Remember that talking point that's been dogging Iowa all season (or at least for the last, like, 3-4 weeks), about Iowa not having any Quad 1 wins? Crumple up that talking point and throw it in the trash, friends, because it is officially OVER. Iowa recorded their biggest win of the season -- by far -- with a tremendous second half performance, cruising to an easy 75-62 win over #18 Ohio State in Columbus. And if you saw that happening with Keegan Murray scoring just four points in the second half and Connor McCaffery -- Connor McCaffery! -- hitting a dagger 3 in the final minutes, well... you're a filthy a damn liar. But we'll get to all that in just a minute.
The shot that sealed it. @connor_m30 // @IowaHoops pic.twitter.com/KPewXiED7P
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 19, 2022
Of Iowa's three-game gauntlet -- Michigan on Thursday, Ohio State today, Michigan State coming up on Tuesday -- this looked like the most challenging. That's because it was on the road (where Iowa has struggled on multiple occasions this season) and because Ohio State seemed like the best of the three -- or at least the team that was playing the best of those three. That just makes this win even sweeter, though -- as well as more likely to hold up as a very strong win for the Hawkeyes as we inch closer to Selection Sunday.
In a high-scoring, entertaining first half, Iowa and Ohio State traded buckets and runs -- there were eight ties and nine lead changes in a very back-and-forth game. Iowa had a slim 39-38 lead at the break, thanks mostly to Keegan Murray, who had an absolutely monster first half: 20 points on 8/13 shooting, along with 3 rebounds and an assist. He almost single-handedly kept Iowa afloat, especially in the early part of the game when no other Hawkeye could seemingly score a basket; he had 13 of Iowa's first 18 points. Iowa's second leading scorer in the first half was, surprisingly, Ahron Ulis, who had five points and three rebounds in 10 minutes of action; he gave Iowa some very nice minutes while Tony Perkins and Joe Toussaint sat out with two fouls. The other stat of note for Iowa in the first half: rebounding! Iowa out-rebounded the Buckeyes 22-16 overall and 12-9 on the offensive glass. As we've said again and again this season: good things happen when Iowa hits the glass. They did that today and, well, the results certainly speak for themselves -- loudly.
Ohio State started faster out of the halftime break, thanks to six quick points from Malaki Branham that gave the Buckeyes a 45-41 lead early in the second half. Iowa tied it up again behind a Patrick McCaffery free throw and a Jordan Bohannon three-pointer and the teams traded baskets before the game was tied again at 49-49 with just over 13 minutes to go. That's when Ohio State just... stopped... scoring. After Cedric Russell's layup with 13:16 to play (which made the game 49-49), the Buckeyes didn't score another field goal until a Jamari Wheeler layup with 5:21 to play. By then they were down 13, 66-53. Iowa's offense didn't exactly light it up during that stretch -- just 17 points -- but that was more than enough with Ohio State's offense on such a prolonged field goal drought. Ohio State cut the lead down to six (68-62) with 2:40 to go, but that was as close as it got; Iowa ended the game on a 7-0 run to wrap things up.
Talk about explosion @keegan3murray attacks the basket for the @IowaHoops highlight finish. pic.twitter.com/gCOHSm0mjJ
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 19, 2022
So what worked so well for Iowa in the second half? They held Ohio State to 24 points on 40% shooting from the floor (8/20), including just 14% (1/7) from 3-point range. Ohio State also turned the ball over seven times, which Iowa was able to turn into 10 points. Iowa also continued their strong play on the boards, posting an 18-15 advantage overall and a 6-3 edge on the offensive glass. Even when those offensive boards didn't turn into immediate putbacks or points for Iowa, they still allowed Iowa to extended possessions and keep the ball away from Ohio State's offense; that was especially demoralizing for the Buckeyes late in the game during their failed comeback effort. Iowa mixed up their looks on defense effectively and forced Ohio State into some tougher looks, which they missed (again and again again). Iowa rode a lineup of JBo, Keegan, Kris, and Connor, plus a combination of Toussaint and Ulis pretty extensively in the second half and it worked very well. That was the lineup on the floor as Iowa took control of the game and built their lead and that was the lineup that shut the door on the Buckeyes at the end of the game as well. While that lineup lacks size, it does have pretty good quickness at most positions and some strong length, especially when the Murrays and Ulis are on the floor together. Iowa was able to disrupt OSU passing lanes a lot in this game.
While Keegan Murray was an offensive supernova in the first half, he was almost an afterthought in the second half. He had just four points on 2/4 shooting, despite playing 17 minutes. Three other Iowa players outscored him in the second half -- Patrick McCaffery with 5 points in 9 minutes (just 1/2 on the floor, but 3/5 at the free throw line), Jordan Bohannon with 7 points (2/6 FG, 1/5 3FG, 2/3 FT), and Kris Murray with 11 points on 4/8 shooting. The "other" Murray also had four rebounds, a steal, and an assist and basically Iowa was just much, much, much better when he was on the floor, as evidenced by his jaw-dropping +23 figure in +/- for this game. (Second on that list? Connor McCaffery, at +15; his only points in the game were that game-icing 3-pointer with 1:44 to go, but he was also an effective rebounder, passer, and defender for Iowa in this game.) Kris Murray has had games where he was more efficient or scored more this season, but given the stakes of this game, I think his performance in the second half of this game was his best of the season. He was excellent for Iowa, picking up the slack and helping lead Iowa to its biggest win of the season.
Keegan Kris = @IowaHoops 3 pic.twitter.com/VhijBmumEF
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 19, 2022
Let's savor this one, folks. Not for too long -- Iowa still has three games in the next nine days, including another big one against Michigan State on Tuesday -- but this is a big win. It's the road win Iowa has been looking for all season, the win over a legitimately good team Iowa has been trying to secure all year, the Quad 1 win that had been so elusive. Let's enjoy it. In fact... let's move our feet.
Go Iowa Awesome.
