Remembering Magical Iowa Run in '86-87

Hawkeyes Knocked Off 3 Top 10 Teams in 9-Day Span

Photo - Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Tom Davis coached 409 basketball games in 13 seasons at Iowa. Beyond the numbers are memories. Plenty of them. Some are cherished, others dipped in adversity and tragedy.

When Davis thinks back to his time on the Hawkeye bench, starting in 1986 and ending in 1999, he views it as segments of his career. Three stand out.

There was the death of junior forward Chris Street in 1993, and all that encompassed. “Going through that segment right there, after Chris’s passing,” Davis said. “You think about that right there.”

He thinks of his final season, as a lameduck coach, when the 1998-99 team said goodbye with a trip to the Sweet 16.

“Just my last year, and the way that team played, and how hard they played, and how well they played,” Davis recalled.

And he thinks of his record-setting debut season, when the 1986-87 Hawkeyes beat three Top 10 teams, two of them on the road, in a nine-day span.

“That’s right up there,” Davis said.

It remains the greatest three-game streak of prosperity in program history, the marquee achievement in a record-setting 30-5 season. Three games at the end of a school-record 18-game winning streak. Three games that carried the team to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll for the first time. Three games rich with subplots.

It started with a 91-88 overtime victory at No. 8 Illinois on Jan. 14, when Davis watched his team rally from a 22-point deficit with less than 17 minutes to play.

It continued on Jan. 19 at No. 6 Purdue. On the same day that the Hawkeyes replaced Nevada-Las Vegas as the nation’s top-ranked team, Iowa walked out of Mackey Arena with a 70-67 victory even though leading scorer Roy Marble played less than 9 minutes because of an eye injury.

It concluded at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a 101-88 victory over No. 3 Indiana on Jan. 22. It marked the first time a Bob Knight-coached opponent reached the century mark. Davis remembers trying to stay in the moment during that three-game ride. 

“You probably don’t think about it happening because you’re thinking about preparing for the next game,” Davis said. “You appreciate what you did in the previous one, and go from there. We had pretty good depth in those years, that team in particular. We were able to handle foul trouble, injury and illness better than some teams not playing as many guys.” 

The Big Ten was powerful in 1986-87. Indiana, Purdue and Iowa were all ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason poll. And for the next eight polls, Illinois made it a Big Ten foursome in the Top 10. Indiana, Iowa and Purdue didn’t leave the Top 10 all season, Illinois finished 11th and the Hoosiers won the NCAA title.

“When you look back at who was in the league at that time talent wise, and look at the depth on the rosters up and down, that was a pretty high-measure moment for the Big Ten,” Davis said. The AP poll that season only polishes what Iowa pulled off over those nine days. 

Jan. 14. At Illinois

Iowa headed to Champaign with a reputation for living on the edge. Five times in the first 15 games, the Hawkeyes had trailed by 12 points or more and found a way to win. It became six times in Champaign. Illinois 61, Iowa 39, with 16:10 to play and the crowd in Assembly Hall loving it. Davis thought to himself, “I just hope we don’t lose by 20.”

It was still a 15-point deficit inside of 10 minutes to play. And then the Houdini Hawkeyes followed a familiar script to victory. The Illini provided an assist.

After Iowa’s Jeff Moe tied the game, 81-81, at the 1:34 mark, things got real interesting. Steven Bardo missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:19 left. After an Iowa turnover, Glynn Blackwell got a one-and-one opportunity with :42 to play. Blackwell had made 24 straight from the charity stripe. He missed the front end, too.

Iowa had a chance to win in regulation, but B.J. Armstrong missed a 12-footer. The Hawkeyes needed an extra 5 minutes to complete a comeback for the ages. Brad Lohaus gave Iowa a 91-88 led with :07 to go, then Ken Norman missed a game-tying three-pointer. 

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Davis said of the rally. I’m not sure we’re that terrific, but we do win. It’s been that way since the Great Alaska Shootout.”

In the second game of the Davis era, the Hawkeyes rallied from a 14-point deficit with 4 minutes to play to beat North Carolina State in the tournament semifinals, 90-89. That set a tone for the rest of the season.

Trailing at Illinois by 22 points in the second half? No big deal.

“That let us know we were never out of ball games,” Kevin Gamble said.

Gamble scored just six points against the Illini, but showed a part of his game that had been missing before. He played defense.

“That night, he stepped it up and showed what a great defensive player he was,” said Davis. “I remember him making some really big plays in the open court and on the defensive end.” Gamble had unwrapped his ability at both ends of the court, which would lead to 10 seasons in the NBA.

Gamble and Ed Horton were from Springfield, Ill., and beating the IIllini was always a reason to celebrate.

“Illinois had a very good team,” Horton said. “And for us to come into Champaign and come back from a big deficit, we knew we had a good team.”

Lohaus led the Hawkeyes with a career-best 23 points and added 12 rebounds. Iowa crushed the Illini on the glass, 49-31.

“I think the key was the physical play around the basket,” Illinois Coach Lou Henson said. “They muscled us and we couldn’t get any rebounds.”

Four days later, No. 1 Nevada-Las Vegas lost at Oklahoma, 89-88. And the new No. 1 put that ranking to the test in West Lafayette, Ind.

