The Hawkeyes, coming off a very impressive victory at Carver on Saturday beating Drake, 82-68, will look to continue the fine tuning and quality play with only 2 remaining games before the B1G season gets underway. Roy Devyn Marble has exploded on the scene as a quality pg, dishing the ball to scorers around the arc and in the paint, and he will look to continue his growth as a go-to option at the 1 guard spot for the Hawks. Matt Gatens had a team high, 20 points for the Hawkeyes, while Bryce Cartwright added 12 for the Hawks victory. The Hawks host Arkansas Central with a chance to get their 7th win of the young season. After shooting 50% in its previous game, they will need to keep shooting the ball well in order to defeat the Bears who have a 5-4 record and will look to stay above .500 on the year. The game is set for a 7:00 tip, so stay tuned for the KRUI Sports Live Blog!
Tip Off: Iowa Students are on break after having finals last week, but it appears that a decent amount of the students have shown a new devotion to this team under head coach Fran McCaffery, as they are packing the student section, led by the Hawks Nest. The Hawkeyes are entering the floor behind the flags and Herky, and they look ready to play tonight. The starters for the Hawks tonight will be Marble, Gatens, May, Basabe, and McCabe. The Pep Band is in full swing and Herky is in the building as we are ready for tip-off in less than 2 minutes.
The teams are introduced and it seems electric when the senior, Gatens from Iowa City is announced. Gatens, coming off the 20 points against Drake the last time this squad took the floor will need to have another big night tonight to defeate a pesky Central Arkansas team.
Basabe wins the tip for the Hawkeyes with May grabbing the ball. Melsahn gets the first points of the game on an inbounds with a beautiful lay-up, but Garner answers with a nice shot at the other end and both teams are in the board. Basabe with the thunderous dunk to make it 4-2 hawks. McCabe picks up his 2nd fould early and White will take the floor, Hawks up 6-2. A big block on the defensive end by White and May nails the three putting the Hawks up 11-2 and Central Arkansas is forced to call a timeout
Iowa is reallyty forcusing on conditioning and tempo and it moving the ball up the floor with precision after some lock down defense. Central Arkansas seems to be forcing bad looks at the hoop. The first real breather for the Hawks starters after a Basabe foul and the fans here at Carver applaud the efforts as the Hawks lead 15-4, Basabe with 6 points 5:52 into the game.
The Hawks are really putting pressure on and forcing the defensive aspect of the game. This was one of the reasons they had success against Drake. Central Arkansas doesn’t know how to handle the constant pressure and full-court press and they are forced to call another time-out. Iowa is dictating the tempo, something that coach McCaffery seems to have stressed in the offseason quite heavily. It is working, causing blocks, forcing turnovers, and leading to fast breaks.
Aaron White is continuing his emergence as a force of the bench with great hustle, and couple blocks and 7 points already in this contest with 12:00 left in the first half.
Score 24-5
Oglesby gets in on the scoring as Iowa continues to get open looks at the offensive end of the floor. At the other end Central Arkansas gets a couple of triples to fall and has brought the lead down to 12, 28-16, Hawkeyes.
Brommer with a big pick laying out the Bears defender with Cartwright going to the basket, in dominating fashion. Iowa 31, Central Arkansas 20, 7:30 left in the first.
CARK continues to rely on the trey, as they hit again to bring the score to 31-23. Gatens with a big 3 of his own and that stretches the Hawkeye lead to 36-27 with 5:46 left in the first period. Lots of back and forth and it results in the 6th team foul for the Hawkeyes, Brommer’s first of the contest. Brommer is running with the kind of hustle that a head coach loves to see. He is making an effort to be the X factor that they need off the bench complimenting White.
The Hawks continue to pass the ball well, but the three is keeping UCA in this game, hitting 5 of 7 from downtown.
Marble is exploding on the scene as a force all over the floor. He is getting steals, scores, and boards. This kids progression is going to be fun to watch over the next 3 seasons in Iowa City. The refs are getting nit-picky, the fans don’t like it, and you can see the fire building in Fran. CARK is keeping themselves in this game, capitalizing on the fouls and the end of the half, but Iowa gets a big three by May and then a lay-up as time expires. Hawkeyes lead the Bears 55-42 at the break. Aaron White leads the Black and Gold with 13 points and Clayborn leads the Bears with 15 points, shooting a perfect 5 for 5.
The half-time show: A dog catching multiple frisbees in a row from his owner. The highlight of the show. The awesome little boots that the dog is wearing. I think the question on everyones minds is whether the owner walks the dog, or the dog walks the owner?
The second half is about to get underway here at Carver Hawkeye Arena with the Iowa Hawkeyes leading the Central Arkansas Bears by a score of 55-42. The Hawkeyes got out to an early 24-5 lead on the Bears, but the 3 point shooting of Dewan Clayborn, going 5 for 5 from beyond the arc has kept them in the game. The Hawks will look to stay out of foul trouble with McCabe coming in with 3 personals and Basabe and Marble each with 2. The starters for the second half are the same for the Hawkeyes as those that started the game.
The second half is underway and the ball goes back and forth between the baselines until Basabe goes to the line, hitting one of two, putting the Hawks up 14. Basabe is really showing the ability to shift that new weight that he put on over the offseason and it is finally starting to look like he is comfortable in his own skin out there.
16:52 remaining: Basabe with a thunderous block on the floater, and big rebound, leading to a big 2 on the other end for McCabe, his 3rd and 4th points. McCabe goes to the line for 2, and knocks down both, putting Iowa up, 64-44, its largest margin of the night. Basabe obviously needs a break, but he is still getting after it hard putting together a nice string of rebounds and points. He leaves the floor to go to the locker room. He ran off the floor, so that should be an okay sign. Basabe is back on the bench and he appears to be fine. Marble has a big dunk and the fans that go crazy. Hawkeye fans love when the black and gold throw the ball down. This one is getting slightly out of control with Iowa up 77-49 with 10 minutes left in the game. Iowa continues to build the lead, now up 85-49. Marble is leading the charge with some great hustle getting to the cup and swiping the ball from the Bears on the defensive end. Olaseni is in the game, has had a couple nice looks and a couple big blocks. Fran has to be happy with that kind of production from him. Now Archie and Stubbs come in for Cartwright and White. White/Cartwright likely done for the night after solid performances. White with 17 in the game. Olaseni with a nice dunk, and Archie with a huge block on the other end, Stubbs with a lay-in, Hawks up 99-57, 3:50 left. Olaseni is having an offensive coming out party with the fans here, after another board and put back. He has 8 points on the evening.
Iowa reached the century mark in a big win at Carver 105-64, over the Central Arkansas Bears with a nice display of hustle and effort from starters along with key bench players. Aaron White substituted nicely for 17 points on the night, and Roy Devyn Marble put in 19 points with 6 assists. The Hawkeyes move to 7-5 on the young season, with the Bears moving to 5-5. The Hawkeyes next contest will take place on Thursday December 22nd at Carver Hawkeye Arena where they will play host to the Boise State Broncos. Fran’s bunch will continue to try and play quality basketball while preparing for the B1G conference in less than a week.
Thank you for following along with us on 89.7 KRUI.FM during this live blog and we’ll see you next time.
