There was a lot of deja vu to the start of Thursday night's game with Iowa and #15 Indiana. Another terrible start and huge early deficit for the Hawkeyes, and another spirited comeback. But the similarities ended there -- after failing to get over the hump against Penn State in a loss on Sunday, Iowa completed the comeback tonight against the Hoosiers, rallying for as many as 21 points down to knock off #15 Indiana, 89-87.
Iowa went on an 11-0 run after the Hoosiers pushed the lead to 35-15, which got the deficit into single-digits for the first time since the first few minutes of the game. Both teams went back-and-forth for the rest of the half; Iowa got the IU lead as low as 5 points, but the Hoosiers pushed it back to 10 points with a 5-0 run in the final minute before the break. Indiana went to the break with a 50-40 lead after shooting the lights out -- 66% from the floor and an absurd 71% from 3-point range.
Out of the break, both teams looked energized at the start of the second half and traded baskets for the first few minutes. But Iowa finally started to get a few stops on defense (switching to more zone looks seemed to unsettle the Hoosiers and got them out of the rhythm that had torched Iowa in the first half) while still converting shots on the offensive end. Iowa put together a 15-4 run from the 16-minute mark to the 12-minute mark that tied the game at 61-all after a Kris Murray three-pointer. Filip Rebraca gave Iowa its first lead of the game on the next possession, off a layup secured with expert positioning on a fast break.
Iowa built out its lead a few times after that, but was never able to get the lead above 4 points. When the Hoosiers went on a 12-2 run with just under four minutes to play, it seemed like Iowa had run out of gas after their furious comeback. Nope. Iowa answered with their own 9-0 run, courtesy several free throws by Connor McCaffery and Filip Rebraca, as well as a smooth transition layup by Murray. In fact, after going up 84-78 with 3:42 to play, Indiana made zero field goals and just five free throws the rest of the game. Iowa's biggest stop of the game came with 0:12 to play, as Murray got fingertips on a
Jalen Hood-Schifino shot and blocked it. Iowa played the free throw-and-foul game after that and worked it to perfection, earning the 91-89 win.
MORE HERE: https://iowa.rivals.com/news/iowa-91-no-15-indiana-89-comeback-kids
RECAP
A thrilling win over the #15 team in the country and the third-biggest comeback in program history seem like pretty good ways to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Carver-Hawkeye Arena, which first hosted a basketball game back on January 5, 1983. Early on, it didn't seem like Iowa would have much to celebrate -- Iowa looked flat out of the gate and couldn't buy a shot in the early going. Indiana, meanwhile, couldn't miss and quickly jumped out to a 20-4 lead. That lead grew to 21 (28-7) and while Iowa finally got going a bit on offense (Payton Sandfort and Connor McCaffery combined for nine straight points for Iowa), it still didn't look good when Fran, incensed at the officiating (for neither the first nor the last time tonight) got a technical foul. The T may or may not have impacted how the officials called the game after that (the officiating overall was fairly poor in this game, but the whistles were pretty even both ways, but it did seem to light an overdue spark under Iowa.Iowa went on an 11-0 run after the Hoosiers pushed the lead to 35-15, which got the deficit into single-digits for the first time since the first few minutes of the game. Both teams went back-and-forth for the rest of the half; Iowa got the IU lead as low as 5 points, but the Hoosiers pushed it back to 10 points with a 5-0 run in the final minute before the break. Indiana went to the break with a 50-40 lead after shooting the lights out -- 66% from the floor and an absurd 71% from 3-point range.
Out of the break, both teams looked energized at the start of the second half and traded baskets for the first few minutes. But Iowa finally started to get a few stops on defense (switching to more zone looks seemed to unsettle the Hoosiers and got them out of the rhythm that had torched Iowa in the first half) while still converting shots on the offensive end. Iowa put together a 15-4 run from the 16-minute mark to the 12-minute mark that tied the game at 61-all after a Kris Murray three-pointer. Filip Rebraca gave Iowa its first lead of the game on the next possession, off a layup secured with expert positioning on a fast break.
Iowa built out its lead a few times after that, but was never able to get the lead above 4 points. When the Hoosiers went on a 12-2 run with just under four minutes to play, it seemed like Iowa had run out of gas after their furious comeback. Nope. Iowa answered with their own 9-0 run, courtesy several free throws by Connor McCaffery and Filip Rebraca, as well as a smooth transition layup by Murray. In fact, after going up 84-78 with 3:42 to play, Indiana made zero field goals and just five free throws the rest of the game. Iowa's biggest stop of the game came with 0:12 to play, as Murray got fingertips on a
Jalen Hood-Schifino shot and blocked it. Iowa played the free throw-and-foul game after that and worked it to perfection, earning the 91-89 win.
MORE HERE: https://iowa.rivals.com/news/iowa-91-no-15-indiana-89-comeback-kids
