The Hawkeyes are third in the Big Ten in scoring with a 69.5 points per game average. They are averaging 74.2 points per game on the entire season, a vast improvement from the 60.5 points per game they averaged in Todd Lickliter’s final season at Iowa.

That being said, Iowa needs to do some work on the defensive end. The Hawks are allowing 74.2 points per game in Big Ten action, 12th in the league. The 103 points scored by Indiana doesn’t help matters, nor does the 95 points that Michigan State scored against Iowa. If you take away those two games, Iowa is allowing 68.6 points per game in the other nine conference games. That would still rank 10th in the league in points per game allowed.

However, Iowa wants to play an uptempo brand of basketball and that will typically lead to more points allowed per game on the defensive end. The trick is to not give up easy baskets, something Iowa has struggled with at times this year. Opponents are still getting to the rim too often against Iowa, although the Hawks have tightened things up over the course of their past two games.

Iowa has attempted 259 free throws in Big Ten play, more than any other team. The next nearest team is Indiana with 243, but the Hoosiers have played 12 conference games. Iowa continues to play to its strengths, which is attacking the basket in the half court set after fast break opportunities close up.

This remains a very encouraging statistic, as Iowa isn’t necessarily blessed with ‘break down’ players at the present time, meaning several guards that can take you off the dribble and get to the foul line. What Iowa does have in its favor are mismatches at the forward positions.

Aaron White has been to the free throw line 61 times in Big Ten play, far and away the most attempts of any Hawkeye player; Devyn Marble is #2 at 49. When looking at the Big Ten’s leaders in free throw percentage, Illinois’ Brandon Paul has been to the line 70 times in 10 games and Penn State’s Tim Frazier has been to the line 61 times. Those two players are guards who have the ball in their hands much of the time and also attack off the top. White is a forward who has the ball in his hands less often than those two; Paul is 2nd in the Big Ten at 39.1 minutes played per game and Frazier is 4th at 38.3. White has averaged just 24.3 minutes per Big Ten game.

White often attacks the rim because it’s his nature and because he has a slower-footed forward guarding him. The same can be said of Zach McCabe, whose aggressiveness and ability to dribble drive has been a revelation this year. He is also getting the job done around the rim, hitting 54.3% of his shots which is good for the 7th best field goal percentage in the league. White’s 50.7% is 13th in the league. McCabe has attempted 70 shots with White having 71 attempts.

That leads into another stat that is just great to see, which is balanced scoring from Iowa. Bryce Cartwright has 70 field goal attempts, Marble has 103 and Matt Gatens 113. Let’s extrapolate those field goal attempt numbers through an 18 game Big Ten season. Here are the field goal attempt numbers these six players are on pace for:

Gatens: 185
Marble: 169
White: 116
McCabe: 115
Cartwright: 115
Basabe: 92

Now, take a look at last year’s numbers for Big Ten play:

Cartwright: 205
Gatens: 194
Basabe: 153
Marble: 115
Cole: 100
May: 88

As you can see on paper, this year’s Iowa team is tougher to defend, because there are more players capable of scoring than Iowa had one year ago. The shots are more evenly distributed after you get past the top two. While there is a precipitous drop off, Gatens and Marble are being backed up well by the next three in line.

We don’t need the stats to tell us that this Iowa team is more balanced and has more playmakers, but it’s fun to see the numbers so spread out.

Let’s take it one step further; points per minute.

White: .45
Gatens: .40
McCabe: .40
Marble: .35
Cartwright: .33
Basabe: .33

White leads the way in production when he is on the court in both points per minute and rebounds per minute. He is the top rebounder on the team regardless of minutes played, and he also leads the team in blocks.

White averages 24.3 minutes per game and McCabe average 24.8. McCabe is averaging 3.7 fouls per game in Big Ten play where White is averaging 2.2. McCabe’s minutes are lower due to the foul trouble he finds himself in, while White’s minutes were lower to start the Big Ten season due to conditioning, something Fran McCaffery spoke of in January.

That being said, McCaffery recently pointed out that White is able to play more minutes now; he is averaging 27.6 minutes per game over the last five games which has seen him average another rebound per game over his current Big Ten average.

Looking ahead to next year, White’s conditioning (both the physical side and the ‘what to expect in conference play’ mental side) will be better. McCabe must do a good a better job of of controlling his aggressive play; don’t get ticky tack fouls by reaching and slapping.

