The team reaches its highest point in the first half of Big Ten Conference play, and they struggle mightily as the regular season comes to a close.

First, it was the 2013-2014 season that saw Iowa start 8-4 in conference play but lose five of their last six games to end the regular season with a 9-9 conference record. That team went on to lose in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament to Northwestern before bowing out in a First Four game against Tennessee.

Then, it was last season. Iowa had momentum going into the Big Ten Tournament winning their last six games of the season, but then the Hawkeyes lost their game to Penn State, the #13 seed in the bracket.

The 2014-2015 team won Iowa’s first NCAA tournament game since 2001 with a blowout of Davidson, but they ran into a buzz saw in Gonzaga in the second round and lost by 19 points.

This season, nobody knows how Iowa will fare. They easily could lose their first tournament game, but they could make a run towards the Sweet 16 or further.

The Hawkeyes again limped across the finish line losing five of their last regular season games.

Unlike previous years, Fran McCaffrey and company are clearly in the Field of 68 but the seed and destination has yet to be determined.

Iowa will likely be somewhere in the five to eight seed range. The professionals who make brackets a living have Iowa playing anywhere from Denver, Spokane, St. Louis, and everywhere in between.

Compared to their last two predecessors, this year’s team has a considerable amount of upside when things are clicking.

The upside was not on display in Indianapolis Thursday night as Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff were the only two players that showed up as the Hawkeyes fell to Illinois 68-66.

The two combined to score 50 of Iowa’s 66 points, while the rest of the roster made only 6 of their 30 shots attempted.

If Iowa does that in their first NCAA tournament game, it will be a quick trip wherever they go.

The bracket will be unveiled tomorrow at 4:30 central time on CBS.

The post Iowa Preparing for NCAA Tournament appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Iowans second drive of the game, Beathard executed a play-action to perfection  finding George Kittle streaking behind the defenders towards the end zone for a 21 yard score, but Marshall Koehn missed the PAT.

The fighting Illini answer right back with a TD on the ensuing drive by Keshaun Vaughn to put them up 7-6.

About the next 15 minutes remained scoreless until Beathard found Jordan Canzeri on a screen pass to the left and with a row a blockers, he took it up the sideline for the 17 yard score. Putting the Hawks back on top 13-7.

Iowa added a late Field Goal to lead at half 16-7.

The Fighting Illini scored the first 6 points of the 2nd half on a pair of Field-Goals of 37 and 40 yards by Taylor Zalewski to pull within 3 at 16-13.

Momentum was swinging a bit in Illini favor as Iowa offense hadn’t been able to move much offensively after putting up 298 yards in the first half. The first play from the line of scrimmage for Iowa after Illinois 2nd Field-Goal, C.J. Beathard audibled into a HB counter for Canzeri with a pulling Right Guard. Canzeri found a nice cutback lane and found a couple extra gears going untouched on his way to the 75 yard Touchdown. To increase Iowa’s lead 23-13 Ferentz said ” CJ has his head in the game, doing well physically but really doing a good job mentality too.  He gives us another option with great communication with the staff.”

To read more on Jordan Canzeri’s career day, check out an article by my colleague Dylan Anderson, http://krui.fm/2015/10/10/canzeris-record-breaking-performance-propels-iowa-to-victory/

Another player that stepped up today was true Freshman Jerminic Smith who caught his first pass as a Hawkeye and really seemed to be on the same page with Beathard, easily breaking free from defenders. He also  made a couple nice blocks on runs by Canzeri, which Ferentz pointed out in his post game report.

The Fighting Illini ran multiple tricks plays with a couple flea flickers which had been marginally successful. It was a 3rd and 1 for them at Iowa’s 40 to start the fourth quarter, they took a chance and tried a reverse pass with their best player Wide Receiver  Geronimo Allison and the Hawks defense wasn’t fooled, Allison throwing it right to Greg Maybin who easily intercepted it.

Illinois did add a touchdown on their next possession to cut the deficit 23-20 but that’s as close as it would get as Iowa added two more Field-Goals by Koehn to seal the game 29-20.

Enough can’t be said about Iowa’s 4th quarter defense after last week in Wisconsin and then this week forcing 3 turnovers( 1 on downs) in 4 possessions.

Stars of the game

-Jordan Canzeri 43 rushing attempts 256 yards with a receiving and rushing TD

-C.J. Beathard 15-31 200 yards 2 TDs to go with 33 rushing yards

-Josey Jewell lead the way with 12 tackles and 1 huge fumble recovery on defense

Jerminic Smith had 4 receptions for 118 yards.

Injury Report

The victory was somewhat dampened by the news that broke about Senior DT Drew Ott tearing his ACL in his right knee on a punt rush, but Ott will continue to be a leader on the sidelines like he did after coming out on crutches.

