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 By beating Minnesota 75-71 on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa
took advantage of both No. 2 Maryland and Indiana losing this
weekend and now has sole possession of first place at 11-2 with five
games remaining. Minnesota, meanwhile, remains winless in Big Ten
play, dropping to 0-13.
The good for Iowa was it ended up receiving stellar performances
from its top two players -- senior forward Jarrod Uthoff and junior
guard Peter Jok. Uthoff finished with a double-double of 24 points
and 15 rebounds, while Jok scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-14
shooting.
But for the majority of this contest, Minnesota kept it close. The
Hawkeyes started the game shooting a lackluster 5-of-17 from the
floor and the Golden Gophers at one point in the first half held a
20-12 edge in rebounds.
"I thought we did a lot of good things. It was not a perfect game,"
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. "But you know, if you study
(Minnesota), you're going to have to fight until the end, you're
going to have to execute, you're going to have to do things.
"You're going to have to overcome some adversity throughout the
course of the game because they're going to create that. They're
going to keep coming."
With Minnesota leading 26-25, Uthoff finally caught fire for Iowa.
After going the first 16 minutes without a single bucket, the Big
Ten Player of the Year candidate scored the Hawkeyes' final nine
points of the half and Iowa took a 34-28 lead into the locker room
at halftime.
"It was a big momentum changer," Uthoff said. "I think it was
important for us, just from a confidence standpoint, to get them on
their heels more."
Jok scored Iowa's first eight points to start the second half and it
appeared as though the Hawkeyes would win in runaway fashion. But
the Golden Gophers continued to hang around. Sophomore guard Nate
Mason was held scoreless in the first half, but ended up leading
Minnesota in scoring with 14 points on the evening. Mason also
finished with six assists.
The Golden Gophers also received strong outings from its freshmen
duo of forward Jordan Murphy and guard Dupree McBrayer. Murphy
finished with 11 points and six rebounds, while McBrayer had 12
points.
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Minnesota got back to within two points before Jok drained a
3-pointer to extend Iowa's lead to 69-64. Then holding a 70-66 lead
in the closing minutes, senior guard Mike Gesell found Uthoff inside
for one of his 12 assists on the evening and Uthoff's dunk put the
Hawkeyes ahead by six points.
"He's a match-up problem," Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino said
of Uthoff. "He shoots it from half-court, makes it, and then he'll
drive right by you. So he's an NBA basketball player."
Iowa travels to Penn State for its next game on Feb. 17. Minnesota
returns home to face Maryland on Feb. 18, looking to build off
playing a team like the Hawkeyes down to the wire away from Williams
Arena.
"This definitely boosts our confidence, saying we can play with
anybody in the country," McBrayer said. "Coming into Maryland, we
just got to execute the scouting report and then hopefully get a
win."
NOTES: With Sunday's win, Iowa extended its current winning streak
at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to 17 games. Ironically, the last team to
defeat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City was Minnesota, who beat Iowa 64-59
on Feb. 12, 2015. ... Sunday's game marked the fifth straight Sunday
Iowa has played a game this season. The Hawkeyes won their previous
four Sunday contests against Michigan, Purdue, Northwestern and
Illinois, and they play one more regular season Sunday game at Ohio
State on Feb. 28. ... Minnesota entered Sunday's game at 0-12 in the
Big Ten, marking the worst start to conference play in program
history. The Golden Gophers' last victory of any kind came back on
Dec. 16 against Chicago State.
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