When you turn the ball over that much and still find a way to win

[mopkins]

The mental toughness angle is real. As everyone has pointed out this team is mentally tougher than teams in the past.




After the Depaul game I had put my eggs in the 20-21 basket. To describe this season I was using words like "player development and reset button". Not anymore, even without Jbo, this team will compete for NCAA bid. No way I was thinking like that a month ago.

Imagine a world where Iowa gets into the dance this year and then returns everyone healthy next year, you'd be looking at 3 straight NCAA appearances and 6 in the last 8 years. It would also mean Fran has made more NCAA tournaments at iowa than hes missed

The "fire Fran" crowd might have issues

 

[ArvadaHawk]

i think we all understand just how hard it is to win a game where you have 24 turnovers. what we don't know is whether iowa is hardened, tough and gritty enough to have won or if cincy ran out of gas. i'm leaning towards the former as cincy actually went up 64-62 and then we came back to win. playing a crap game without your security blanket and finding a way to tough it out is how i'm looking at this won. but, we shall see as we know we'll have more games like this in the B1G since all teams in the B1G have games like this in conference.

 

[thedukeofearl]

The bottom line is that we won the game despite the abysmal turnovers and sad free throw percentage

This is a solid team that has a lot of pride and plays very well together. They didn't stop fighting when the Bearcats took the lead, overcoming a 16 point deficit. The Hawks kept their composure while still creating turnovers and missing free throws down the stretch. We continued the defensive intensity and superior rebounding. One thing I really like about this team is how they protect the paint. When the ball goes inside the Lads collapse on the opponent with the ball and give no ground at all

Freddy The Nightmare along with Bakari were the players of the game No doubt. I believe that those two cats will handle the load while Jordan recovers

Cordell has found the way and is playing like we expected him to. Before this game he wasn't quite in the groove and didn't seem to have his timing down. That has changed and he played some solid minutes, same as Ryan Kriener who had some timely baskets and also gave us solid floor play

We need to have more movement on offense instead of watching the ballhandler dribble around in traffic. The Cincy D was smothering inside and out, but we managed to score anyway

This was a team victory and there we had some timely clutch shooting down the stretch when the bearcats closed the gap and went ahead. Freddy, JoeT, and Bakari were instrumental in staying ahead to counter the frantic comeback

Nobody really expected us to have a 10-3 record at this stage of the season. We will probably be 11-3 heading into the B1G season

Fran seems rather composed this season. Past seasons he would have blown up several times during the game

 

[SomersHawk]

Imagine a world where Iowa gets into the dance this year and then returns everyone healthy next year, you'd be looking at 3 straight NCAA appearances and 6 in the last 8 years. It would also mean Fran has made more NCAA tournaments at iowa than hes missed

The "fire Fran" crowd might have issues

I usually do imagine a world like that "next year" for Hawk BB but some how it never transpires due to someone not being back for some reason. But MAYBE, JUST MAYBE this time it will come to pass. We are due!

 

[Northside Hawk]

That game was tough to watch. Toussaint just imploding whenever be stepped foot on the court is alarming.

This was a game where Iowa should have won by 20+ but they just couldn't stop shooting themselves in the foot.

Hopefully they got it out of their system. Some really tough big ten games are on the horizon

I mentioned it last week that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a post finals week stinker. Iowa had a long layoff before this one so I wasn’t surprised to see some sloppy play. Luckily we shot well enough to win.

A dress rehearsal against Kennesaw State and then it’s back to the B1G grind.

Yeah dont we start with Penn State in the Palestra?

Fran is going to want that one bad. His history with that building probably goes back to his grade school days.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The mental toughness angle is real. As everyone has pointed out this team is mentally tougher than teams in the past.




After the Depaul game I had put my eggs in the 20-21 basket. To describe this season I was using words like "player development and reset button". Not anymore, even without Jbo, this team will compete for NCAA bid. No way I was thinking like that a month ago.

We have put ourselves in a good position with some nice November/December wins. We will have plenty of opportunities to sharpen our resume further in league play.

 

[Northside Hawk]

The bottom line is that we won the game despite the abysmal turnovers and sad free throw percentage

This is a solid team that has a lot of pride and plays very well together. They didn't stop fighting when the Bearcats took the lead, overcoming a 16 point deficit. The Hawks kept their composure while still creating turnovers and missing free throws down the stretch. We continued the defensive intensity and superior rebounding. One thing I really like about this team is how they protect the paint. When the ball goes inside the Lads collapse on the opponent with the ball and give no ground at all

Freddy The Nightmare along with Bakari were the players of the game No doubt. I believe that those two cats will handle the load while Jordan recovers

Cordell has found the way and is playing like we expected him to. Before this game he wasn't quite in the groove and didn't seem to have his timing down. That has changed and he played some solid minutes, same as Ryan Kriener who had some timely baskets and also gave us solid floor play

We need to have more movement on offense instead of watching the ballhandler dribble around in traffic. The Cincy D was smothering inside and out, but we managed to score anyway

This was a team victory and there we had some timely clutch shooting down the stretch when the bearcats closed the gap and went ahead. Freddy, JoeT, and Bakari were instrumental in staying ahead to counter the frantic comeback

Nobody really expected us to have a 10-3 record at this stage of the season. We will probably be 11-3 heading into the B1G season

Fran seems rather composed this season. Past seasons he would have blown up several times during the game

Fran being calmer on the bench has been an unsung part of the season. No one wants a raving, ranting, scorers table kicking madman on the bench. Especially officials.