HB Leshun Daniels is still “treading water” but is starting to climb the latter to his return, same thing with  OL Brandon Myers

OL Jordan Walsh hurt his shoulder in the first half but returned in the 2nd half.

Tevaun Smith didn’t play today, doubt he’ll be back before the bye week Oct. 24th.

Tune in next week as Iowa travels to Northwestern right here on KRUI 89.7 FM at 11 AM!

The post Defense bends but does not break, as Hawks win 29-20 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Canzeri carried the ball a school record 43 times for 256 yards and a touchdown. The previous school record for carries in a game was 42, which was set by Sedrick Shaw against Michigan State on October 7, 1995. The 256 rushing yards are the third most in program history. The all time single game rushing record was set by Tavian Banks when he rushed for 314 yards against Tulsa on September 13, 1997.

He was also the only running back to take a handoff from quarterback C.J. Beathard. LeShun Daniels was held out of the game due to his lingering injury issues.

“You never really know what you’re capable of until you push through the barriers that you have set up for yourself,” Canzeri said after the game.

The biggest play of the game from Iowa came on Canzeri’s 75-yard touchdown run where he went untouched into the end zone and gave Iowa a lead they would not relinquish. That was Iowa’s longest run for a touchdown since Shonn Greene achieved the same feat back in 2008 against Purdue.

The Troy, NY, native has had numerous injury issues over his time in Iowa City, but this season he has put everything together.

He now has 697 rushing yards through six games, and he is well on his way to becoming Iowa’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Marcus Coker in 2011.

Canzeri’s teammates were amazed at the record-breaking performance.

“He does the little things right, and he’s one of the hardest workers on our team,” tight end George Kittle said.

“As offensive linemen, that is what we talk about paving the way for our running backs,” center Austin Blythe said in regards to Canzeri’s performance.

Perhaps the most important drive of the game for Iowa came in the fourth quarter was after Illinois scored a touchdown to get themselves within three points of the Hawkeyes. Iowa gave him the ball on the first twelve plays of the drive and melting almost four minutes off the clock.

“I knew my team needed me and I was tired, but I knew I needed to step up and finish strong and hold onto the ball,” Canzeri said.

Coach Kirk Ferentz was not concerned with the number of reps Canzeri was getting throughout the afternoon.

“We all saw something special with Jordan,” Ferentz said after the game.

“There was no pitch count. In a game like this, you have to roll with your best players. We had to,” Ferentz added.

Iowa cannot expect to have Canzeri carry the ball 43 times a game the rest of the way and stay fresh, but for today it worked.

The Hawkeyes will face a tougher test next Saturday when they travel to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats. Kickoff is set for just after 11:00 A.M. from Ryan Field in Evanston.

The post Canzeri’s Record Breaking Performance Propels Iowa to Victory appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The snowy conditions in the state of Iowa may have created some tough driving conditions for the Hawkeye fans in attendance, but the drive was well worth it as they saw senior Iowa forward Aaron White put up a career-high 29 points. “He played like a senior is supposed to play this time of year,” Illinois Head Coach John Groce said. “When they needed him, he came up with big buckets, rebounds and played with inspiring effort.”

This is White’s second to last home game as a Hawkeye and he wanted make an impact. He did just that by scoring 20 second-half points, and scoring 14 straight for his Hawkeyes. “It was a big part of the game, I wanted to put my footprint on this game,” White said. “ I wanted to make sure we won this. I wasn’t going to sit back and let them (Illinois) dictate it.”

White was held to only nine first-half points on 3-of-7 shooting. However, Illinois couldn’t keep the contain up in the second-half. “I think they executed him really well,” Groce said. “He also went 10-12 on free throws, and you usually get those by being aggressive and he has been that way throughout his career.”

Groce is right, we did see an aggressive Aaron White tonight. In weeks past, when White is open for a three at the top of the key, he pump fakes and drives to the hoop. Tonight, he squared up and went three of four from behind the three-point line. “It’s way easier to play when my shots are falling,” White said. “I wasn’t lying when I said I could shoot.”

White also played a team high 36 minutes tonight, and although scoring 29 points is impressive to his Head Coach, Fran McCaffery said his energy level was just as good. “Normally midway though the second-half I’m tyring to figure out how to get him out and rest him,” McCaffery said. “(Tonight) he didn’t want to come out.”

As for why he didn’t want to come out? Tonight was more than just a game. “Iowa doesn’t like Illinois and Illinois doesn’t like Iowa,” White said. “It was a very intense game out there. Both teams wanted it so bad.”

Iowa carries their three game win streak to Penn State on Saturday as they take on the Nittany Lions.

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