McCabe’s task will be tougher, in my opinion. He is an aggressive player, one who looks to takes charges and a guy who is attacking the basket more frequently. He’ll have to recognize when a help side defender slides over to stop his lane and pull up and take an eight-footer or pass the ball as opposed to bull rushing the basket.

These are good problems to have, however. It’s easier for a player to learn to control his aggressiveness than it is to instill that aggressiveness into his play.

Iowa has something special brewing with these two forwards. If Basabe can get out his funk the rest of this season and/or next year, Iowa will have one of the better front court trios in the league. Add in Adam Woodbury and Kyle Meyer to the mix, and an improved Gabe Olaseni next year and the Hawkeye big men will be a formidable and multi-skilled group.

FANTASTIC FROSH: Aaron White is having a great, great season. The numbers support it and what we see him do with our eyes is even more impressive. White racked up his third Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor.

Indiana’s Cody Zeller will win the Big Ten freshman of the year award, but take a look at the production of Zeller and White, side by side. Zeller’s numbers are listed first, White’s second. I will use averages as Zeller has played 12 games to White’s 11:

Points per Game: 15.1 | 10.9
Rebounds per Game: 5.6 | 5.3
Free Throw %: .776 | .705
Blocks: 1.1 | 1.0
Offensive Rebounds: 2.0 | 2.1

White is comparing well with Zeller and all the more so when you consider Zeller is averaging 28.3 minutes per game to White’s 24.3.

OLD SCHOOL RULES: The Hawkeyes wore throwback jersey’s in front of the 1986-1987 Hawkeye team who were in Carver to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the greatest teams in Iowa history. This year’s Hawkeyes put an old school whooping on Penn State for much of the day, beating the Nits 77-64. They had a 26-point lead early in the second half and coasted to the win. The 86-87 Hawkeyes won 30 games and 19 of those wins were by double digits. Iowa has two wins in February, equalling their February win total from each of the past four seasons. The Hawks are a half-game out of fifth place in the Big Ten, which is great progress for this program:

NEW SCHOOL TOOLS:  Future Iowa center Adam Woodbury was in attendance on Saturday and became a topic of conversation after a pair of his highlight videos were posted on the message board.  You can read the discussion post here, and the two videos are below:

BIG WEEK FOR FOOTBALL: Just when you thought the Iowa football program would go on mothballs until late March when Spring practice began, this week could be as important, or more important than last week’s signing day event.

Kirk Ferentz said last week that he’d name a defensive coordinator this week. Then on Friday, the University sent out a release saying that Ken O’Keefe was leaving the Iowa program. He has found a home with the Miami Dolphins as a wide receivers coach, working for his former subordinate Joe Philbin.

Philbin was Iowa’s offensive line coach until 2003 and worked for O’Keefe as an offensive coordinator/ offensive line coach on O’Keefe’s Allegheny College staff from 1990-93.

Marc Morehouse of The Gazette penned an item on Friday speculating on some names Ferentz might consider to replace O’Keefe. He threw out some names who are presently on Iowa’s staff; Erik Campbell & Lester Erb. He also mentioned former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell and former Fresno State head coach Pat Hill, who just recently latched on with Atlanta. Morehouse reminded us that Caldwell played defensive back for Iowa in the early to mid 1970′s and that Ferentz and Hill were assistant coaches with the Baltimore Ravens in 1996. Morehouse also mentioned former Iowa player and current Sooner co-Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell, along with Kirk’s son Brian Ferentz.

I just don’t believe Kirk would hire Brian to be his offensive coordinator. Could I see him adding Brian as a position coach? Yes. Could I see Brian leaving the New England Patriots, where he is currently their tight ends coach, to work for his father? Yes and no. If I had to wager, I doubt Brian joins his father’s Iowa staff in any capacity.

The Patriots will be looking for a new offensive coordinator and there has been some speculation that Brian could get some play calling responsibilities. The Patriots awarded Josh McDaniels the Offensive Coordinator position in 2006, when he was 30 years old and there remains speculation that he called the plays in 2005, but the Pats didn’t name an OC for that season, the year after Charlie Weiss left to coach Notre Dame. Brian Ferentz is 29 years of age right now, and his career path with that organization is quite similar to that of McDaniels’.

