Iowa Basketball Bests Maryland Sunday

Career-High 22 Points from Tony Perkins Paces Hawkeyes

Iowa's Ahron Ulis (1) celebrates a three-pointer against Maryland with teammate Connor McCaffery cheering for him on Jan.15, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

BOX SCORE

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The scenarios have come up in Iowa’s pre-game walk-throughs.

Big lineup, small lineup, anything can be in play in a game situation.

So, when Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca were on the bench with two fouls in Sunday’s game against Maryland at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the five-guard lineup that finished the first half was ready.

The Hawkeyes’ 81-67 win over the Terrapins was built on the run that lineup — Ahron Ulis, Tony Perkins, Josh Dix, Connor McCaffery and Payton Sandfort — put together over the final 5 ½ minutes.

Iowa led 25-19 with Murray and Rebraca, the team’s top two scorers, on the bench. The half ended with the Hawkeyes up 43-31.

“We pushed the ball really well,” said McCaffery, who, at 6-foot-6, was technically the ‘5’ in that rotation. “We were maybe a little more athletic getting up and down. Just the speed — guys flying. They didn’t really have a post in there, so there was room to drive.”

“I thought they really fought in that stretch,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery.

McCaffery said the lineup worked because of the way Maryland plays.

“We had five guards out there,” he said. “They play four, typically. So you have to come back to all the different things they do to defend somebody. So it’s good to have guards out there. The more guards you have out there, the better you are against that stuff.”

Connor McCaffery and Ulis had the first 10 points in a 12-2 run that started at the 5:38 mark. Perkins finished the run with a tip-in, and the Hawkeyes led 37-21.

It was a big game for Perkins, who had a career-high 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Perkins had made just 6-of-28 shots over the last three games, but was dominant early in this one, getting nine of the Hawkeyes’ first 17 points.

“That was my goal to come in like that today,” Perkins said. “Make moves, get to the rim, do what I do best. Hit pull-ups, just play my game, just not think about it.”

“It was a good game for Tony,” Fran McCaffery said. “There's more space for him. He has an aggressive mindset, and that's what you want. If they’re switching, there’s more space. If they’re pressing, there’s more space. And he just went after it.”

Iowa shot 60 percent for the game, 63.6 percent in the second half to hold off the Terrapins.

“I just thought their execution in the half-court was really the difference,” Maryland coach Kevin Willard said.

The Hawkeyes (12-6 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) finished off their fourth consecutive win behind Murray, who had 17 of his 19 points in the second half.

Fran McCaffery tried to protect Murray and Rebraca with a zone defense to open the second half, which the Terrapins (11-6, 2-4) exploited for eight points in the first 83 seconds. But in the long run, McCaffery said, it made a difference keeping Murray in the game where he could attack.

“I didn't want them to feel hampered,” McCaffery said. “Think about the last three or four minutes. We really went to Kris. You need him then. He just kept scoring and never felt threatened, because we just would isolate him and he would go score.”

In a long Big Ten season, it’s best, Connor McCaffery said, to be prepared for anything.

“We’re not down the stretch yet, but we want to be all clicking on all cylinders as we hit this home stretch,” he said. “And so the more that we can get on the floor, with different lineups played together with different people, the better we'll be able to continue on our win streak, I guess.”