Jan. 19. At Purdue.

No. 1 Iowa. No one had ever said that before.

“It’s fun and the players enjoyed it because of the meaningfulness of the games,” Davis says now. “But as a coach you’re probably thinking of the worst thing possible.” 

Purdue had played in Mackey Arena the day before, improving to 14-1 with a 88-73 nationally televised victory over Louisville. It was the Boilermakers’ best start since the 1934-35 season. After being a four-point underdog at Illinois, Iowa’s odds doubled at Purdue. The Hawkeyes’ challenge grew steeper when an eye injury knocked Marble out of the game with 11:27 to play in the first half.

But Gamble, Jeff Moe and Bill Jones provided a safety net off the bench. The 6-foot 6-inch Gamble scored 19 points on nine-for-10 shooting from the field.He also had eight rebounds.

Moe, playing in his home state, added 11 points. And Bill Jones had eight points and six rebounds.

Moe had already been an important piece in the rotation. Gamble and Jones got extended minutes.

Davis watched a replay of the Purdue game on television recently.

“I couldn’t remember all the details,” Davis said. “I kept thinking maybe Roy was going to come back in the game.”

Watching that game reminded Davis of the valuable roles his bench played in that victory, as well as many more that season.

“Bill Jones was critical in that stretch,” Davis said. “And Kevin Gamble. He could play point guard, power forward, even center if the need arose. Guys like that stepped up, took more responsibility, and played more minutes than they had been. As a coach, you’re just thankful for the depth on your roster.”

Iowa improved to 17-0, tying the school record for consecutive victories established by Coach Bucky O’Connor’s “Fabulous Five’ in 1955-56. The Hawkeyes headed home with a chance to establish even more history.

“They must be living right, in addition to being a great ballclub,” Henson groused. 

Jan. 22. Indiana

Iowa played at home for the first time in school history as the nation’s No. 1 team. Coach Bob Knight’s Hoosiers were No. 3. It remains the biggest men’s basketball game ever played in Carver-Hawkeye Arena from a rankings standpoint.

The Hoosiers, the preseason Big Ten favorite, were 14-1 and had already won at Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State. Both teams were 5-0 in league play.

Iowa went on a 16-2 run midway through the second half, but Indiana made a late push. Future Iowa coach Steve Alford, who came into the game shooting 59.6 percent from three-point distance, made one with 1:25 to play that would have cut the Hoosiers’ deficit to 93-91. But he had stepped out-of-bounds before he shot, wiping out the basket.

Iowa scored the last eight points and won for a school-record 18th consecutive time. “When he was coaching here, I’d always tell (Alford), 'The bottom line, I’m telling you right now, is we put a whipping on you,’ ” said Marble, who passed away in 2015.

The Hawkeyes pounded Indiana on the glass, 46-19, and had six players score in double figures. Moe, a pest to a home-state team once again, and Gamble finished with 17 points apiece. Marble and Armstrong both had 16, Horton 14 and Lohaus 12.

Gamble’s buzzer beater got Iowa over the century mark. Previously, the most points ever scored on a Knight-coached team had been 92 by Kentucky in a two-point NCAA victory that snapped Indiana’s 31-game winning streak in 1975

“When you have a win like that you’re not celebrating getting 100 points on somebody you have so much respect for,” Davis said. “That becomes not an important thing in your mind.” Davis first crossed paths with Knight when he was an assistant coach at Maryland and Knight was the coach at Army.

Many years later Davis was the head coach at Boston College, and took the Eagles to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Late that season, Davis took a phone call from Knight. Stanford was in the market for a new coach.As a favor to Stanford Athletic Director Andy Geiger, Knight called Davis to gauge his interest.

Knight asked what it would take for Davis to change jobs, which he eventually did. Four seasons later, Davis came to Iowa and became one of Knight’s Big Ten rivals. 

“I had great respect for him my whole career and still do in terms of what a great job he did and what a great coach he was, going all the way back to his days at Army,” Davis said. 

Indiana ended up tying for the Big Ten title with Indiana at 15-3. Iowa finished third, a game back.

And as it turned out, the Hawkeyes could have made it a three-way tie for the title had they not been upset by unranked Ohio State two days after the Indiana conquest. Dennis Hopson scored 36 points in the 80-76 upset.

“We were so fired up for Indiana, and reaching the 100-point barrier,” Gamble said. “Then we had a letdown.”

Davis thinks there was more to it than that. That was one of 12 times that season that Hopson scored at least 30 points. And no one knew the Davis system better than Ohio State Coach Gary Williams.

Davis was a volunteer assistant at Maryland when Williams played there. Davis moved up to become the freshman coach for the Terrapins, and Williams was his assistant. 

When Davis became a head Division I coach for the first time at Lafayette, he hired Wiliams as his assistant. And when Davis took the Boston College job, Williams joined him and later succeeded him when Davis left for Stanford.

“Not only did Hopson have a great game, but they played really well,” Davis recalled. “And Gary knew what to expect from being with me for so long. He understood how to attack pressure and attack changing defenses. And he was a terrific coach.”

So the winning streak had ended, and Davis tasted defeat for the first time as Iowa’s coach. Memories fade over time, especially when you were a head Division I coach for 953 games. But three of them, over nine days, will always be unforgettable.