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.
Iowa Men Bounce Back in Win Over Alabama
By: Mike Rabon
Matt Gatens (Photo via Hawkeyesports.com)
After a difficult 86-73 loss to Xavier Friday night, the Iowa Hawkeye men rebounded with a 55-47 victory over the Crimson Tide in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Iowa trailed Alabama 15-5 minutes into the game but a pair of free throws by Jordan Stoermer and contributions from Bryce Cartwright and Zach McCabe allowed the Hawks to gain the lead 29-27 at halftime. Freshman Zach McCabe led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 13 points and Eric May added 12 points.
34.5% shooting will not win many more games this season but a stifling Hawkeye defense ensured the victory Saturday night. Alabama shot 33.9% from the field and was led in scoring by JaMychal Green who had 17 points.
The glaring statistic and likely reason for the Hawkeye victory was bench play. Iowa’s bench outscored Alabama’s bench 31-5. Fran McCaffery said “Our offense was good enough, but it needs to get better.” Iowa was fortunate to win Saturday evening but for a young and rebuilding team a win breeds much needed confidence. The Hawks were victorious one time away from Carver-Hawkeye arena last year.
Junior Matt Gatens returned from injury this weekend and scored 4 points in 34 minutes of playing time against Alabama. Iowa overcame an assist-to-turnover ratio of 5:16, which must improve before the Big10 season.
Iowa will play Long Beach State on Monday afternoon in the U.S. Virgin Islands and look to leave town with 2-1 record at the tournament and a 3-2 overall record before playing SIU-Edwardsville in Iowa City on Friday, November 26th.
The Anti-Lickliter Philosophy
By: Mike Rabon
Andrew Brommer (Press-Citizen/John Richard via The Des Moines Register)
The Iowa Hawkeye men defeated the Louisiana-Monroe WarHawks 68-40 on Tuesday earning new head coach Fran McCaffery his first win with the Black and Gold. Iowa jumped out to a quick 15-5 lead within minutes but a protracted scoring drought left the score 15-11 with 7:51 left in the first half.
Coach McCaffery was apoplectic with his team’s play and his coaches for not executing on either side of the basketball. McCaffery smacked the drawing board out of an assistant coach’s hand and pursued his players with a rage and passion I have not seen in my years watching Iowa basketball. His words were not discernible from press row but his intent could be easily understood. The small crowd in Carver-Hawkeye Arena was enthralled by this gesture of passion and conviction and so was Kirkwoood JUCO transfer Jordan Stoermer.
Stoermer immediately nailed a 3-point basket, which brought the fans to their feet and gave coach McCaffery much needed therapy. Roy Devyn Marble added 9 points off the bench along with Paris JUCO transfer Bryce Cartwright who added 7 points and 4 assists. Sioux City Bishop Heelan product Zach McCabe led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 12 points.
Iowa’s defense held ULM to 40 points and 34.5% shooting. McCaffery mixed in full- court 3-2 zone defense and man-to-man rotations to keep ULM off-balance and it culminated in Eric May stealing the basketball at mid-court and slamming the basketball through the net.
In short, McCaffery is the antithesis of former Iowa coach Todd Lickliter. He is publicly passionate, declares that he is culpable for lack of preparation, and energizes the team by mixing different defensive strategies and utilizing bench players even if they may not be deemed as “ready” by prognosticators. McCaffery does not sulk in the press conferences and he demands excellence just like any good business man from the Wharton school would.
Fran’s conviction and public display of determination is enough for me and it is a refreshing divergence from the morass created by Todd Lickliter.
Iowa plays Xavier on Friday night in the US Virgin Islands and will play either Alabama or Seton Hall this weekend as well. Xavier defeated IPFW 76-75 on Tuesday night but nonetheless is less than a year removed from a double-overtime loss in the sweet 16 to Kansas State.
KRUI Sports Blog 