Remembering Top Iowa Basketball Comebacks

Hawkeyes' Bounce-Back Thursday Against IU Third Best in Program History

Iowa’s Tony Perkins (11) dribbles in front of Indiana’s Trey Galloway on Jan. 5, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - It took a miraculous comeback for Iowa’s basketball team in reaching No. 1 in January of 1987. The Hawkeyes were No. 2 in the Associated Press poll when they played at No. 9 Illinois on January 14. Coach Tom Davis, in his first season, saw his team fall behind, 61-39, with 16:10 to play.

It was still a 15-point deficit at the 9:45 mark, but Jeff Moe’s jumper tied the game, 81-81, with 12:34 left. Iowa had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but B.J. Armstrong missed a 12-footer with :04 remaining. Then the Hawkeyes prevailed in overtime, 91-88.

Coming back was a trademark of that team. The Illinois game marked the sixth time the Hawkeyes had faced deficits of at least 12 points and won.

The rally against Illinois, and Oklahoma’s 89-88 upset of Nevada-Las Vegas, moved Iowa to No. 1 for the first and only time in school history the following Monday.

“Do I get to keep it for the rest of the season?” Davis joked when told his team was on top of the poll. “It would be nice if we had about a week or so to celebrate.”

There was no time to do that. On the same day the Hawkeyes moved to No. 1, they had a game at No. 6 Purdue. Iowa won, 70-67, even though leading scorer Roy Marble was knocked out of the game with a first-half eye injury.

That was followed by a 101-88 victory over No. 3 Indiana at home on Jan. 22, a school-record 18th consecutive victory. But Ohio State knocked Iowa off the top spot two days later, 80-76, behind Dennis Hopson’s 37 points.

None of that would have happened if Iowa had not come back from that 21-point second-half deficit at Illinois. It was the biggest comeback in program history at the time.

It would stay that way until Nov. 17, 2012, when the Hawkeyes erased a 23-point first-half deficit to beat Gardner-Webb, 65-56, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Bulldogs still had a 38-18 lead at halftime. But Iowa opened the second half with a 24-4 run and outscored Gardner-Webb the second half, 47-18.

“That’s an ugly number,” Gardner-Webb Coach Chris Holtmann, now the head man at Ohio State, said as he looked at the boxscore. “I think I’ll take this and burn it.”

Iowa had made just four of 21 3-point attempts in the previous game against Howard, and then missed its first 12 attempts from distance against Gardner-Webb. But Zach McCabe made two straight triples, and Josh Oglesby added another one, to jump-start the comeback. Iowa shot 50 percent from the field the second half, to just 19.2 percent for the Bulldogs.

That game remains the largest comeback in Iowa history, and the Illinois game is No. 2. Iowa’s 91-89 victory over No. 15 Indiana Thursday night ranks third.

Down, 28-7, out of the gate, Iowa cut the deficit to 50-40 at half time, and came all the way back with a 51-point second half. Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca combined for 49 points and 20 rebounds.

In the last two games against Indiana at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Murray has averaged 29.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. He made 23 of 36 shots from the field, including five of 11 from 3, and eight of 11 free throws in 69 minutes.

Connor McCaffery’s 16 points were also vital, but Iowa doesn’t win without his toughness and leadership. Put it all together and Iowa had a much-needed victory.

“I think it says a lot about the character of our team, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “The biggest mistake teams make in a situation like that, and you always hear us say, you don’t try and get it all back at once. You start quick-shooting the ball, you start taking an inordinate amount of 3s and now they’re running back and they’re dunking the ball and all of a sudden 21 becomes 31 and you have not shot.”

Thursday’s victory over the Hoosers was Iowa’s second against a Top 25 opponent this season. Last season’s Big Ten Tournament champions were 2-5 against Top 25 foes. Iowa has now won 24 games against Top 25 teams over the past four-plus seasons.