It was a pretty amazing start to the weekend for Hawkeye fans across the country with big Hawkeye football and basketball wins. Hawkeye football started the day off by beating Nebraska 26-20 with a late-game interception, and then Luka Garza dropped 41 points in a fast-paced win for the Iowa Hawkeyes over the Southern University Jaguars.

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Although we typically see Luka Garza lead this team to victory, this one was something special. Garza had 36 points, shot 12/12 from the field, grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 3 blocks… in the first half of the game. He had more points than the entire Jaguars team in the first half.

Garza ended up finishing with 41 points, but the biggest ‘wow’ moment of the game was Southern University deciding to not double team the heavy National Player Of the Year favorite. When asked about the way Southern decided to guard him in the post-game press conference, Luka Garza had this to say.

“Our team was just being really unselfish moving the ball around. I think they were trying to double at points but we were pushing in transition to where they couldn’t double… the next time a team plays a zone like that against us, we’re going to bury them.”

As expected, Garza did not play too much in the second half due to the blowout and wanting to avoid possible injury. Thus, it was time to showcase all the other firepower the Iowa Hawkeyes have.

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Junior guard Joe Wieskamp had a stellar game shooting 4-6 from beyond the arc, cashing in 16 points for the Hawkeyes. Freshman standout Keegan Murray from Cedar Rapids had 9 points, shooting 3-4 from the field and making his lone three-point attempt. Finally, beloved senior Jordan Bohannon finished with 5 points, but was passing the ball all around the court and finished with 7 assists.

While this was a great team win like always with the Hawkeyes, head coach Fran McCaffery offered some places where the team could improve, related to the team getting ‘too comfortable’ and the lack of rebounding. Coach McCaffery stated:

“I think you want them [the players] to hold themselves accountable but you have to be careful, and I was on them, I was on them hard… but the one thing that upset me was their [Southern] offense rebounding and our lack of offensive rebounding… get to the offensive glass.”

This, of course, was in response to the Jaguars out rebounding the Hawkeyes on the offensive glass by 19-10.

These Iowa Hawkeyes are a special group of players, and they know where they need to improve. But from the outside looking in, there is not a whole lot to improve on in these first two games into the season. This Hawkeye team is on a roll.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – You’d be hard pressed to find one individual, one aspect, or one play that changed the course of Tuesday night’s game.

Both Iowa and Minnesota have been reeling this season. One of these teams needed to come away with a win. The injury-laden Gophers hoped they were in line for a dire victory.

Instead, it was a collective effort from the Hawkeyes that led to a 94-80 Iowa win.

Collective and cohesive. Two words to best describe Iowa on this night. How’d the Hawkeyes manage to play what is quite possibly their cleanest game of the season?

To start, there are the individuals.

Jordan Bohannon dazzled yet again with a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists. The Iowa point guard played 48 minutes and only committed one foul and two turnovers. He also went 4-of-4 from the free throw line, putting his consecutive makes streak up to 30, just four behind Chris Street’s Iowa record.

Opposing teams throw everything they can at Bohannon, and it doesn’t seem to faze him. Bohannon is often the guy to stop the bleeding with a big, timely shot. No moment seems too large.

“He has supreme confidence in his ability to make that shot,” Fran McCaffery said. “The situation is sort of irrelevant to him, and that’s what you want.”

There’s also Tyler Cook, also with a double-double. Cook’s 17 points and 10 rebounds were huge factors that led to Jordan Murphy getting into foul trouble, trying to body up Iowa’s big man.

Okay, but what about Isaiah Moss? The streaky shooting guard was confident on Tuesday, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and 4-of-6 from three, notching 16 points.

Yeah, it’s great to get Moss going, but there’s also Luka Garza, Nicholas Baer, and Cordell Pemsl. Each of them had 10 points as well.

Jack Nunge also brought some energy. He had six points, three rebounds, and even two big blocks.