Morehouse’s list is as good as any, and right about now I don’t see any logical in house candidates to slide over and take over the play calling role. Given the fact that O’Keefe’s departure was just last Friday, I am not sure Ferentz will announce an OC on Wednesday. Perhaps the job has to be posted for a certain length of time to satisfy state of Iowa or University policies.

Whether or not that is the case, I think it’s safe to assume the O’Keefe news didn’t take Ferentz by surprise. He and O’Keefe have been friends for a long, long time as O’Keefe hired Ferentz to be his Offensive Line coach back in 1979 at Worcester Academy. In addition to O’Keefe hiring Philbin at Allegeny, Philbin played football and baseball for O’Keefe at Worcester. So these three have known each other for the better part of the last 30 years, so there are few secrets between them. I have a hard time believing Philbin would have hired O’Keefe without at least a courtesy call to Ferentz early in the process.

As for the defensive coordinator position, I have felt Phil Parker was the heavy odds favorite. However, the longer this process has gone on, the less certain I have become that Parker will be the DC. If it was going to be Phil Parker, why wait so long to make the announcement? Why have an unfilled coordinator position in the month of January when that can be used against you on the recruiting trails?

Iowa will also make a new hire at the defensive line coach position, but I have already written Levar Woods’ name into that slot in pen. If Parker is the next DC, then Iowa will need to hire a defensive backs coach. Keep this name in mind: Citadel DC/Safeties coach Josh Conklin.

I wish I felt better about saying ‘this person will be the hire’ for both coordinator positions, but any list that I would put together would be based on Ferentz ties or in house possibilities and Morehouse did a fine job of starting a list like that. It is Ft. Kinnick, after all, and the walls are fairly impregnable.

We’ll know a lot more in roughly 72 hours and it’s the first major coaching staff shakeup in Iowa City since Ferentz replaced Hayden Fry in 1999. While new coordinators will add their own personality to the offense and defense, my guess is Iowa’s (read: Kirk Ferentz’s) bread and butter philosophies on both sides of the ball will remain the same.

NOTE: An earlier version of this story said that the throwback jerseys were from the Ronnie Lester era.  The 1986-1987 Hawkeyes wore the script Iowa jerseys, before the school changed to the block Iowa jerseys.  The Lester era Hawkeye wore script Hawks on their jersey’s.  My apologies for the error.

The Iowa Men’s basketball team had to deal with something today that it has not experienced in Big Ten play for some time.

How to continue to play aggressive on both ends when you have built up a huge lead against a conference opponent.

Iowa raced out to a 23-5 lead to start the game and would push that lead to 26 with over 17:39 left in the game. Penn State would trail by 13 with 5:51 to go in the game before Iowa wound up winning the game 77-64.

There were times where Iowa appeared to be going through the motions on both ends of the court, but that will be a teaching lesson for this inexperienced team. Veteran teams know how to keep teams down once they have them down. This year’s team has struggled with that, evidenced by their double-digit first half leads against Nebraska and Minnesota over the past nine days; Iowa fell at home to Nebraska but scored the last nine points of the game on Wednesday night to beat Minnesota by four.

But in the end, a double-digit win in Big Ten play is a good win for the Hawkeyes. It was also nice to do that in front of the 1986-1987 Iowa basketball team and their coach Dr. Tom Davis, who was honored before the game. That team won 30 games, 19 of them by double-digits.

Four Hawkeyes scored in double-figures, led by Matt Gatens with 18. Gatens was 10-11 from the line for Iowa, who shot 29-34 from the line as a team. Aaron White and Bryce Carwright scored 17 points, with White collecting nine rebounds and Cartwright dishing out five assists. Zach McCabe added 10 points and five rebounds. Devyn Marble scored five points to go along with eight boards.

For the game, Iowa shot 46% to 40% for Penn State. The Nittany Lions shot the lights out in the second half just to get to 40%, as they were below 25% shooting in the first half. The Nits attempted 29 three-point shots and made 10 of them. Iowa was 4-13 from long range, with White hitting two of them.

Iowa won the battle of the boards 38-31 and also had a 16-10 advantage in second chance points. There were just six fast break points scored in this game, as Penn State wanted to keep the score as low as possible, but the Hawkeyes took things inside, recording a 30-22 points in the paint advantage.

With the win, Iowa moved to 5-6 in Big Ten play, their most wins in a conference season since the 2006-2007 won nine. They are presently tied for 7th place in the league with Indiana.

