weren't making the open looks. I like watching well executed half-court basketball which we did for the most part. We had good looks. Gatens struggles from 3 (again), May had a couple of 10 foot jumpers that he normally knocks down, Cartwright had trouble finishing, plus the terrible free throw shooting.

Scoring 51 last night gives me so much more hope for the future than the 51 we often scored with Lick. The offense is getting the players good shots and opportunities, not stalling out with meaningless ball screens and throwing up a desperation 3. We worked the ball inside and were constantly trying to create early in the shot clock with drive and kicks. UNI plays great defense; they won't give up anything on the baseline, they close out well, they have incredible transition defense, their bigs know how to position despite being not great shot blockers.

I thought every player on our team was very unselfish. I love how we drived and kicked or how our bigs moved the ball. Basabe in his first game completely panicked in the post when he was doubled. You can tell the coaches have worked with him and he is really improving in his recognition. I thought it at the time but anybody who said Basabe is a project really doesn't understand the meaning of the word or doesn't understand basketball.
Click to expand...
 


I think Iowa actually did a good job pushing the tempo a bit. If they had shot a normal percentage and made some free throws, they would have been in the 70s. That is decent tempo against a team like UNI.
 




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