A win is a win on the road in the Big10

[MNhawkeye2]

They played sloppy on the road in a different time zone against a team looking to show they are not as bad as their last game. I'd say we did exactly what we needed to and showed we're good enough to pull out wins regardless of some challenging factors.

 

[EpenesaEpenesa]

They played terrible and put up 90 on them.

They werent close to terrible. Energy was down (theyre only human) and were hardly firing on all cylinders, but Woodbury, Clemmons, Jok and Uthoff had solid games again.

 

[DanL53]

Baer made a lot of nice hustle plays, actually. He had a bad shooting night, but overall I would not say he looked bad. Uhl, on the other hand, definitely looked bad - maybe his worst game I remember this season. Didn't make a difference in any facet of the game, and that's fine - with a good team, it's ok for guys to have a bad night and others will step up. Wagner had one of his better games, making plays on both ends. Against Purdue, maybe Uhl is the man and some others struggle...and that's ok, as long as the team gets the W. And it was a conference road victory about 1000 miles from home, when the team played poor defense.

Overall, I don't think this was that bad of a performance by Iowa. In the early minutes, when we went up by 11 and Jok was making everything he threw up, Rutgers looked like a very, very bad team. Then, Rutgers settled down and showed that they have a few players that have some real potential (especially their freshman, Sanders, who had 12 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals). Since Purdue beat Rutgers by 50, and we beat Purdue by 7, I think some people thought we should beat Rutgers by 57 or more, or else we played lousy. There were a lot of stretches in this game where the Hawks looked pretty damn solid. How can you have 3 guys score 20 or more, we put up 90 as a team, we had nice performances out of role players like Wagner, and say the team had a bad game?

I'm not overly upset or anything but as McCaffery said we won because we outscored them. He wasn't terribly happy with our defensive effort. Showing good sportsmanship he made sure to credit Rutgers for the game they played. But in the end, I suspect some of the guys took the game off a little bit and this week that decision will be discussed.

 

[Ronman]

It was a very odd game. If someone told you before it started that Jok would have a career high 29 points, Uthoff and Clemmons (also a career high) would score 20 points, Woody would have a double-double and Mike would have 10 assists, you would think that Iowa would just have run away with the game. Unfortunately, they just played very poorly defensively against a highly motivated Rutgers team and it was fairly close throughout.

Still, it's great that we've gotten to the point that we don't play our best and come away with a ROAD win in the Big Ten.

 

[MarionHawk]

Our defense was not good, too many layups for Rutgers. I really think the first half showed the problems we could have in games where Woodbury gets in foul trouble. He didn't play many minutes in the first half due to 2 fouls and it opened up the inside for Rutgers to get some easy buckets. Woodbury is a big key to our defense. Keeping him out of foul trouble is big for us.

That being said, I'll never complain about winning a game in the Big 10, at home or on the road. Very pleased with the victory.

 

[80RU]

Our defense was not good, too many layups for Rutgers. I really think the first half showed the problems we could have in games where Woodbury gets in foul trouble. He didn't play many minutes in the first half due to 2 fouls and it opened up the inside for Rutgers to get some easy buckets. Woodbury is a big key to our defense. Keeping him out of foul trouble is big for us.

That being said, I'll never complain about winning a game in the Big 10, at home or on the road. Very pleased with the victory.

The difference between your game against RU and Purdue's game against RU was that against Purdue RU had six healthy scholarship players plus one limited by Dr.'s orders to 20 minutes per game, while against Iowa RU had seven healthy scholarship players plus the 20 minute per game player. There is not much difference when you get a 13th player back on the court from injury after playing with 12. There's a huge difference when you get a seventh healthy player back on the court from injury after playing with six Plus the limited player. The rotation and defensive options are vastly different with one additional warm body. You no longer have to play 40 minutes with at least one match up between a 6'1" guard and a six-foot 8 inch power forward. Iowa is still a better team than Purdue. If it were not for that one additional returning player Iowa would've also enjoyed a farce as opposed to a comfortable win.

 

[IronFist1776]

because there are some people on here who are never and will never be satisfied.

Iowa could go 18-0 and reach the Final Four and I gurantee there would be some Iowa fans that will find a way to be critical of something.

It's just the nature of some of the miserable people who post on here because they have miserable lives and need an outlet to anonymously bash college kids to make themselves feel better.

You sound like an overreacting nancy. No one is tearing these players down. We just said that they didn't have a good game, for them and that's true. That's it. It sounds more like YOU can't pass up a chance to belittle others while telling everyone how fantastic you are. Sucks to be you and have such a miserable life.

 

[IronFist1776]

It was a very odd game. If someone told you before it started that Jok would have a career high 29 points, Uthoff and Clemmons (also a career high) would score 20 points, Woody would have a double-double and Mike would have 10 assists, you would think that Iowa would just have run away with the game. Unfortunately, they just played very poorly defensively against a highly motivated Rutgers team and it was fairly close throughout.

Still, it's great that we've gotten to the point that we don't play our best and come away with a ROAD win in the Big Ten.