Iowa’s next game is Thursday night in Evanston, Illinois against Northwestern. They will then have seven days off before returning to the court February 16th at Penn State

Carver-Hawkeye Arena will be filled with Hawkeye legends, future Hawkeye stars, and hopefully a capacity Hawkeye crowd.  While Iowa entertains Penn State in men’s basketball today, other events will be just as exciting for some old school fans.  A large number of players from the 1987 Elite Eight team will be in attendance, and Dr. Tom and Bruce Pearl will be there as well.  Additionally, Iowa will wear throwback gold jerseys for this game.  For anyone growing up with Hawkeye Basketball in the 80′s, this will be a dream day instead Carver.

Game Info

Iowa Hawkeyes (12-11; 4-6) vs Penn State (10-13; 2-8)
POMEROY RATINGS: Iowa – 100, Penn State – 128
REALTIMERPI: Iowa – 121, Penn State – 143
CBS RPI: Iowa – 119, Penn State – 132
MASSEY RANKING: Iowa – 109, Penn State – 135
Tip Off: Saturday, February 4th, 2012; 2:05 PM CST
Iowa City, IA; Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 15,400
TV:  ESPNU, ESPN3.com
Radio: AM 600, 1040, and 800. Sirius: 92 | XM: 191
Iowa leads 22-12 in the all-time series.

LINE: Iowa is a 6.5 point favorite at home. Pomeroy predicts a 7 point Iowa win.

LIVE CHAT: Click HERE for the Link

Projected Starters

IOWA

G – Devyn Marble, 6’6”, 194 lb, SO

G – Matt Gatens, 6’5”, 212 lb, SR

G – Bryce Cartwright, 6’1”, 188 lb, SR

F – Aaron White, 6’8”, 225 lb, FR

F – Zach McCabe, 6’7”, 232 lb, SO

** Eric May is dressed and should be available per Rick Brown.

PENN STATE

G – Tim Frazier, 6’1″,170 lb, JR

G – Matt Glover, 6’4″, 210 lb, SO

G – Jermaine Marshall, 6’4″, 200 lb, SO

G – Cammeron Woodyard, 6’5″, 210 lb, SR

F – Jon Graham, 6’8″, 240 lb, FR

STATS COMPARISON:

• Points Per Game – Iowa 74, PSU 61.7
• FG % – Iowa 45.2, PSU 38.2
• Points per Poss: – Iowa, 1.06, PSU 0.96
• eFG% – Iowa 48.8, PSU 43.9
• Opp eFG% – Iowa 49.5, PSU 50.8
• 2 pt% – Iowa 48.7, PSU 42.7
• 3 pt% – Iowa 34.8, PSU 30.6
• Opp 2 pt %: Iowa 51.6, PSU 47.5
• Opp 3 pt% – Iowa 34.6, PSU 36.6
• FT% – Iowa 71.5, PSU 66.8
• Offensive Turnover% – Iowa 17.7, PSU 19.6
• Defensive Turnover% – Iowa 20.9, PSU 22.2
• Offensive Reb% – Iowa 33.0, PSU 36.2
• Offensive Steal% – Iowa 7.6, PSU 8.5

Here’s a look at a graphical comparison of the teams from statsheet.com

Iowa has 10 games with 10 steals or more, that’s best in the B1G and 5th best in the nation.

Penn State has yet to win on the road in conference, and has just one win on the road this year.

In conf play only – Iowa is the worst in the B1G in defensive efficiency, allowing offensive rebounds, and giving up 2 point FGs.    The Hawkeyes are in the middle of the B1G in nearly every offensive category. Penn State is the worst in the B1G in eFG%, 3 pt%, 2 pt%, and offensive block%.   They are also have the worst defensive eFG% in B1G play, as well.

Dev Marble sporting the throwback jerseys the Hawkeyes will be wearing today. Photo courtesy of Hawkeyesports.com

KEYS TO GAME FOR IOWA:

- Wear Out Tim Frazier.  When a guy leads your team in points, rebounds, assists, everything… there’s a good chance he’s the reason you win/lose basketball games.  Frazier is a guy that does a fantastic job of setting up his teammates, while getting his points when he can.  Iowa will likely switch up on Frazier when they are in man to man.  Tim is a smart guy, both academically and on the court, so he won’t be confused by much of what the Hawks throw at him.

