You are only telling 1/2 of the story. Tell us how Omoruyi and Mag did in the 2nd half against Murray and Rebraca?
Where were Dix’s minutes?
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If you insist.
Omoruyi had 2 pts
Mag had 2 pts
I'm not trying to pick a fight with someone. But if you are going to throw out the question "is this the best production can expect for 20 minutes of playing time?", then you also need to talk about defensive production.
Well IOWA was playing a zone, so there was little man to man 1 v 1, with Rutgers out scoring Iowa by 1.
IOWA up 12 in 1st half with fresh roster
IOWA down 1 in 2h, with tired roster
Fran did the same thing vs EIU when IOWA got run out of gym in 2h…
IOWA very fortunate to have career day from Sandfort on shooting efficiency
IOWA playing ZONE vs an offensively challenged Rutgers team who could only go 2-9 in 2H..
rutgers may see many more,zones after a short handed poor defensive team like IOWA dominates them at home
zones are typically played to cover inside defense weakness Like IOWA has.
that said, I give huge credit for Rebraca going all 40, and kris ans ulis going all 20 in 2H..
they are tough minded to do so should be given respect for outlasting Rutgers.
Zone was played because it effing worked. That's good coaching.
so, what you are saying is, fran knows what he's doing and fran is da man?
Eldridge had the scout and they had the perfect game plan. They outrebounded RU (38-36) and held RU to 38% shooting and 29% from 3.
Today, Iowa was phenomenal in 3 point shooting; they were 12-27 for 44%. In Iowa's 7 previous losses, they shot just 23% from 3.
Nobody had Iowa winning this game after that exhausting, emotional win over IU. Except the Iowa coaches & Iowa players.
It was a zone with match-up principles. Hummell mentioned that a few times during the game. Also, when you play zone, it's a lot harder to box out on rebounding. If Rebraca and Murray were exhausted, then Omuyuri and the other freak athletes on RU should have been able to clean up on the offensive boards, but they did not.
Everyone would like Iowa to have more depth on the front line, but they have nobody right now. Iowa was 0-3 in the standings, they had to go with their horses all the way against IU and RU. Starting 1-4 or 0-5 and the season is over. I hate to say it, but 3 or 4 minutes with Mulvey in the game could have easily swung this in the other direction.
Are you including the NCAA Tournament game? Iowa has six losses this season.so, what you are saying is, fran knows what he's doing and fran is da man?
Eldridge had the scout and they had the perfect game plan. They outrebounded RU (38-36) and held RU to 38% shooting and 29% from 3.
Today, Iowa was phenomenal in 3 point shooting; they were 12-27 for 44%. In Iowa's 7 previous losses, they shot just 23% from 3.
Nobody had Iowa winning this game after that exhausting, emotional win over IU. Except the Iowa coaches & Iowa players.
I agree with this. Connor is our best option at PG come crunch time. Ulis is a turnover waiting to happen every time he has the ball. It's early for Bowen as he is young - he'll be really good; just needs experience.
The defensive effort was there. Close outs. Rebounding. Hands in shooters faces. That not a normal Iowa defensive effort.so, what you are saying is, fran knows what he's doing and fran is da man?
Eldridge had the scout and they had the perfect game plan. They outrebounded RU (38-36) and held RU to 38% shooting and 29% from 3.
Today, Iowa was phenomenal in 3 point shooting; they were 12-27 for 44%. In Iowa's 7 previous losses, they shot just 23% from 3.
Nobody had Iowa winning this game after that exhausting, emotional win over IU. Except the Iowa coaches & Iowa players.
Really? I thought he was rubbing his bandage but didn't pay much attention either.
This team tends to play defense thats equal to how well the offense is going.
Usually the worse they shoot the worse the effort on defense is and vice versa.
Rebraca had more back to the basket scores in 1st half than facing basket FGA. although he did have the 1 move from the FT line, I don’t recall any others where he started facing the basket and scored.
I will say in 2nf half Rutgers seems to throw doubles and triples, so that point is valid as Pinkel made adjustments, even still, Rebraca was 0-5 and only had 4 points
Mulvey could hardly have done much worse offensively while spelling Rebraca and certainly this would have resulted in a fresher Rebraca which only stands to reason would perfom better than an exhausted Rebraca who was fightimg ferociously on nearly every possession
The amount of minutes that Murray and Rebraca are playing shows that Iowa is already playing for its post-season life. There is no margin of error, and for those two players there are no adequate substitutes. Whether or not that should be the case is a different argument. But if you rest Murray and Rebraca for March, Iowa might not be playing in March.
