Brown: Resilient Hawkeyes Strike Again

Latest Comeback Leads to Likely NCAA Tournament Berth

Iowa's Ahron Ulis (left) shoots in front of Michigan State's A.J. Hoggard (11) on Feb. 25, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - It was shortly before 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 5, and Indiana’s basketball team was having its way with Iowa.

The Hawkeyes, already 0-3 in Big Ten play, trailed the Hoosiers by 21 points with 13:32 remaining in the first half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Add that embarrassing Dec. 21 home loss to Eastern Illinois to the mix and Iowa’s NCAA Tournament resume was on life support.

So the fact that the Houdini Hawkeyes likely sealed another bid with Saturday’s 112-106 overtime victory over Michigan State deserves more than a tip of the cap. In a schedule full of season-defining comebacks, this one took the cake.

How does a team that made a total of six 3-pointers (in 52 attempts) in a pair of Big Ten road losses to Northwestern and Wisconsin in their previous two games make five in the final :38 of regulation against a team that was leading the Big Ten in 3-point defense?

How did the Hawkeyes become just the fourth team in Division I history to rally from an 11-point deficit with less than a minute remaining to win?

How does Iowa beat a Michigan State that turned in one of its finest performances of the season, shooting 59.3 percent from the field including 11 triples in 15 attempts?

“We just had to keep coming,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “And we did.”

This is the third time the Hawkeyes pulled victory from the jaws of defeat in a Big Ten game.

Iowa stormed back from that deep hole against Indiana to win, 91-88. The Hawkeyes trailed Michigan with 2:18 remaining in regulation, 77-70. But Payton Sandfort’s four-point play with :20 to go tied that game and Iowa won in overtime, 93-84.

Iowa also rallied before its only Big Ten home loss, a 78-75 overtime decision to Wisconsin. Iowa trailed 60-52, with less than a minute remaining, but Patrick McCaffery’s 3 with :15 to go in regulation forced the extra session.

All that drama takes a back seat to Saturday’s comeback. Sandfort and Connor McCaffery executed a play to perfection, then Sandfort made the 3-pointer to tie the game, 101-101, with :03 to go.

Connor McCaffery, Kris Murray, Patrick McCaffery, then Connor McCaffery again made 3-pointers in the final minute to set the table for Sandfort’s dramatics.

“Any one of those is a two and we win the game,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said

If A.J. Hoggard, who had made 12 of 13 free throws, dropped his second attempt with :10 left, Michigan State wins. Needless to say, it took a perfect storm for Iowa to reach the finish line with a victory.

Saturday marked the first time Michigan State scored 100 points and lost since a 109-106 triple overtime game against Gonzaga in the 2005 Maui Invitational. It was also the first time a Spartan team reached the century mark in a Big Ten game since March 2, 2008.

Izzo blamed “piss-poor coaching” for Saturday’s loss, and gave his team a lot of praise for the way they played.

That was a far cry from one of the most shocking losses of his career. The sixth-ranked Spartans lost at Iowa on Jan. 12, 2008, 43-36. It was the Hawkeyes’ only victory over a ranked opponent in Todd Lickliter’s three seasons as coach. It was also the fewest points scored by an Izzo-coached Michigan State team.

“Don’t take this wrong, but it’s an embarrassing loss the way we played,” Izzo said afterwards. “I think it’s one of the poorest games we’ve played since I’ve been the head coach.”

Iowa’s 1969-70 team averaged 102.9 points while going 14-0 in Big Ten play. That included a 108-107 victory at Purdue, a 115-101 victory at Northwestern and a 119-100 victory over Wisconsin.

Saturday is the first time Iowa played in a Big Ten game where both teams reached 100 points since a 108-107 double-overtime loss to Michigan in a Top 10 duel at Carver-Hawkeye on Feb. 9, 1989. Iowa has played in seven Big Ten games where both teams scored at least 100 points. Saturday’s 112 points tied for sixth all time for most points scored by an Iowa team in a Big Ten contest.

McCaffery calls this team “a resilient group,” and said the character in the locker room is off the charts.

Late in regulation, when things looked so bad that fans were streaming out of the arena, he took the temperature of his team. Were they still fighting or had they cashed it in?

“Still fighting,” McCaffery said.

Iowa improved to 8-1 in Big Ten play at home after Saturday’s latest comeback. The team stands 10-8 in Big Ten play and 18-11 overall with two regular-season games remaining, at Indiana Tuesday and home against Nebraska Sunday.

McCaffery is one victory shy of catching Tom Davis as the program’s winningest coach in Big Ten regular-season games. Davis was 126-104 in his 13 seasons. McCaffery, also in his 13th season, is 125-117.

Iowa has won at least 10 conference games for the eighth time in nine seasons. One more, and it would give the Hawkeyes a winning Big Ten record for the fourth straight season.

If Iowa gets an NCAA bid, as expected, it would be noteworthy from a program perspective as well. It would be the fourth straight NCAA trip for the Hawkeyes. It actually would have been five had the 2020 tournament not been canceled by the pandemic.

Iowa’s longest NCAA Tournament run is five seasons. Coach Lute Olson took his final five teams to the NCAAs (1978-79 through 1982-83) before leaving for Arizona.

Iowa also went to five straight from 1984-85 through 1988-89. George Raveling coached the first two teams in that streak,Davis the final three.

And it’s safe to say no Iowa team has reached the NCAAs with as much late-game drama as this one.