Who sparked this Iowa win? Tough to say when the entire team is on their respective games.

Clearly, the offense was solid, but so too was the defensive aspect of the game. Iowa has played some of the worst defense in Division I this season, but managed to get enough stops Tuesday night.

“We were better defensively, but I think we need to be even better than we were tonight,” McCaffery said. “There are still some areas that need improvement so that we can be better connected. But we were better than we’ve been.”

Iowa still gave up 80 points while Minnesota was without one of their top scorers in Amir Coffey, but the effort on defense was clear and present. There have been moments this season in which that wasn’t the case.

Finally, the big plays. While Moss’s steal and breakaway dunk with 1:34 was the ultimate dagger, it wasn’t what led to the win. 94-80 sounds like Iowa controlled the game, but the two sides were pretty evenly matched.

The Hawkeyes had to weather multiple storms from the Golden Gophers, who had three separate scoring runs of seven, eight, and nine points throughout the game. Iowa stayed composed and didn’t let those turn into 15-0 runs that have plagued them multiple times this season.

Iowa also turned the ball over just eight times and made 12 three-pointers, the teams most in a Big Ten game this season.

Controlling the big moments helped Iowa earn its third conference victory.

The win was Fran McCaffery’s 400^th win as a head coach, but he didn’t put much stock in himself after the game.

“All it does for me in remind me of the great players I’ve coached, the great athletic directors I’ve had,” McCaffery said. “You don’t get to 400 wins being a great coach. You get 400 wins when you have great players who are committed to one another.”

McCaffery wasn’t concerned with the distant future either. The Hawkeyes are still trying to play their way out of the bottom four of the conference to avoid having to play a Wednesday game at the Big Ten Tournament, but McCaffery is merely evaluating this team one game at a time.

“We were better tonight than we were on Saturday. That means we had some maturity,” McCaffery said. “Now we have to play a team that beat us already… let’s see if we can do that on the road. That would be a big step for us to play better than we’ve been playing before on the road.”

Iowa (12-12, 3-8 Big Ten) travels to University Park, Pennsylvania on Saturday for a rematch with the Penn State Nittany Lions (15-8, 5-5 Big Ten). Tipoff is set for 5:00pm CST on Big Ten Network. Penn State beat Iowa 77-73 in Iowa City on December 2 to open Big Ten play.

Penn State plays at No. 5 Michigan State on Wednesday night at 5:30pm CST on Big Ten Network.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – Pressure and heightened expectations are hard to live up to. Freshmen in new universities, new states, even new parts of the country often have a difficult time reaching the standards others have set for them.

Four-star recruit Luka Garza was no exception to this in the first half of Iowa’s season. The 6’11 big man from Washington, D.C. found himself out of the starting lineup and struggling to keep up with power conference teams

Naturally, criticism followed. The team was struggling, and the highly regarded center wasn’t meeting expectations.

That hasn’t stopped Garza from focusing on his game.

Since going for 19 points and 11 rebounds in a career-high 30 minutes in Iowa’s overtime victory at Illinois, Garza seems to have turned the corner.

“I had a couple stretches where I wasn’t as consistent, but I feel like I’m getting better at that,” Garza said after another double-double (17 points, 16 rebounds) in a win over Wisconsin. “I think playing as hard as I can is helping me through that.”

The freshman is just the third player in the last 20 years to accumulate 17 points and 16 rebounds versus Wisconsin, joining Iowa’s Reggie Evans (2001-02) and Indiana’s DJ White (2007-08).

Garza has been playing as hard as any Hawkeye recently. ESPN’s Dan Dakich was on the call each of Iowa’s last two games, including the blowout loss to Purdue. Dakich praised Garza on Saturday for being the only Hawkeye playing with fight in the second half.

He gave the young center praise again on Tuesday.

“I like to play with that intensity, I’ve always been taught to play hard and give those extra efforts,” Garza said. “That emotion is something I like to play with.”

