Iowa State Snipes the Hawkeyes

By: Mike Rabon

Iowa State Guard Diante Garrett (Photo by Brian Ray via thegazette.com)

The large crowd roared as Andrew Brommer slammed the basketball through the cylinder at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and pounded his chest while staring down the Hawk’s Nest.  If only that moment could characterize the final result for Fran McCaffery’s bunch.  Unfortunately, turnovers and youth are more accurate characterizations of Iowa’s 75-72 defeat to in-state rival Iowa State.

Iowa State Junior Scott Christopherson stole the show and quelled the deperate Hawkeye comeback attempt over and over again in the second half.  Fred Hoiberg described Christopherson’s contributions as “huge” and iterated the necessity of establishing game tempo from the outset.  30 points and active transition defense sum up Christopherson’s near perfect performance in Saturday night’s game.

Melsahn Basabe not only garnered the opening tip but drove thunderously to the basket and gave the Hawkeyes a 2-0 lead only seconds into the first half.  Iowa State responded with 9 unanswered points coming in earnest from Jamie Vanderbeken and Scott Christopherson.  At the first TV timout,  The Mayor was running Carver Hawkeye Arena and his team led 12-4.   Matt Gatens caught fire and scored 9 of Iowa’s 13 in a 13-2 run that ended at the second TV timeout.

Iowa extended its lead in the final minutes of the half with a basket by Eric May and a coast-to-coast “Ty Lawson” like drive and score as time expired.  McCaffery and company took a 40-31 lead into half with Carver’s crowd energized and smelling blood.

Just like the the beginning of the first half, Iowa State came out hot with Christopherson drilling yet another 3-point basket along with field goals from Diante Garrett and Jamie Vanderbeken.  The Cyclones continued their hot shooting and transition offense with dunks from freshman Melvin Ejim and floaters from Diante Garrett.  Gatens frantically tried to stick with Christopherson but time after time the ball slid through the nets and the crowd groaned.

Iowa’s transition defense and 2-3 zone was exploited by Garrett and Christopherson and with 7:43 remaining the Cyclones had built a 61-52 advantage.  Cartwright, Gatens and Basabe led a final charge against Iowa State scoring 6 points in just over one minute to cut the lead to 61-58.  Christopherson once again silenced the crowd and Diante Garrett engineered two more baskets in the lane extending the ISU lead to 10 with less than 4 minutes to play.

Iowa struggled from the charity stripe all night and finished a coarse 12 of 23.  Trailing 73-68, Roy Devyn Marble was fouled while shooting a three pointer but missed the first two free throws.  Christopherson scored one more time and Diante Garrett picked off an errant Cartwright pass and put the finishing touches on a solid Iowa State victory in Carver Hawkeye Area.  Zach McCabe gave Hawkeye fans one final chance to cheer as he nailed a near half court shot to narrow the final score to 75-72 in favor of the Cyclones.

Brommer, McCabe and Marble combined for 32 points off the bench but this positive note was not enough to secure a 3 game winning steak for the Hawks.

McCaffery was pleased with Brommer’s 12 point 3 rebound performance saying “Brommer was great tonight. And he’s been getting better. I’ve been really impressed with him, his work ethic, his determination. It was good to see him have some fun tonight, it really was.”

The transition defense problems seemed to come as a result of Iowa State’s up-tempo brand.  McCaffery opined on the defense claiming it was, “Not what it needed to be. It just wasn’t. They run on makes and misses. For the most part we got back on makes with a couple of exceptions. But then in the second half, a running team like that, if you miss four, five, six, seven possessions in a row, I don’t know how many it was, but it seemed like it was about that many, they’re going to get out and they’re going to get space, and they’re going to find shooters.”

Iowa will face Drake on December 18th in Des Moines and look to move above .500.  The Cyclones move to 8-2 on the season and will face Dartmouth on December 19th in Ames.