- Rebound.  Iowa averages 3.5 more boards in their 4 B1G wins and have been on the bad side of the boards (7.7 on average) in their losses.  The Hawkeyes haven’t been the greatest rebounding team this year, esp considering Melsahn Basabe is leading the team with just 5.2 rebounds a game.  Iowa will have a considerable height advantage in this one and should win the board battle by 8+ today.  PSU got 12 offensive rebounds vs Wisconsin last time out – they’ll likely get that many this game.

- Mix up the D/Press.  Penn State is not a very good offensive team.  They have a low PPP and a poor eFG%.  Glover, specifically has not been very effective from the floor – so with that in mind, expect him to go 6-8 from 3 pt land against Iowa.  It just happens, right?  But in all seriousness, the Nittany Lions aren’t going to beat the Hawkeyes by putting up huge offensive numbers, they aren’t very capable of doing that.  Iowa will come out in M2M D and then sprinkle in the zone to make PSU hit a few shots from the outside.  Coach McCaffery will throw in the occasional press to keep them honest.

PREDICTION:  Remember the feelings going into the Nebraska game?  A bad shooting, low scoring team coming into C-HA. It feels the same, except I think the results end up different.  The signs all point to an Iowa victory.  The Nittany Lions have lost 6 out of 7 games, I see that trend continuing.  Iowa wins bigger than expected.  FINAL SCORE: Iowa 77, Penn State 62

Iowa led 18-8 with 8:56 to play before Minnesota went on a 19-6 run to end the half with the lead.  The Gophers extended that lead to 45-35 with under 12 minutes to play in the game.  The Hawks missed numerous free throws in the second half and were just 17-26 for the game, while Minnesota was hitting all sorts of three point shots in the second half and was 10-19 from long distance in the game.

These are not the kind of statistics that typically lead to wins, but somehow this Iowa team regained its early game focus, picked up their aggressiveness and found a way to win.

Minnesota had just made a three-point shot with 3:54 to play to lead 59-54.  That’s when sophomore Devyn Marble stepped it up and took over.  He hit a three-point shot with 2:29 to play to pull Iowa to within two.   He followed that up with a drive down the lane that ended with the highlight dunk of the season, with a defender on his him, to tie the game with 1:43 to play.

Bryce Cartwright would hit two free throws with 1:05 to play to give Iowa a two-point lead, this after he had just clanked two free throws in a recent trip to the foul stripe.  Minnesota missed a jumper with :43 to play and Gophers head coach Tubby Smith did not instruct his team to foul.

This was a key moment in the game, as Iowa let the air out of the ball and placed it in the hands of Marble with six seconds left on the shot clock.  Marble was 30 feet from the rim, top of the key when he put his head down and charged towards the rim.  That’s when he found Matt Gatens wide open under the basket and Gatens scored from point-blank range to give Iowa a four-point lead with :08 left in the game to give Iowa a thrilling victory.  It was an Iowa 9-0 run to end the game.

Gatens led Iowa with 18 points on the night, including several critical buckets in the second half to help Iowa to crawl back into the game.  Marble scored 12 for Iowa to go along with five rebounds and two assists, but his play in the last three minutes was the difference in the game.

Melsahn Basabe came off the bench to score seven points and he also pulled down eight rebounds.  Aaron White had nine points with seven rebounds and Zach McCabe scored eight bound and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Iowa started this game tough on the defensive end.  They finished tough on both ends.  In the middle, they lost players while on defense and had a very tough time doing much in their half court offensively.  But when it mattered the most, they showed a great deal heart against a Minnesota team that came into Carver playing as good as any team in the league.

Minnesota had won at Indiana and Penn State in back to back games, then buried Northwestern at home 75-52 to string together three in a row.  They lost at Michigan State then came back to beat Illinois in The Barn.  That’s a four wins in five game stretch against some salty competition, so I don’t mind telling you that I was not overly optimistic about Iowa’s chances before tip, primarily due to Iowa’s three-game losing streak and how they had been losing.

Inexperienced teams can make you pull your hair out at times, but younger players can toss those cares aside and be a different team from game to game.  Add in a player like Matt Gatens, who is desperate for some kind of post season and the Hawks put together a recipe for a gutty win at home in front of over 11,000 fans and more than 1,000 students who were very loud at times.

Iowa moves to 12-11 on the season, 4-6 in Big Ten play with the Big Ten’s worst team coming to town on Saturday in the form of 10-13 (2-8) Penn State.