Dakich isn’t the only one who has noticed Garza’s energy level. Head Coach Fran McCaffery is appreciative of the big man’s efforts.

He’s a gamer, a warrior, however you want to describe it. He’s relentless,” McCaffery said. “A lot of big guys – a lot of young big guys – they tire. When they tire, they takes possessions off, and he doesn’t do that.”

McCaffery was particularly impressed with Garza’s defensive on Tuesday when he guarded an All-American in Ethan Happ.

“I thought Luka was great. Happ’s an All-American. Luka’s a freshman,” McCaffery said. “I think he really studied him this week and moved his feet.”

McCaffery has said before that leadership can come from anyone, whether he is a senior or a freshman. Tyler Cook was a freshman leader last year. Now, Garza is stepping into that role.

“The way Luka leads is obviously with his emotion… it’s something easy too feed off of,” Cook said. “We’ve got a lot of vocal guys on the team, but I think he brings something else to the table that really fits well with this group.”

Whether he’s scouting out the next opponent in a film session or practicing new offensive moves to improve his productivity, Garza isn’t going to get complacent. Even if games are rough, his worth ethic is noticeable behind the scenes.

“Regardless of if he’s hitting shots or not, he’s playing his behind off,” Cook said. “When you get a guy like that who’s always working after practice or on off days, going to put it together.”

There’s always room for improvement, and he’s already made big strides in the early going of 2018.

In this lost season, Garza has given fans something to be proud of. Iowa fans have always held stock in the tradition of hard work.

Garza is a hard worker.

“It’s a learning experience,” Garza said. “I’m learning, I’m getting better, and I’ll continue to get better.”

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Iowa has had the best of luck with these kinds of stories. Just this year, the Kinnick Wave captured the hearts and minds of the nation, even winning the annual Disney Spirit Sports Award. But, if you had the chance to be at the Purdue-Iowa slaughter at Carver, the annual Chris Street reminded the Iowa faithful of why we love sports.

January 19^th, 2018 marks the 25^th anniversary of the passing of Hawkeye legend Chris Street. Street lived out his dream, even if it was marked short. The legend of Chris Street was never about his stats. Street’s passion was such a high intensity that the only thing you’d be able to do is be in awe. And smile. Chris did that a lot, another level of the legend. Not only did Street have an unparalleled passion for the game, but his lovable personality and magnetic smile was equally a force to be reckoned.

Iowa fell in love with Chris Street because Street was Iowa embodied. Street had the “Iowa Nice” personality commonly found in the Hawkeye State and held the tenacity of the court that is a by-product of his tough, blue collar work ethic. But, more than anything, Chris Street woke up everyday wanting to do nothing more than to play basketball for his Hawkeyes. The University of Iowa released a video and showed the same video during halftime of the Purdue-Iowa contest one day after the 25^th anniversary of his passing. The following link goes to the inspirational tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48dGMn_muYk.

The game prior to and following the Chris Street tribute did not have the match the intensity of the Iowa legend. Purdue put Iowa out of the game in the first ten minutes of the first half and merely poured on the point. Making the game seem like nothing more than a morning stroll, the Boilermakers sliced through the soft Iowa defense on its way to a Big10 record in most 3-pointers in a game. 20 shots fell out to 33 attempted from beyond the arc for the third nationally ranked Purdue squad. Iowa could and would not come close after taking an early 3-0 lead in an eventual 87-64 loss.

Purdue will be taking their talents back home to West Lafayette, Indiana in a matchup against Michigan on Thursday, January 25^th at 6 pm CST. The next game for the Iowa comes with another tribute to Chris Street. However, in this Tuesday contest against the hated Wisconsin Badgers, Iowa will be wearing the Gold jerseys. Iowa faces Wisconsin on January 23 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 6 pm CST.

