Damn

[Wesley]

The next time I see him put his head down and drive into the defensive player while flinging the basketball in the direction of the hoop, I'm going to throw my remote through the tv. He thinks he is Kevin McHale.

0 for 7.

 

[carvers4math]

Glad we won, now we can root for Iowa to win the rest of their games and the big 10.

Uh no, I never root for Hoks.

 

[3TrueFans]

Glad we won, now we can root for Iowa to win the rest of their games and the big 10.

lol no

 

[mikem]

Iowa is a better team than I thought. They should do well in the Big 10

I agree, I thought they were a good team that had a ceiling because of athleticism and lack of playmakers.

I think their length and style of play can offset the lack of guys that can break teams down off the bounce. Be interesting to see how they do against some of the plodding teams in their league

 

[jmb]

A few stats from tonight:

Shooting %: 46.4%, 47.5%
FT %: 66.7%, 63.9%
Assists: 19, 19
Turnovers: 10, 11
Steals: 6, 5
Points from top two scorers: 46, 44

The only stat where either team held a huge edge was rebounding, which Iowa pretty well dominated for most of the game (49-35, including 14 OReb). ISU held a 12% edge in 3%, but they only made two more deep balls (took the same number of attempts), and Iowa made two more field goals (36-34) so that edge only translated to 2 extra points (obviously big in the context of this game, but not a big statistical edge).

These teams were as even as could be. I'm not sure the better team won, simply because I'm not sure you couldn't just flip a coin between these two right now. Nobody, in either the Big 12 or Big 10, is going to want to see these teams.

according to the rankings the better team won.

 

[tm3308]

I agree, I thought they were a good team that had a ceiling because of athleticism and lack of playmakers.

I think their length and style of play can offset the lack of guys that can break teams down off the bounce. Be interesting to see how they do against some of the plodding teams in their league

I don't necessarily believe Iowa will sweep their home slate (that's a very tall order this year), but I do know that no Big Ten team is going to look forward to playing in Carver. I definitely think Iowa will get plenty of quality wins at home, even perhaps against the conference's best. Getting one or two on the road will be the real key.

 

[Krug]

Iowa State has not played as well as I've seen them play some games this year. Some of that has to be credited to Iowa's defense too. Iowa played physical defense, and got called for some fouls because of it. But it actually made it really hard for ISU to get into any kind of rhythm too, so maybe the fouling helped Iowa some?

I thought Iowa played as good a game as I've seen anyone play coming into a hostile Hilton Coliseum. And I thought ISU was very sluggish on defense especially. But they were able to pull it out in ugly fashion, and with the help of Iowa choking down the stretch to allow ISU to close on an 8-0 run.

Both teams were almost exactly the same stats wise. This is the best team Isu has played all year so of course they are not going to look as good as they have vs weaker teams.

 

[mikem]

Very even handed and fair analysis of the game. Iowa came to Hilton and played a great game. Much better than ISU did. Iowa actually deserved to win the game IMO. Had this exact same game been played at Carver, I fear Iowa would have blown Iowa State out.

Here's the thing though. If this game was played 10 times, I doubt if ISU would play this poorly every time. I know we wouldn't be this poor at FTs again. And ISU's defense was just lazy. I've never seen them not get back like that before. So who knows how it would really play out?

On a neutral court, with both teams playing their absolute best, I think ISU might still be just good enough to win though. Hard to say though. I think Fred was outcoached again tonight too to some extent. Iowa seemed to be getting whatever they wanted. Whether it be on fastbreaks, inbounds plays, etc. ISU really struggled to get what they wanted.

Iowa's last 3 pt shot was a prime example. Iowa's best 3 pt shooter, McCabe, was able to get a wide open look to tie the game. That was a great play drawn up by Fran, and horrible defense by ISU as well. ISU really was lucky to pull this thing out, but that was far from ISU's best effort this year IMO.

Really?

 

[tm3308]

according to the rankings the better team won.

Because rankings are always right. Just like the farmer's almanac (wishing there were a meme of that scene from Hoosiers, but it's such a minute reference and I'm too lazy to make one of my own).

 

[DSM4Cy]

Of the teams left on our schedule, who do you think can play at the level Iowa did tonight? Seems like maybe only Okie State and KU if they get their stuff together. Baylor does not improve much as the year goes on (good recruiting, poor coaching/development). We will probably lose a couple we shouldn't but at this point, we may be favored in all but 2-3 games. That's legit

 

[herbicide]

Iowa is the best transition team in the country. (yes, folks, that is a period.) Everybody knows it, but they can't stop it.

Iowa State may be the toughest team in the nation*

Hilton Magic is real.

 

[kingcy]

Iowa is a good team. They just have to figure out how to finish games. You cannot go the last 2 mins of a game and not score. They had 5 or 6 chances to put the game away yet they didn't. Hell with 1:25 left I said the game was over, with an Iowa win.