The game will tip off at 2pm and the 1986-1987 Iowa basketball team will be honored.  Iowa will wear throwback jerseys for that game as well.

NOTES:  Iowa outscored Minnesota 30-10 in the paint, which is a shocker.  Minnesota is one of the bigger teams in the league and very athletic on the inside…Iowa was +6 on the offensive glass and +4 on the boards overall for the game…Iowa was +8 in points off turnovers, committing 10 to Minnesota’s 16….Iowa scored 15 fast break points to 0 for Minnesota.

COACH McCAFFERY:  Well, you know, I think the thing that really impressed me tonight about this team, and I think what ends up happening is we tend to in a game like this focus on that point to the end.  Down 10, then what happens?

It’s a 40‑minute game, okay?  The way we defended in the first 10 minutes is the best we’ve defended since I’ve been here.  We get up 15‑3.  This is a good team, phenomenally well‑coached team.  You know they’re going to come back.  They made it hard for us.  Mixed in a little bit of zone.  We adjusted.

Then the second half starts.  We score three right away, get back to even.  They hit some shots to go up 10.  We out‑rebound them, commit one turnover in the second half.  We didn’t panic when we got down 10.  We whittle away at it, plenty of time.

We made the plays we had to make out of the stretch and we rebounded out of the zone, which oftentimes when you’re running flare screen action, spreading the floor, that’s problematic.  But I thought Aaron and Zach in particular and then our guards got in there and Marble and Matt really made some plays.  And I thought Cartwright was excellent.

Q.  How would you describe the play‑making you had down the stretch with Marble?

COACH McCAFFERY:  Well, you know, it’s interesting.  They were switching so we ran one action to try to create the switch.  Marble just took it down and dunked it.  They got a little separated.  Then when we got the stop, we’re thinking, Okay, are they going to foul, let him play out?  I think it was a six‑ or seven‑second differential.  They let it play out.

Dev just went and made a play.  At that point in time, you got to go make a play.  They were scrambling.  We’re in a double bonus.  It’s going to have to be a pretty good foul to get a call there, but you have to put your head down and go.  What a great play he made.  Great finish by Matt.  Then defensively we did what we had to do.

Q.  Talk about the spark you got from Mel off the bench. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  I thought he was terrific both halves.  His energy level was really good.  We needed an athlete in this game.  This is a very athletic team.  They’re bigger than we are.  We needed the length of Mel and his athletic power.  And he gave it to us in a big way.

Q.  (No microphone.) 

COACH McCAFFERY:  He’s a really good player.  He did the same thing up there.  We had like a seven‑point lead.  He kept hitting shots.  He’s sacrificing himself to play the point guard for that team and doing a great job of it.

In the zone, he’s a great catch‑and‑shoot three‑point shooter.  A couple of times we would have liked to have been a little bit closer to him.  We marked him and we were there, but we weren’t far enough ’cause he’s just going to catch it and fire.  Fortunately we had enough left.

Q.  Eric May’s back situation?

COACH McCAFFERY:  He couldn’t go yesterday.  He went Monday.  He couldn’t go yesterday.  He just said he didn’t think he could get anything done.

I appreciate his honesty.  A lot of guys would have suited up and tried to go.  I would have put him in there because he’s always played well against these guys.  He didn’t feel like he could go, so we’ll give him some rest.

Q.  After Sunday’s game where you obviously weren’t happy with the defense, after two days of practice, they come out and play with a lot more intensity. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  You know, they’re a group that has great character.  They want to do what we’re asking them to do.  They want to be successful.  They make mistakes sometimes.  I get on them.  Everybody sort of assumed Monday was going to be this phenomenally intense screaming and yelling session.  There was a little bit of that.

But it’s a teaching opportunity because it’s not all toughness, it’s not all lack of concentration.  On some level it’s got to be a technique, a fundamental.  That’s on us.  So we’ve got to go back.  We broke down every aspect of defense, kind of like it was the first week of practice, five minutes here, seven minutes there, six minutes here, reteach it, make sure we’re doing it right, then force them to come with the intensity level you need to be successful in this league.

That’s what they did, so…

Q.  How much did you like Devyn’s maturity? 

COACH McCAFFERY:  That’s what Devyn Marble is.  He’s a playmaker.  He’s really, I think, becoming somebody that really understands what that situation was and how to be successful possession by possession, what do we need.  Did we really need that three there?  Yeah, we kind of did.  We were down five.  We just missed two free throws.  That changed everything.  Now we got a stop, then a dunk.