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Iowa had 18 turnovers in a 77–73 loss in which the Nittany Lions never trailed Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Tyler Cook led the Hawkeyes with 23 points, and energized the crowd with several monstrous dunks, but it was not enough to stop Penn State’s outside shooting attack. Penn State had zero bench points, relying entirely on the starting guard of Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens, and Shep Garner.

Led by Stevens’ 22 points, the Nittany Lions hit 12 of 23 three-point attempts, including seven in the first half – many of them un-defended. Carr added 16 points and Garner chipped in 12 for Penn State.

“They were definitely in a rhythm early, especially Garner,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. “If he has that kind of game, they’re a different team.”

Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon had a rough night, with only 8 points, and 3 turnovers and four assists. The guard-heavy Penn State roster tired out Bohannon and Isaiah Moss, the only two true guards playing significant minutes on the Iowa roster as Connor McCaffery recovers from injury.

Iowa (4–4, 0–1 Big Ten) struggled with turnovers as a whole, with Cook giving up the ball five times (on an otherwise stellar afternoon for the sophomore), Isaiah Moss turning it over four times, and four other Hawkeyes coughing up the ball at least twice. Even an advantage in rebounds (39 to Penn State’s 30) was not enough to overcome the turnover woes.

Penn State (7–2, 1–0 Big Ten) took command early in the game, hitting their first six field goal attempts to jump out to an 11–2 lead that they never surrendered. The only time the Nittany Lions were not in the lead was when the score was tied, 2–2.

Beyond the success of the guards, Penn State also had valuable contributions from sophomore forward Mike Watkins, who was 9–13 from the field and had 19 points. For Iowa, Cook did all he could inside (7–13 shooting, and an improved 9–13 from the free throw line), but saw minimal help from his frontcourt teammates. Luka Garza, Jack Nunge, Ryan Kriener, and Cordell Pemsl had just 13 combined points.

With 12 seconds left, and the Hawkeyes down two, McCaffery and the Hawkeyes elected not to intentionally foul the Nittany Lions, hoping for a turnover – and he almost got one. Nicholas Baer made what appeared on replay to be a clean strip of Carr near the sideline, but was called for a foul, sending Carr to the line to sink the two free throws that ultimately put the game out of reach.

For the Hawkeyes, the loss is damaging, but the players know that the tools are there to succeed. “We have tendencies of showing how great we can play,” said Pemsl. “We’re just trying to figure out how to stay positive and stay on our feet.”

Both teams are back in Big Ten action on Monday – Iowa travels to Assembly Hall to play Indiana, while Penn State returns home for a tilt with Wisconsin.

The post Hawkeyes Struggle in Big Ten Opening Loss to Penn State appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The biggest factor in Iowa’s favor as well as the largest deterrent is the young, raw talent of the Hawkeyes. The best player on the team is no doubt a dynamic sophomore, Tyler Cook. At 6-9, the forward out of Saint Louis flashed looks of high potential consistently throughout his freshman year. Tyler Cook’s effect on the game cannot always be shown in his stat lines; however, Cook’s impacts every possession, regardless of his possession of the ball.

Jordan Bohannon, Isaiah Moss, and Brady Ellingson will be dominating the guard spots as sophomores and juniors. Bohannon and Moss can both score off the dribble and distribute to make plays at will, even as mere sophomores. Ellingson, however, will be more of a pure point guard. With the powerhouse Tyler Cook at forward, clear leaders at guard slots, and depth at both forward and guard positions, Iowa Basketball will be successful if McCaffery can find a large player to play in tandem with Cook.

This large X-factor for Iowa will be the freshman center for the Hawks, Luka Garza. The 4-star recruit out of Washington DC will play the role which could put Iowa over the top. The 6-11 has already grabbed 18 boards through two games with 27 points in addition. In recent memory, Iowa loses the rebounding affair on a strikingly consistent basis. In addition to the young Garza and Cook, the returning Big Ten Conference 6th man of the year award winner, Nicholas Bear, will jump start the young Hawkeyes whenever needed. With a deep set of young big men behind Garza, Baer, and Cook, the rebounding deficit will improve moving forward.

