It feels a little weird to talk about must-win games in the first week of February, but Iowa's Sunday afternoon tilt with Minnesota was definitely a game that Iowa really couldn't afford to lose. Iowa's NCAA Tournament resume primarily depends on them beating the teams they're supposed to beat and accumulating enough wins to finish up at a respectable level. That approach has taken a few hits lately, particularly in ugly close losses at Rutgers and Penn State. Iowa could ill-afford to lose a home game to a middling Minnesota team. Still, it wasn't going to be easy -- Minnesota nearly engineered a massive comeback to trip up Iowa in Minneapolis a few weeks ago and the Hawkeyes were without Fran (tested positive for COVID) and Connor McCaffery (injury) today.
The first half didn't suggest a Hawkeye team playing with the urgency or quality necessary to win the game, either. Iowa trailed 38-34 at the half after Minnesota scored five points in the final two seconds (from a layup and a half-court heave after stealing an inbounds pass), but if anything it felt like Iowa was a bit lucky to only be down four points at the break. Iowa shot poorly -- 38% from the floor and just 36% from 2-point range -- and got out-rebounded slightly (20-18, though Iowa did have a 5-3 edge in offensive rebounds). Keegan Murray avoided first half foul trouble for the first time in several games and put together an excellent half -- 14 points (5/10), 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 1 steal in 19 minutes of action. Patrick McCaffery also played pretty well -- 7 points and 2 rebounds -- but no other Hawkeyes could get much going and it felt like Iowa was just barely hanging on for much of the half.
The second half didn't start out much better, with both teams mostly trading baskets until Minnesota's Luke Loewe hit a 3-pointer to open up a 47-42 lead with just under 17 minutes to play. After a few scoreless minutes for both sides, though, the game began to turn dramatically at the 15-minute mark. Patrick McCaffery made a driving layup off a turnover to cut the lead to three. Murray added a layup of his own, then a three-pointer to give Iowa the lead. A Filip Rebraca hook shot capped off a 9-0 Iowa run in just over two minutes of game time that flipped things from 47-42 Gophers to 51-47 Hawkeyes. Minnesota made a bucket to end the 9-0 run... but they couldn't stop the Hawkeye surge from rolling over them. That 9-0 run eventually turned into a 22-4 blitz that left Iowa in total control of the game and the Gophers absolutely reeling. Iowa kind of stopped scoring with almost six minutes to play (they only had five points after the 5:45 mark of the second half), but it didn't really matter because Minnesota never found any rhythm after the first few minutes of the second half and was absolutely ice cold.
While some of Minnesota's offensive struggles were just natural regression -- they weren't going to maintain their 56% clip on field goals or their 60% on 3-pointers all game -- that also doesn't tell the full story of the half. Because the full story involves acknowledging that Iowa played some really good defense in the second half. That was one of their best halves of defense all season, bar none. For the game Iowa held Minnesota to 36% shooting overall, 39% from 3-point range, and just 0.89 points per possession. In the second half, those numbers fell to 23% overall, 29% point from deep, and 0.677 points per possession. Iowa also forced seven turnovers in the second half alone (12 for the game). They smothered the Gophers into bad shots and forced multiple shot-clock violations (!) from the stagnant Gopher offense. Minnesota still maintained a narrow rebounding advantage (40-38 overall, 11-9 offensive boards), but they could do nothing with that edge. Iowa again killed them in the paint (34-16 overall and 22-6 in the second half) and just generally squeezed the life out of the Gophers in the final 15 minutes of the game.
How about this @IowaHoops defense?@AhronUlis is the latest to do it. pic.twitter.com/Xo6CdpjiSF
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 6, 2022
Freed from foul trouble, Keegan Murray put together one of his best games of the last few weeks. He really did a little bit of everything, finishing with 24 points (on 9/18 shooting), 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal. He also played tremendous defense, especially in the second half, and really helped Iowa bottle up Jamison Battle, who was held to 2 points on 1/12 shooting. This was Keegan Murray in full flow again and it was once more a joy to watch.
Not the first time we've seen Keegan do this. @keegan3murray // @IowaHoops pic.twitter.com/TTadPrZcA8
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 6, 2022
That's the varsity, right there.@IowaHoops' @keegan3murray just impressed @RobbieHummel with this highlight up-and-under basket. pic.twitter.com/mZuMH9PltD
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 6, 2022
Iowa also got a very strong game from Patrick McCaffery, who had 18 points on 8/14 shooting (2/3 from deep), 7 rebounds, and a block. Patrick scored well on fast breaks in transition, on long-range efforts, and on mid-range jumpers; this was just a really strong overall shooting performance from him. This was his sixth-straight game in double-figures and second-straight with 16 or more points; the more consistent Pat can be come as a second option for Iowa's offense, the higher the ceiling becomes for this team.
No one else for Iowa finished in double-figures in scoring, though Ahron Ulis did have a very nice game off the bench. He finished with 9 points on 4/9 shooting, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He played 15 minutes in the second half and his intensity on defense was a big part of Iowa's turnaround in the game. His added playing time seemed to come at the expense of Joe Toussaint, though. Toussaint was a surprising scratch from the starting lineup (replaced by Tony Perkins) and only played six minutes in the first half (producing two steals and an assist). He played no minutes in the second half. I'm not sure if he's dealing with an injury right now or not, but it was certainly surprising to see his playing time get cut so drastically. Perkins did not really excel in his first start, unfortunately; he had 2 points on 1/4 shooting and three turnovers in 14 minutes of work in the first half.
It certainly didn't seem like this would be a stress-free Iowa win after that slog of a first half, but thanks to defense -- yes, defense -- Iowa turned a tight game into an easy cruise. That was a very welcome sight to see from this Iowa team after their struggles over the past few weeks. After this week's trip to Maryland Iowa has three straight home games; the time is now for Iowa to build some momentum and rack up wins for an NCAA Tournament push.
NEXT: Iowa heads to College Park to face Maryland (11-12, 3-9 Big Ten) on Thursday, February 10 at 6 PM CT (ESPN2).
