Hawkeyes Adjust in Comeback Win Against Minnesota

Iowa Notches Home Win Sunday without Coach Fran McCaffery

Iowa's Patrick McCaffery (22) dribbles around Minnesota's Eylijah Stephens (20) on Feb. 6, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

It took a while, Billy Taylor said, for everyone to adjust.

Taylor was Iowa’s acting head coach in Sunday’s game against Minnesota at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, just one of the many things to alter the Hawkeyes’ routine this week.

They were supposed to play at Ohio State on Thursday, but that game was called off because of weather and travel issues. And then on Friday, they found out that coach Fran McCaffery had entered health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19.

So, Taylor said, it was no surprise that everything looked disjointed in the first half against the Gophers.

“Any time you have a little bit of a change in your routine, it takes an adjustment period,” Taylor said. “I’m not the normal voice that they hear from. So it took us a little bit of time to get into our rhythm.”

Once the Hawkeyes did get into their rhythm, it was a different game.

Iowa’s defense controlled the Gophers in the second half on the way to a 71-59 win.

It was a crucial victory for the Hawkeyes (15-7 overall, 5-6 Big Ten), who had lost back-to-back games and were in danger of slipping deeper in the conference standings with March looming.

The Hawkeyes held the Gophers (11-9, 2-9) to just 21 points on 23.3 percent shooting in the second half. Iowa trailed 47-42 with 16:48 to play, then went on a 24-7 run — a stretch that included three shot-clock violations, with two coming on back-to-back possessions.

“Our defense was really tough,” Taylor said. “It was tough at the beginning of a possession, it was tougher at the end. We had an urgency that we needed.”

Minnesota shot 48.4 percent in the first half, making 5-of-9 3-pointers. The last 3-pointer belonged to guard Luke Loewe, who intercepted an inbounds pass with one second left and threw in a shot from mid-court to give Minnesota a 38-34 halftime lead.

It was that kind of half for the Hawkeyes.

“I would say in the first half, defensively, we weren’t locked in enough,” said guard Ahron Ulis. “So our plan coming out in the second half was to pick up the intensity on defense.”

“They made tough shots in the first half, and they got the matchups they wanted,” said forward Keegan Murray, who led Iowa with 24 points and 15 rebounds. “In the second half, we needed to take to heart that we were not going to let the guy on the other side of the ball score on us.”

Iowa shot 51.6 percent in the second half, feeding off of how they were silencing the Gophers.

“They cranked it up defensively,” Minnesota coach Ben Johnson said “Their aggressiveness on defense translated to offense. They were really playing downhill. For whatever reasons, we were on our heels, and you can’t do that.”

“I thought our guys really stepped up to the challenge to guard the basketball,” Taylor said. “That didn’t put us in many scramble situations.”

Murray was especially effective on defense, holding Minnesota’s Jamison Battle to 1-of-12 shooting and two points. Battle came in averaging almost 18 points per game.

“They did a good job of forcing him to take contested shots,” Johnson said.

Murray had been in foul trouble in Iowa’s losses to Purdue and Penn State, but was able to stay aggressive defensively without making contact.

“I felt like that was kind of my fault, just because I wasn’t out on the court as much as I should have been because of foul trouble,” Murray said. “I really just locked in, played as aggressive of defense as I could without fouling.”

Patrick McCaffery had 18 points for the Hawkeyes. Loewe led Minnesota with 19.

Ulis said the week could have been more disruptive, but McCaffery told the Hawkeyes to just go with whatever was thrown at them.

“We can’t help health issues, travel issues,” Ulis said. “Just go out there and be ready to play whoever is in front of us.”