Another reason for the jump into March Madness will be the schedule for the young Iowa team. With the only notable non-conference opponents coming on the road against both Virginia Tech and the rivaling Cyclones, wins will be racked up quickly prior to conference play. Iowa also draws one of the weakest schedules in the Big Ten Conference. The Hawkeyes will not travel to ranked opponents in #2 Michigan State, #20 Purdue, and #19 Northwestern.

Iowa will also not travel to rival Wisconsin and will only play Michigan State, Maryland and Indiana once. The Hawkeyes will reach 20 wins before the final stretch of the season. Three of the final five games will

play on the road with the last two facing ranked opponents. With an easier schedule than most, even if the young players do not improve in the expected ways, Iowa will rack up at least 22 wins before the Big Ten Tournament in the Madison Square Garden.

The graduation of Peter Jok will also allow the Hawkeye basketball squad to acquire a bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Jok made up the core of last year’s team, leading the Big Ten in scoring. However, Jok also lead the team in shots taken. Despite leading in points, Jok shot a 7^th team best shooting percentage to return for it, behind the likes of Tyler Cook, Nicholas Baer, Ahmad Wagner, and others.

Contrary to popular belief from mainstream sports analysts, Iowa will benefit from the absence of Peter Jok for multiple reasons. Iowa will not be reliant on a one-man effort with multiple people getting involved. A team is much easier to stop with one man scoring instead of a team. The spacing of the floor will also be nicer for shooters with the best player in Cook playing in the post instead of Jok playing around the 3-point arc. All in all, Peter Jok is an absolutely great player; however, Jok’s presence hurt the team more at times than not.

Due to the young raw talent of the Hawkeyes in addition to lucky breaks in scheduling and an ability to involve more players than in years past, the 2017 Iowa Hawkeye basketball team will not only return to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years, but will chance running at Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The next game for the 2-0 Hawkeyes will come against Grambling State on Wednesday, November 16^th at 7:05 pm CST at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The post Spoilers: Hawkeyes Dance in March appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s now October 31st, meaning Halloween is upon us and college basketball is right around the corner. Exhibitions are being played across the nation, used to size up the talent of all 347 Division I college basketball teams in the country before the regular season is in full effect.

In the middle of it all, Iowa City is now teeming with excitement around this year’s Hawkeyes: a team that bolsters youth and emerging talent with the recent graduation of star guard Peter Jok. However, Jok’s absence is not bringing groans of rebuilding, but instead eagerness for what the rest of the team has to offer.

Guard Play Will Come with a Learning Curve

Jordan Bohannon is undoubtedly the starting point guard for the Hawks this year. The sophomore scored a team-high 19 points while assisting four baskets in the exhibition win over William Jewell College. He is by no means a ‘true’ point guard, but his three-point prowess (4-7 in the exhibition) makes him a must-start.

The backup point guard looked to be the inconsistent Christian Williams, but his sudden exit via transfer puts pressure onto head coach Fran McCaffery to fill the void. With the news breaking so close to the season, many believed either Isaiah Moss or Maishe Dailey would be tasked with the backup role. Enter: Connor McCaffery.

The coach’s son is a freshman guard out of Iowa City West High School who was tabbed by many to receive little playing time and potentially redshirt. However, he was a surprise constant in the exhibition, tallying the fourth-most minutes (18) and the second-most assists (3).

A large chunk of his playing time may be attributed to Moss’s ankle tweak which sidelined him for much of the second half, but with McCaffery’s increased role up top, we may see Moss more as a true shooting guard in his attempt to fill Peter Jok’s shoes.

There’s no question that Fran McCaffery will reward Bohannon’s stellar freshman season with a starting role, but the backup slot is still up for grabs. With one home exhibition left (Thurs. Nov. 2 vs Belmont Abbey College), Connor McCaffery, Moss and Dailey will likely see increased minutes to sort out the pecking order for the season.

