Indiana claimed its 10th win of the season and its fifth win in the Big Ten game on Sunday afternoon in Simon Skjodt’s meeting hall.
Fueled by strong matches from Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis, good play from his freshman and clutch shots from Rob Phinisee and Armaan Franklin, the Hoosiers completed a season-long game with a 67-65 victory over Iowa.
The win, Indiana’s third place fall in the NCAA NET rating in the first quarter, broke a two-game loss. Here are five takeaways from the Hawkeyes victory:
• Indiana closes Iowa again: Indiana’s defense concludes the country’s most effective offense for the second time this season.
In Iowa City, Indiana limited the Hawkeyes to just 1.01 points per possession in an 81-69 victory. On Sunday afternoon, the Hoosiers were even better at holding Iowa to just 957 points per possession in a 67-65 victory. The points per possession and the 65 points were both the lowest seasons for the Hawkeyes.
Indiana kept Luka Garza, who had a large portion of the first half with two fouls, to just 6-of-14 shots off the field. Garza received no offensive setbacks.
“You just have to make him look different,” Race Thompson said of the IU’s plan against Garza. ‘He’s an excellent player, so I mean, you just have to focus on making him look different and not really make him feel like you, and really focus on not letting him have the ball in the first place. do not get. ‘
Jordan Bohannon did manage to score three tries, but was only 3-of-9 off the field. The Iowa bench combined to shoot 0-out-12 from the field and scored just five points.
• After struggling all day, Phinisee and Franklin come up big: It was a quiet afternoon for both Rob Phinisee and Poor Franklin until the last two minutes.
Phinisee had a turnover on a bad mail supply with 3:34 and Iowa tied the game at 57 in the next possession. Until he had a 3-pointer with 1:39 to play, Phinisee was 0-out-7 off the field and was pointless.
“He held on, not having his best outing, not having his best week,” Archie Miller said. “But I thought he had a good finish.”
Franklin did not reach his first field goal until 5:05 in the second half, but Indiana put the ball in his hands with the game tied at 65 with less than 30 seconds to play. Franklin rewarded the confidence in him by delivering a dagger with less than two seconds to lift the Hoosiers to a two-point victory.
‘They believe in us, you know; we are going to hit the big blow, ”Franklin said. So it was not really a trust. You have to go there and keep shooting because everyone has confidence in you and they will get the ball for you in those moments. ”
• Hoosiers turns Iowa’s turnover into points and wins second-chance points: Iowa took part in Sunday’s game with the Big Ten’s best turnover percentage at 13.2.
Indiana forced Iowa to 11 turnover for a turnover percentage of 16.2, the third highest point of the season for the Hawkeyes. More importantly, Indiana scored 17 points from Iowa’s turnover. Iowa scored just five points on nine Indiana turnovers.
Indiana also grabbed 15 offensive rebounds and scored 11 second chances, compared to just six offensive rebounds and six second chances for Iowa.
“The 11 turnovers that led to 17 points were problematic,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. ‘And 15 offensive setbacks. Our defense was good, but they got too much of them back. ”
• Thompson delivers strong offensive outputs to be with the strong defense on Garza: In addition to his strong defensive effort on national player of the year, Luka Garza, Race Thompson once again offered a strong points leader after losing 18 points to Illinois on Tuesday.
Thompson’s 15 points were second in the team for Trayce Jackson-Davis (18 points) and he was 5-out-10 from the field and 5-out-7 from the free-throw line.
The Minnesota-born also had his third game of the season with four stoppages and is now fourth in the conference with a block percentage of 6.06 against the enemies of the conference. Only Myles Johnson, Liam Robbins and Jackson-Davis have a better block percentage than Thompson in Big Ten games.
“He does everything for us,” Miller explained. “The fact that he is playing well for me now gives us great confidence that he has become a true leader. Of any player I have ever attended, I do not know if I have had a man who developed more from the first day he came on campus to today. Not even as a player, as a person. He really grew up, matured and turned into a leader. He does it all for us and he says nothing about it. ”
• Bench offers a big lift late in the first half: Iowa was apparently on track to break the game open as it built up double-digit lead more than once in the first half.
After the Hawkeyes played 27:18 on a 3-pointer from Joe Wieskamp with 4:22 left in the first half, Anthony Leal and Khristian Lander helped change the direction of the game.
Leal scored some 3 points in the final 3:08 of the half and Lander also made a 3 point and got a steal that led to a Trayce Jackson-Davis dunk to help the Hoosiers to achieve a halftime lead of 33-31.
Each of Indiana’s four freshmen contributed statistically in a certain way, as Jordan Geronimo added six points and Trey Galloway hit a huge three-pointer in the second half.
“Props for the young guys,” Thompson said. ‘They bring it to practice every day. Even when they did not get the minutes they wanted, they brought it every day, and that only shows the work they did day in, day out. ”
Filed to: Iowa Hawkeyes