The Iowa men opened the week losing at home to Illinois, 87-83. A couple of stats stick out in Iowa’s second loss. Illinois came into the game with a 12.4 rebounding advantage in their first nine games and outrebounded the Hawks 52-23, including 19 offensive rebounds. That led to a 24-11 advantage on second-chance points. “This rebounding line in unacceptable,” said Fran McCaffery. “I’ve been coaching for years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Illinois came into the game shooting 35% from three and 69% from the free throw line. Against the Hawks, they went 11-of-25 (44%) from three and 24-of-28 (86%) from the charity stripe. Iowa came into the game shooting 38% from three and 80% from the free throw line. Against Illinois, Iowa was 8-of-23 (34%) from three and 13-of-19 (68%) from the free throw line. The bottom line is if you don’t make baskets, it’s tough to win.
Keegan Murray started slow with only two points in the first half but finished with a team-high.
Patrick McCaffery had 12, hitting two 3-pointers. Tony Perkins came off the bench with a career-high 16 and Ahron Ulis provided a spark off the bench with 11 points, seven assists and three steals. Both play good defense and are tough in the Iowa full-court press. Perkins has scored in double figures in five of the last seven games.
Iowa did force Illinois into 19 turnovers and the Hawks scored 26 points off those turnovers,
The Hawkeyes also had a 43-21 advantage on bench points, thanks to Perkins and Ulis. Iowa came into the game averaging only 8.4 turnovers per game and had just four.
Iowa State 73, Iowa 53
The Hawkeyes had a three-game winning streak snapped last week at Ames. Once again, Iowa got crushed on the boards, didn’t shoot well and got beat inside. The Cyclones had a 50-32 advantage on the boards including 21 offensive rebounds. That led to a 19-10 edge on second-chance points and 32-20 on points in the paint. Iowa came into the game shooting 49% from the floor and 38% from three, but against the Clones, were 17-of-63 (27%) from the floor and 5-of-27 (18%) from three.
Murray came into the game shooting 59% from the floor, but scored a season-low nine on 4-of-17 (23%) shooting. Jordan Bohannon had 17, but the Hawks had only 13 bench points. Iowa State had seven transfers playing and looked like a completely different team from last year.
Hawkeye women
Hayden Fry used to say that every time you keep beating a team, they have a better chance of beating you the next time you play. The Hawkeyes had beaten Iowa State five times in a row and the Clones broke that streak last week at Hilton, 77-70.
The Joens sisters, Ashley and Aubrey, combined for 38 points, 22 rebounds and seven assists. Neither was recruited by Iowa even though both went to City High. Most people around the Iowa program know why. It’s too bad because both of them would look good in an Iowa uniform.
The Hawks made 28 baskets, the Cyclones 26. Both teams made nine 3-pointers. The game was won at the free throw line where State was 16-of-22, Iowa 5-of-6. It was a physical game and yet the Hawks shot only one free throw in the first half. “It’s hard to win a game when you don’t shoot free throws,” said coach Lisa Bluder.
Iowa State won the board battle 44-39 and had a 12-2 advantage on fast-break points. It didn’t help that Monica Czinano got into foul trouble early and only scored two points in the first half, finishing with 13 (5-of-13 from the floor).
“I thought Monica got beat up like crazy,” said Bluder.
She came into the game shooting 68% from the floor. Caitlin Clark did her best to keep Iowa in the game with 26 points, but she only shot 10-of-26 from the floor while playing 39.45 minutes. McKenna Warnock scored 11 before fouling out and Kate Martin led in rebounds with 11. The Hawks had only four points off the bench.
Flashback: Iowa 28, Tennessee 22 in Peach Bowl
The Hawkeyes were playing in only their fourth bowl game at the time. They have now played in 33 bowls and have a 17-15-1 record. Talk about the talent on both sides. The Volunteers had Willie Gault on offense and Reggie White on defense. Iowa had Chuck Long and Ronnie Harmon on offense; Mark Bortz, Larry Station and Bobby Stoops on defense.
It was a Chuck Long and Ronnie Harmon breakout day. Long completed his first 11 passes, finishing 19-26 for 306 yards and three TDs, a Peach Bowl record.
Harmon, a true freshman, caught two touchdown passes playing receiver, after only one touchdown catch all year. Dave Moritz tied a Peach Bowl record with eight receptions including a touchdown. Eddie Phillips also scored on a 2-yard run in the third quarter.

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Brian Ray • HawkeyeSports.com Photo

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark battles an ISU double-team at Hilton Coliseum, Dec 8.