Freshmen Will Be A Focal Point Once More

Last season, 44.7 percent of Iowa’s offense came from four freshmen: Tyler Cook (12.3), Jordan Bohannon (10.9), Cordell Pemsl (8.9) and Isaiah Moss (6.5). This season, four freshmen enter the fold: forwards Luka Garza and Jack Nunge and guards Connor McCaffery and Austin Ash. Garza (26) and Nunge (17) each received extensive minutes in the exhibition and it certainly paid off with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Both forwards will certainly see the floor more often than the guards, but Connor McCaffery is looking toward more minutes with Christian Williams gone. Ash, a walk-on from Cedar Rapids, was the only Hawkeye to not see the floor versus William Jewell College.

Garza, a true freshman from Washington D.C., is a bruising forward that managed nine rebounds in the contest. He’ll open up space to push Nicholas Baer to his rightful small forward spot. Garnering the most attention of the four recruits, he seems to have cracked the starting lineup already.

Nunge, a true freshman from Newburgh, Indiana, is a versatile swingman that can play all across the floor. He was perfect (3-3) from beyond the arc and notched nine boards in the exhibition. He’ll certainly add a third level of scoring past the traditional forwards and guards on the team.

Why The Hawks Can Compete

Last season, Tyler Cook proved to be the man down low that the Hawks have been seeking since Melsahn Basabe. He’ll help Iowa compete in not only the Big Ten, but in the tournament. Fran McCaffery has one B1G tournament win since taking over in 2010 and losing early in the conference tourney has often kept the team out of March Madness.

This year, though, Iowa has the talent down low to win games consistently in the conference. Wisconsin and Ohio State have traditionally given the team trouble and the tandem of Cook and Garza will look to change that.

Another variable that has held the Hawks back in March is poor point guard play, but Jordan Bohannon was recently named to the 20-player Bob Cousy Point Guard Watchlist, hopefully meaning that the string of poor point play is over. The sophomore will have an increased role as far as scoring goes, but he’ll need to facilitate better than guards in the past in order for the Hawks to advance in March.

The real reason the Hawks can thrive this year is the graduation of Peter Jok. He clearly scored points galore and boosted the team for many different reasons, but teams expected points to pour from Jok all year. Opening opportunities for many other skilled players, especially the newcomers, makes this squad exceptionally scary for Big Ten defenses.

Garza and Nunge add the final layer that the Hawks have been lacking for years and while it’s only Halloween, this team should be plenty spooky by the time March rolls around.

The post Why Iowa Basketball Can Be Spooky By March appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s been a while since Iowa fans heard from Cowherd, the last followed the early season loss to FCS opponent North Dakota State. The noise quieted but arose again when Dakich opened old wounds about former basketball coach Steve Alford.

Dakich claims that he “brokered the deal” for Alford to leave Iowa and accept a job at New Mexico. The comments aren’t out of the ordinary for Dakich, a well revered college basketball analyst, but the Twitter conversation with two Hawkeye Nation writers’ aids in rivaling him with Cowherd.

The Cowherd Era

Cowherd caught the attention of Hawkeye fans during Iowa football’s undefeated regular season by labeling their beloved team as posers in the College Football Playoff race. He argued that Iowa didn’t belong in the conversation because they aren’t a historic program. To make matters worse, Colin lived it up when the Hawkeyes fell to Michigan State and in the Rose Bowl to Stanford.

Hawkeye fans didn’t take to his comments lightly. Fans, along with the local sports media, responded to Cowherd. The responses, although very valid, elicited an onslaught of Hawkeye football criticism. He went as far as naming Iowa the ‘Fake ID’ of college football.

Cowherds main talking point revolved around Iowa’s lack of out of conference strength. The opponents Iowa faced weren’t up to the standard that Cowherd says it takes to be considered a contender. The Hawkeyes schedule, in Cowherd’s words, was a “creampuff”.