They were so worried about switching, taking away any open shot, switching is an opportunity to drive because the X is on the O.  So we tell our guys, whenever they’re switching men, put it on the deck and go, especially when you’re in the double bonus.

He knew that.  He goes and makes a play.  He knew that on the last possession.  In a situation like that, they really don’t want to foul him.  He just made a great pass and a great finish by Matt.

Q.  Regarding the toughness, something you questioned after the game Sunday, how would you describe it after tonight?

COACH McCAFFERY:  Well, I would say that we were phenomenally tough and it shows you that we’re capable of playing like that on a regular basis.  We talked about toughness.  We also talked about consistency.  What I said was, we have been tough at times.  We have not been consistently tough.  We have been tough in games, but not necessarily in the next game and the next game.

I think that’s the challenge.  That sort of epitomizes this league.  The teams that can rev it up every night, now you have a chance.  It just goes to show you, we have played that way, we’ve played that well.

We played that well in stretches on Sunday, but not enough.

Q.  A lot of good plays out of inbound plays tonight. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  And everybody wants to give me credit for that.  I’ll be honest with you.  We put the formation in, then the guys have to read it.  It’s timing.  It’s spacing.  It’s screening.  It’s when to screen, what angle to screen, when to deliver the ball, who you deliver the ball to.

I would give them all the credit for that.

Q.  Bryce was kind of inconsistent shooting, then has a steal at the end, drives it to the basket to draw the foul. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  I don’t worry about his shot, as long as he is taking what I consider to be good shots from him and he did.  I don’t want him pulling up from three, one on four on the break.  If he’s shooting pull‑up jumpers, driving the ball to the basket, pushing the ball in transition.

A couple of forced turnovers in the first half.  It was coming easy.  15‑3.  He threw the one over Aaron’s head, then he coughed the one up trying to split somebody.  Those are the two he has to get out of his game.  To me those are the only two mistakes he made, not the shots he made.  I thought he was great.

Q.  What about the steal he made. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  If I have him in there, he’s going to make those plays.  Once Sampson goes to the ground, he’s shooting it.  Bryce knew that.  That’s part of the scouting report.  We had an opportunity earlier where Marble missed it by this much and then Bryce got it.

Q.  Big student turnout tonight.  Did that give you an extra jolt of energy?

COACH McCAFFERY:  You know, there’s nothing like it.  Our fan base is so incredibly loyal.  Now that the students are back, when they fill up that side of the building, you think about it, I didn’t play a lot of guys in the second half.  We had a little bit of a tired team.  That’s the energy level that we got from them that really helped us win this game, no question.

Q.  It seemed like Melsahn’s energy started on the defense and the boards.  How do you get him to continue that?

COACH McCAFFERY:  I think you’re right.  He seemed to get confidence offensively because he was making plays defensively.  A couple of times earlier in the year, he was playing pretty good defense, he wasn’t scoring, everybody was down on him, including myself.  Then I go back and watch the tape.  He was pretty good, he just didn’t get it in the basket.

We’ve just encouraged him to keep plugging away defensively, fight the post.  They have two seven‑footers.  Fight the post, get those traffic rebounds.  That will get our break going, get him going.  Makes a big difference.  I think he’s feeling really good about himself tonight.

Q.  You beat a really good team two times this season. 

COACH McCAFFERY:  It’s a big step for us to beat a team of this caliber twice, a team that is that athletic, has been playing that well.  So now for us the challenge continues.  Where do we go from here?

Two Decades and Counting:  The Streak, The Wins, the Hawkeyes, Thru the Eyes of Roy Marble, by Brian D. Meeks, to launch on Feb 4, 2012 at Iowa vs. Penn State, Carver Hawkeye Arena.

The expectations were high, and the results were record breaking.Before the 1986–87 season began, the pre-season AP poll had the Iowa Hawkeyes ranked tenth. Iowa fans suspected it might be low as they had Roy Marble, whom Sports Illustrated had compared to another number 23, Michael Jordan.The streak began at the Great Alaska Shootout and continued until they had won more consecutive games than any team in Iowa men’s basketball history. This is the story of that season, the players, the coaches, and what it was like to cheer for that very special team.