 

[spelhome]

That was one of the best basketball games I've seen in a very long time, and this game was EXACTLY the kind of showcase that both teams needed. I've said for a long time that I want both programs to be at their peak so that this rivalry really means something, and good God, did it ever live up to the hype!

Niang was absolutely balling out tonight; really wish we would have put Basabe or White on him to put a little more athleticism against him. Woodbury just couldn't match up with him, no matter what he did. Long also played well, and showed a little more offensive game than I gave him credit for coming into tonight.

White and Marble were pretty spectacular for Iowa, especially in the second half. Iowa did a surprisingly good job of weathering damn near every blow ISU threw at them in the second half, usually because of big buckets by those two guys. But they just couldn't get the back-breaking bucket. When they were up by 4 for most of those last few minutes, I kept saying "let's just get a stop and then get a bucket and push this to 6". They got that stop two or three times down the stretch, but couldn't get the bucket and the one free throw to push it to 5 obviously wasn't enough.

And my God, they couldn't have asked for a more perfect look to tie the game. That's a shot McCabe hits far more often than he misses. I'm not making excuses (even if he makes it, it's just a tie game); it's just damn, these teams are insanely even. These are both top 15-caliber teams, IMO. Obviously, Iowa won't be ranked that high, but I think they very well could be by the end of the year. To go to Hilton and come one look from one of the B1G's best 3-point shooters from forcing OT is very impressive.

I won't say anything about the officiating, partly because I generally don't like doing that unless it really is just unbelievably bad (the ISU-KU game in Hilton and the Iowa-MSU BTT game spring to mind), but I also could barely see what the **** was going on half the time because my stream quality was so poor. Both teams dealt with foul trouble and while Iowa missed the clutch free throws, ISU missed a ton of them earlier.

It would be extremely unlikely to happen, but I would love to see this game played again in the Dance. To play the game this close in Hilton (and I don't think it would have been any more lopsided in Carver, just a reversed score)....I'd love to see it play out on a neutral court and just see what would happen, win or lose. There was absolutely no clear better team tonight; it's just that SOMEBODY had to win it eventually. If they played 10 times going home and home, I wouldn't be shocked if they both stole one on the road and split the others. These teams are that even.

I never, ever want to play this Iowa team again. Damn.

 

[AuH2O]

I don't necessarily believe Iowa will sweep their home slate (that's a very tall order this year), but I do know that no Big Ten team is going to look forward to playing in Carver. I definitely think Iowa will get plenty of quality wins at home, even perhaps against the conference's best. Getting one or two on the road will be the real key.

Iowa is going to be hard to predict. They are good enough to beat anybody, but this year vs. Nova and ISU probably doesn't give you a lot of faith that they've solved last year's woes closing out games. Maybe they get one tough close win and it turns around.

 

[tm3308]

Iowa is going to be hard to predict. They are good enough to beat anybody, but this year vs. Nova and ISU probably doesn't give you a lot of faith that they've solved last year's woes closing out games. Maybe they get one tough close win and it turns around.

They're definitely still looking to get over that hump. Luckily, they play @Wisconsin in just their second conference game. Wisconsin and Michigan are the two road games I'd be most willing to pick Iowa to win right now, and if they can get over the hump early and see things come together, that'll be huge for the rest of the season.

 

[PlanoClone]

Hell with 1:25 left I said the game was over, with an Iowa win.

Same...

 

[AuH2O]

Iowa is the best transition team in the country. (yes, folks, that is a period.) Everybody knows it, but they can't stop it.

Iowa State may be the toughest team in the nation*

Hilton Magic is real.

Our previous two teams would outplay this one for the first 35 minutes. Then this team would gut it out for the last five minutes, sack up and find a way to win. There's a lot to be concerned about and much that needs to be improved, but this is the type of team that will never go in the tank and when they do eventually lose will bounce back in a big way.

 

[cycfan1]

Want nothing to do with this Iowa team all year. Stay away from in the tourney.

 

[cyclones500]

Honestly, I thought Iowa all but had the game won when Long fouled out. Taking away that threat should have been huge.

I had an inkling that might be a negative turning point for ISU, too. Long had been able to hit just enough key shots (and once the lead got to two possessions late, it would have been nice to have an extra 3-threat).

 

[Krug]

Iowa is going to be hard to predict. They are good enough to beat anybody, but this year vs. Nova and ISU probably doesn't give you a lot of faith that they've solved last year's woes closing out games. Maybe they get one tough close win and it turns around.

Nova is one of the best teams in the country and shot out of there minds in the 2nd half. It was also Iowa's 3rd game in 3 days. Iowa was playing one of the better Isu teams ever at Hilton. Not many teams in the country would have played those two teams as hard as Iowa did. Yes they need to learn to close out games better but I would challenge anyone to try to put away those two teams in those situations.