The FS1 host claims he isn’t anti-Iowa but that he is anti-poser. He feels teams need to earn their place at the table by beating all of their top-level opponents. Winning all of the games isn’t enough for him, something that drove Iowa fans up the wall.

Cowherd did offer Iowa ways to steer-clear of his criticism. He says he likes team that take risk and win games against legitimate opponents. The near future doesn’t offer any big time opponents for Iowa so Cowherd will likely return as soon as the Hawkeyes step onto a national stage again.

The Challenger, Dan Dakich

Frustration with Dakich stems from his Twitter antics. Earlier this year he engaged in arguments over social media with Michigan State fans. Dakich isn’t a favorite for many Big Ten schools outside of Indiana.

Iowa fans didn’t have much against him until Saturday morning when he took to Twitter against Hawkeye Nation writers Rob Howe and Jon Miller. Howe and Miller expressed their interest in Dakich’s comments about why Alford left Iowa City. They gave their accounts and Dakich attempted to justify his.

Saturday morning on ESPN, Dakich claimed that Alford left Iowa because the fans in New Mexico offered better fan support. He said that New Mexico would draw an average crowd of 15 thousand or more.

Miller responded with the true statistics. Iowa only trialed New Mexico in attendance in Alford’s final year. Fans jumped at the opportunity to defend their local writers against Dakich, who insulted the entire fan base.

Dakich’s final defense was to resort to name-calling. He referred to Howe as a ‘fan boy’ as well as tweeting that he ‘doesn’t know the truth.’ Again the Iowa fans backed their writers.

Hawkeye fans don’t take criticism of their teams lightly but they especially don’t enjoy their support to be questioned. Howe and Miller defended the fan base by arguing Dakich’s claim that the fans made Alford leave.

Although no one may ever pass Cowherd as Iowa’s most disliked, Dakich stole the spotlight for a brief moment. As for his comments about Steve Alford, it remains to be seen how much more of the past will be brought up as his name is considered for the vacant Indiana job.

The post ESPN’s Dan Dakich Joining Cowherd in Iowa Fans Minds appeared first on KRUI Radio.

After halftime the Hawkeyes came out and attacked the hoop early. Unfortunately while turnovers were the story of the first half, missed free throws were the headline in the second. Iowa shot a measly 41.2% on 7-17 shooting in the second half and 8-19 for the game. Add those 11 missed points to the 21 from turnovers in the first half and this game never goes to overtime, but, as the old saying goes, “that’s why they play the game.” While Iowa had its area of struggles, they were firing on all cylinders when it came to shooting the ball. “When you make 16 three’s and out rebound the opposing team, you’re supposed to win” Iowa Head Coach Fran McCraffery said after the game. The Hawkeyes shot 16-30 from three and 34-63 from the field.  Freshman Guard Jordan Bohannon led the attack notching another double-double to his young career with a game-high 25 points and 13 assists, after the game Coach McCraffery added that Bohannon is starting to “figure out the game.” While the season may be done for this year, figuring out how to be a big ten point guard is something that this team is going to need in the future.

Unfortunately, while Iowa was supposed to win this one, in the end, TCU came out on top 94-92. It was a heartbreaking overtime loss, but the loss the Hawkeyes might feel more moving forward is the loss of Peter Jok. No matter how much he, or his teammates, wanted Peter to walk off the court inside Carver Hawkeye Arena a winner after his last home game, Peter is a player that won’t soon be forgotten.  Over the course of his career at Iowa Peter hit on 216 three point shots, but what’s going to be missed the most isn’t his scoring, but the mentality he brought to the team. Redshirt-sophomore Nicholas Baer admitted that Jok, “is a bit of a goofball” after the game, but no one was short on compliments of Jok’s work ethic and how that correlated to his success. “He’s just a guy that’s always in the gym and our young guys have followed that lead” Coach McCraffery remarked after the game. No matter what ones thoughts on Peter might be, he deserved the round of applause from the fans that stayed after the game to give him his well-deserved send off.