Great post. The box score doesn't nearly tell the tale of the game. Yes, it never felt like we would lose but the defense let entirely too many uncontested layups go. Haven't seen an Iowa defense play that bad in awhile. But as many of us have said, I'm just happy to get a W on the road in the B1G.

 

[Phenomenally Frantastic]

No one is tearing these players down.

I wasn't referring to you and if you haven't seen it then you haven't been paying attention. the last few years around here were pretty bad. Woody didn't shush the crowd for no reason.

while telling everyone how fantastic you are. Sucks to be you and have such a miserable life.

Where did i mention myself? must have missed that part.

 

[hansenhawk]

Agree, about what i expected. The only thing I am mad about is I didn't lay any money on the +, wasn't the spread like 23? Hard for anyone to cover that on the road in this conference. As far as the teams performance, I am not upset or worried at all. I wouldn't have played any defense either If i thought I could get away with it and still win comfortably. We had to try just hard enuf, and that's what they did. Fran can yell at em about not giving their all this week in practice...

 

[DanL53]

It was a very odd game. If someone told you before it started that Jok would have a career high 29 points, Uthoff and Clemmons (also a career high) would score 20 points, Woody would have a double-double and Mike would have 10 assists, you would think that Iowa would just have run away with the game. Unfortunately, they just played very poorly defensively against a highly motivated Rutgers team and it was fairly close throughout.

Still, it's great that we've gotten to the point that we don't play our best and come away with a ROAD win in the Big Ten.

Almost as if...our guys were playing against Purdue's 109 points and not against Rutgers. And if so...boys will be boys.

 

[The Sleeping Dog]

Overall it was a generally unfocused effort. Our trapping/pressing was impressive and has really worked when McC has done it.

The talent level is so much higher than it was even 3 years ago. Hawks can play far below their best and still score 90 and emerge with a double digit win. We have enough boys that can play at this level that we don't need our stars to be great every game. Although PJ, Woody, Ute and AC all played well. A bad game for Mikey but hardly terrible. The Baer and Dom played the worst games and neither were terrible and both made some nice plays as well.

 

[tedboy78]

This game went exactly as I (and I'm guessing many of you) thought it would. It's very hard to keep the focus they had thru that tough opening segment of the schedule once you find an "easy" game ahead. I was probably most disappointed in our rushed 3 point shooting in the first half and our terrible interior defensive effort. But we won, and all you have to do is delete the game from your DVR and move on.

 

[HawkeyeSmitty4]

because there are some people on here who are never and will never be satisfied.

Iowa could go 18-0 and reach the Final Four and I gurantee there would be some Iowa fans that will find a way to be critical of something.

It's just the nature of some of the miserable people who post on here because they have miserable lives and need an outlet to anonymously bash college kids to make themselves feel better.

I think you're being a bit harsh here. I don't think anyone is beating the drums saying MG needs to be benched, or Uhl should lose his scholly, or "Fran can't manage in-game situations." They're simply pointing out (mostly) valid points where we could stand to improve. I don't think that qualifies anyone as being a "miserable person."

The fact of the matter is that this is a VERY VERY GOOD team with the potential to be one of the all-time-great Hawkeye teams. they have "championship potential" written all over them. They seem to have all the pieces in place. But that doesn't mean they can't be better...that they will NEED to be better to withstand the long grind and long run of the NCAA's.

 

[twindman]

We all start having high expectations. But look at KY. Start year as number 1, and now almost out of the top 25.

 

[Ronman]

I think you're being a bit harsh here. I don't think anyone is beating the drums saying MG needs to be benched, or Uhl should lose his scholly, or "Fran can't manage in-game situations." They're simply pointing out (mostly) valid points where we could stand to improve. I don't think that qualifies anyone as being a "miserable person."
.

Miserable or not, this is exactly what some on this board are saying, as is their right. But it always seems as though these sentiments are posted only after losses. We're 15-3 and these same posters rarely acknowledge the coaching in wins.

 

[SotaHawk87]

Waterbury wasn't great and neither was You'll.. It's a good time for some of the guys to have a bad game though! They'll be ready tomorrow. Really hope Clements comes to play like he has been!

 

[MNHawk]

We all start having high expectations. But look at KY. Start year as number 1, and now almost out of the top 25.

Little difference there - KY was ranked #1 based on potential and recruit star ratings. We are now ranked high because of accomplishments.

 

[HawkeyeSmitty4]

Miserable or not, this is exactly what some on this board are saying, as is their right. But it always seems as though these sentiments are posted only after losses. We're 15-3 and these same posters rarely acknowledge the coaching in wins.

I'm not going to disagree with your premise...there are some fans that will never be happy. My argument was regarding the (mostly) valid criticism of this performance. And I hadn't seen many--if any--pointing to Fran's coaching acumen. They may be there, none of us can read every post. But the majority of complaints were about certain players not playing up to their potential in the game; they were about the concern of playing better teams going forward and needing better performances.

After watching Maryland lose to MSU today, I think if the general complaints are remedied (interior defense, smart guard play, limiting mistakes) we beat Maryland comfortably.