 

[PCHawk]

I think people over react too much over one game. We have a bad free throw shooting night, "this team needs to start making free throws". We have a lot of turnovers, "this team needs to be able to take care of the ball". Joe T has a really bad night, "He's clearly not ready for this stage"

But the facts are, this team shoots pretty good from the line, is really good at not turning the ball over, and Joe T has already shown he can play at this level, he just had a rough night and for whatever reason had a really short leash.

 

[trj]

I think people over react too much over one game. We have a bad free throw shooting night, "this team needs to start making free throws". We have a lot of turnovers, "this team needs to be able to take care of the ball". Joe T has a really bad night, "He's clearly not ready for this stage"

But the facts are, this team shoots pretty good from the line, is really good at not turning the ball over, and Joe T has already shown he can play at this level, he just had a rough night and for whatever reason had a really short leash.

I would add not to have a meltdown when they have a bad night defensively. The upcoming Penn St. game could very well be that one and I suggest people do not freak out over it.

 

[PCHawk]

I would add not to have a meltdown when they have a bad night defensively. The upcoming Penn St. game could very well be that one and I suggest people do not freak out over it.

Weirdly enough, if we win that Penn State game, it think there is a really good chance we make the tourney. An away from home game against a middle of the pack team is huge if you're trying to get to 10-10.

 

[NikeHawk21]

I think people over react too much over one game. We have a bad free throw shooting night, "this team needs to start making free throws". We have a lot of turnovers, "this team needs to be able to take care of the ball". Joe T has a really bad night, "He's clearly not ready for this stage"

But the facts are, this team shoots pretty good from the line, is really good at not turning the ball over, and Joe T has already shown he can play at this level, he just had a rough night and for whatever reason had a really short leash.

This... so much this. Stinker games happen, especially around this time of the year.

I’m not worried about free throws. We have too good of shooters for that to be an issue. Garza shot 80% last year from the line.

Joe T played 4 minutes, he’s shown a lot this year I’m not worried. He will have more bad moments, but he will have plenty of good as well. We have enough ball handling and passing without Jbo, and I doubt anyone will really pressure us like Cincy did. Again not too worried about turnovers.

The thing I’m still worried about is depth. Last night we got a huge lift out of Evelyn and Kriener was decent. Can they provide that on a nightly basis is the ongoing question? For how good of shooting team we are you can bank on us to shoot like that every night.

 

[MWS604]

Yeah, first game without Jordan and what does Iowa do? Build a double digit lead Like they’ve been doing every game here lately. They let them back in it and that’s gonna happen, but they closed them out. This team is pretty good. They just went 5-2 in a 7 game stretch that most thought 2-5 or worse was likely. I’ll be shocked if they aren’t ranked for Xmas

Agreed. Even though the Hawks have 3 losses, the combined record of those three teams is 33-4. Should be in the AP, the Coaches Poll the next week (if we can beat PSU and NE, its a lock)

 

[MWS604]

Our defense is SO much better than it has been. Even with the 24 turnovers, Cincy only shot 35% and 25% from 3. Don't have the stats, but the number of uncontested 3s seems to be declining over the course of this season.

 

[trj]

This... so much this. Stinker games happen, especially around this time of the year.

I’m not worried about free throws. We have too good of shooters for that to be an issue. Garza shot 80% last year from the line.

Joe T played 4 minutes, he’s shown a lot this year I’m not worried. He will have more bad moments, but he will have plenty of good as well. We have enough ball handling and passing without Jbo, and I doubt anyone will really pressure us like Cincy did. Again not too worried about turnovers.

The thing I’m still worried about is depth. Last night we got a huge lift out of Evelyn and Kriener was decent. Can they provide that on a nightly basis is the ongoing question? For how good of shooting team we are you can bank on us to shoot like that every night.

Basketball 101: You can’t rely on shooting every night.

It is all about dictating defense to Iowa. Can you make them play man for long stretches ? If you can spread the floor with Iowa and create spacing, then you are going to have a ton of success. Good news for Iowa, there are more teams that can’t do that, than can.

 

[SpiderRico]

This team plays with grit and toughness that was sorely missing since Mike G, Sapp, and Woodbury left. If you’ve got grit and toughness, you can overcome some offensive issues like turnovers and missed free throws...