For anyone that was worried that while this Iowa team is playing at a high level right now this break may lead to a setback, fear not. Coach McCraffery says they won’t take much time until they get ready for next season. For those of you that followed this season from beginning to end, know there were peaks and valleys, but there was always potential. If this team continues to grow and develop like they did this season, who knows how high the ceiling is.

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A four-point loss at home to Illinois on Feb. 18 was the team’s third straight loss, and the remaining schedule was not exactly favorable.

The schedule didn’t get easier, but the Hawkeyes did get better.

After beating Indiana 96-90 in overtime, Iowa had to hit the road for two games in a row, both versus ranked opponents. First, the Hawkeyes blew then-24th-ranked Maryland out of their own gym. Next, they took down #22 Wisconsin thanks to a three-pointer by Jordan Bohannon with less than 10 seconds to play.

Just like that, the Hawkeyes were starting to work their way back into the conversation for an at-large big. Beating Penn State 90-79 on Sunday to close the regular season on a four-game winning streak has them fully immersed in the bubble talk.

“There’s no better time to click than in March,” said senior Peter Jok following his 21-point performance in his (could-be) final game inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

As of Monday morning, the Hawkeyes’ rating percentage index (RPI) has jumped to 72 and the team’s record versus teams in the RPI top 50 is 5-7. ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Iowa listed as one of the “First Four Out,” along with Rhode Island, Kansas State, and Illinois. Thanks to the late-season push, the Hawkeyes have put themselves in contention for an-large bid.

“I think we deserve to be in,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery after the Penn State game. “What you have to do is not focus on thinking about it and talking about it.”

For a young Hawkeyes team, it may be tough to block out all of the noise and bubble talk that will undoubtedly swirl around them as they prepare for the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa’s leaders know they have to help keep the team focused on what they can control and nothing else.

“Young guys probably think about (the bubble) but I try not to let them think about it,” Jok said. “You just have to keep winning and whatever happens happens.”

While there has been some doubt from those outside the locker room, the team thought of themselves as a tournament team all season. They just needed to play like it every time they took the floor.

“We thought that we were (a tournament team) the whole season, we’ve just been playing inconsistently,” said freshman Cordell Pemsl. “I think we finally got that rhythm and that swagger back as a team.”

The team is certainly playing some of their best basketball right now. The four-game winning-streak is the longest of the conference season for Hawkeyes, and they’ve done it as a unit. Six different players have scored in double figures in the last four games, three of them have come off the bench to do so.

“If you look at how we’ve played these last four games, we’re a top team in the country,” said sophomore Nicholas Baer who has scored in double figures each of the last four games, including a career-high 20 points versus Penn State. “You want teams that are hot in in NCAA Tournament, teams that are playing their best basketball. If you look at the Iowa Hawkeyes, we’re playing our best basketball right now.”

Still on the outside looking in, the team knows there is still work to be done. The late push has been great, but they can’t let up yet.

“We do have a sense of urgency,” Baer said. “Every game is our biggest game.”

It is the general consensus that Iowa will have to win two games in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament if they want to move in to the field of 68. Iowa, the seven-seed, will face off with the 10-seed Indiana on Thursday at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. If they survive that, they will meet Wisconsin, the two-seed, in the quarterfinals.

“We’ve got our hot streak going at the right time,” Pemsl said. “We’re hoping to carry that over into next week.”

There’s no way to predict exactly what the Selection Committee will do with Iowa until Selection Sunday arrives. The Hawkeyes know they have to keep winning, and if they win enough games, there won’t be anything left to chance.

“We just tell ourselves ‘we might as well just go win the Big Ten Tournament,’” Pemsl said. “They have to put us in then.”

Iowa plays Indiana Thursday at 5:30 PM CST on ESPN2.

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