The book will be initially available at select Cedar Rapids Hy-vee Food & Drug stores, The Black & Gold Shops in Iowa City and Davenport, University Book Store and Hawk Shop, and Barnes & Noble in Iowa City and Coralville.  It will also be available after the launch online at Amazon.com, for both print and Kindle versions.  The Nook version will be available at that time, as well.

Roy and Brian are currently making arrangements for a book signing tour in the state.  As dates and locations are added, the information will be posted at http://extremelyaverage.com, the author’s website.

Brian D. Meeks is the author of the ongoing Henry Wood Detective series.  The second and third books in the series will be available this spring and be found on Amazon.

From the book:  ” A young boy sits on the edge of his bed. He holds it in his right hand, the movements are measured; the weight is familiar. Just to be sure, he crosses it over to his left hand, and it is undeniably perfect. There is one more test, at least, which is allowed in the house.  A few moments of looking at the seams, reading the words “Official NBA,” and then with the slightest toss, he brings both hands together, violently smacking the ball. The sound is unmistakable, if not indescribable.”

To place orders for the book, arrange for a signing, or an interview, contact:

Brian D. Meeks
111 W Kohl, box 71
Martelle, IA 52305

Brian@ExtremelyAverage.com
515-402-0809
URL:  http://extremelyaverage.com
Twitter:  @ExtremelyAvg or @TwoDecades

That’s sort of a running joke on our message board forums, as a few fans have gone back and forth this season wondering if the program had ‘returned’ or not.

While I think the program has regained some relevance, they aren’t ‘back’ yet.  If you needed any more evidence, you saw it Sunday night in Bloomington, Indiana where the Hoosiers topped the Hawks 103-89.  It was the first time a Big Ten team had topped 100-points in a Big Ten game since March 2nd of 2008 when Michigan State hung 103 on Illinois.

Wait…Iowa scored 89 points and lost by double-digits?

Maybe the Iowa basketball program IS back…sort of.  This was a score straight out of the 1980′s, when one hundred something to high eighties didn’t cause everyone in the conference to raise their eyebrows in surprise.  I saw a retweet from Yahoo’s Pat Forde commenting on his shock that a Big Ten team actually scored 100 points in a league game.

For the record, Iowa’s 89 points was the third highest single game point total by anyone in a league game this season.  Indiana’s is #1 and the 95 Iowa allowed at Michigan State is #2.  It was also the highest combined scored in a non-overtime Big Ten game since 1995 when Iowa beat Northwestern 116-77.

Watching this game today, I really was reminded of the pace of play of Big Ten basketball in the 1980′s and 1990′s.  A game like this really wasn’t all that out of the ordinary…well, I shouldn’t say this game was ordinary.  Iowa was extraordinarily poor on defense in this game, and it wasn’t just the fact that Indiana scored 103.  The Hoosiers had 11 dunks in this game.  11 dunks. Indiana was 37 of 67 in this game, or 55%.  That’s real good.

Iowa was 34 of 54, or 63%.  That’s exceptional…so what went wrong?  As you can tell, there is a significant disparity in the number of field goal attempts; Indiana had 13 more than Iowa.  That just so happens to be how many more offensive rebounds (20) they had than Iowa (7).  Indiana was +15 on the boards overall for the game.   Iowa also had 17 turnovers to Indiana’s 13.

As was the case against Nebraska, Iowa’s offense was more than good enough to win.  It converted plenty of plays into points and looked impressive in the full court game, at times.  There was a stretch in the first ten minutes of this game where Iowa’s pace was blistering and it looked as good in transition as it has at any time since Tom Davis was replaced, yet the defense and rebounding were just not there to go along with it.

More than anything, this game reminded me of of the inconsistency of youthful teams.  The only thing consistent about inexperienced teams is that they will be inconsistent.  Iowa has been that this season and was again on Sunday night.

Quite frankly, that’s what we’re seeing.  I felt this team could be a 16-15 club and they should be in the hunt for that, although the loss against Nebraska last week will make it harder to get there.

Help is on the way and the program is showing real signs of life.  Unfortunately, there are going to be more painful experiences along the way.

Josh Oglesby led Iowa with a career best 24 points, Matt Gatens had 20 and Devyn Marble 13.  Iowa gave the start to Aaron White over Melsahn Basabe, and Basabe came out with energy.  We’ll see how that one continues to play out.