Correct. Iowa had to put it all out there this week. Credit to the team. They got themselves back in the conversation for being in the tournament. Everyone wishes there were good options for spelling Rebraca and Murray. Rebraca is probably more efficient playing 32-34 minutes a game, no doubt. But there just aren't the guys to go to.
Yes, Fran's sub patterns at times are mystifying, he seems to forget about guys at times. But he got the team to play hard and right when most everything was going against them. It's going to be week to week with this team. They do have "favorable" home games coming up now, these teams are so close nothing can be guaranteed. Any game where there is foul trouble or no one can make 3's and Iowa is in the soup again.
Ulis had 4 turnovers. Bowen had 2 turnovers in 4 minutes of play. At least one of them was unforced. Connor had an unforced turnover in the final 2 minutes. They all had their moments yesterday.
When you play Rutgers, especially at Rutgers, you are going to turn it over. Rutgers is 8th best in the country at forcing turnovers on defense with a TO rate of 25%. Iowa had a TO rate of 22% in the game. Not great (Iowa overall is at 14.3% for the year, 6th in the country), but not bad enough to lose the game. The reason Iowa won is because they made 3's (mostly Sandfordt), got to the line a bit and kept Rutgers off the FT line.
Ulis, Perkins and Connor played a combined 95 minutes and had a combined 7 turnovers despite handling the ball a lot. Not great, but enough to let Iowa win the game. Take the win and move on. Have to take advantage of the 3 home games in a row.
I agree. Rutgers is an excellent defensive team. They force a lot of turnovers. They didn't force Bowen's mishandling of a pass in the open court or Connor dribbling it off his leg midcourt at the end of the game.
With that said, my response was to a comment that Ulis shouldn't be handling the ball with a preference towards Connor and a wish for more Bowen. I'm not advocating for anyone in particular or suggesting that Iowa did anything poorly against Rutgers. I'm only pointing out that Ulis isn't the only guard that is struggling on this team. They all need to improve for this team to have a successful season. Perkins wasn't mentioned here but he's been struggling as well. With respect to turnovers specifically, everyone freaked out when Joe turned it over last year. If you took assists + steals minus turnovers for Joe, he blew away the numbers for any guard on the team this year.
Good observations.....Bowen's first turnover was his failure to catch and handle an easy pass, not the Rutgers defense. This instance is a great demonstration of just the freshman syndrome. It happens...and it won't be the end of his playing time, but it was the right move by Fran to not play him much after that and a subsequent turnover.
On Connor's turnover, I have a different perspective. I think that he was being bodied up by the Rutger's guard and was distracted enough by trying to deal with that, (with bumping and reaching) that he dribbled to close to his leg and caused the subsequent turnover. I think he even put his right arm out to push the guy away or prevent his reaching for the ball. That's one of the things "that type of defense" does is wear on a player mentally to the point where they simply lose concentration for a split second.
All that said, as noted above, it was a really good win...very strong performance against a hot/good team on their home court. First team in five years to lead them from start to finish on their home court? I think I heard that somewhere.
It was a great win. Seeing Sandfort have a second straight strong outing is hopefully another indication that one of the greatest cases of yips that I've ever seen is in the past. Having another scoring option is huge for this team.
Nope. I just rewatched the first half to make sure my memory was correct.
He had one back to the basket bucket in the first half and Omoruiy was not in the game.
The only other time he attempted a back to the basket shot in the first half Omoruiy blocked it just like the second half.
His other field goals were a dump off from Perkins, a pick and roll with Connor, an offensive rebound, and drive from the freethrow line. All facing the basket buckets where Rutgers couldn't double.
A paint touch does not mean back to the basket.
Im not saying he wasn't tired, Im only saying you can't use field goals made to prove the point because the attempts were apples to oranges in the two halves.
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ahh, I’ve not reviewed so i will trust your re-watch. I recall the drive from the FT.
interesting how he was shut out in 2nd half from all of those face to the basket plays…🤔
RUs defense was significantly tougher in the second half.
A lot of iowas second half baskets started with Ulis hitting Rebraca on the high screen action but he kept the ball moving to the right spots.
They were all moving the ball very well off that initial attempt to trap the screen.
