Iowa defeats Michigan to end four-game skid
Okay, maybe I was wrong.
Maybe the Iowa men’s basketball team has rediscovered its groove because the team that ruined Michigan’s senior day on Saturday with an 81-71 victory at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., looked very similar to the Iowa team that won 10 of its first 11 Big Ten games and climbed to as high as third in the polls.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery and several of his players had expressed optimism after last Tuesday’s 81-78 loss to Big Ten champion Indiana despite it being Iowa’s fourth consecutive setback and despite it coming on Senior Day at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
To me, it was beneath this senior-led Iowa team to be pleased with coming close against the Hoosiers, especially at home. It sort of felt like a moral victory.
But now it makes more sense, considering how well Iowa played against Michigan in a game that had so much on the line for both teams. It was similar to how the Hawkeyes performed while erasing a 14-point second-half deficit against Indiana on Tuesday.
But it wasn’t necessarily the same players leading the way in both games, which is another thing to be encouraged about.
Senior forward Jarrod Uthoff led the charge on Saturday against Michigan by scoring 29 points. It was in contrast to the Indiana game when Iowa’s bench led the comeback, while Uthoff couldn’t buy a basket down the stretch.
Iowa needs the 6-foot-9 Uthoff to perform at a star level like did throughout December and January and like he did throughout Saturday’s victory.
“He’s so aggressive right now and that’s how he has to stay,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on the Big Ten Network post-game interview. “It settles everybody down.”
Iowa finished the regular season with records of 21-9 overall and 12-6 in the Big Ten. This marks the second consecutive season that Iowa has finished 12-6 in the conference.
The Hawkeyes will be seeded either fourth or fifth at the Big Ten Tournament, which starts next Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Iowa would be a fourth seed and would get a double bye and not play until Friday if Maryland defeats Indiana and if Purdue defeats Wisconsin on Sunday.
With Saturday’s victory, Iowa earned its first four-game sweep of Michigan and Michigan State in the same regular season since 1954.
One victory certainly doesn’t mean a turnaround, but at least it stops the bleeding and the concern about whether Iowa was on the verge of collapse.
“We’ve been through this, we’ve been through the ringer, we’ve been through the Big Ten,” Uthoff said. “Each game is tough. All these Big Ten teams are the best in the country.
“So losing a couple in a row is no big deal in the whole scope of things.”
There is some truth in that statement.
Losing four games in a row cost Iowa a chance to win the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time since 1979.
But there still is so much glory waiting to be achieved.
Iowa has shown that it can defeat just about any team in the country when it performs well and when Uthoff has a starring role.
Uthoff hardly was a solo act against Michigan, though.
Senior guards Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons both played with precision and poise. Gesell led the Hawkeyes with 11 assists, while Clemmons scored 12 points, including arguably his biggest basket as a Hawkeye.
He made a 3-point basket to expand Iowa’s lead to 64-56 with 3 minutes, 34 seconds left to play. It felt like Iowa was in control the rest of the way.
Senior center Adam Woodbury also did his usual thing by grabbing 11 rebounds, by setting tough screens and by protecting the basket on defense.
Iowa so desperately needed its four seniors to play well on Saturday and that’s what happened.
It also helped that Michigan shot poorly from 3-point range, making just 8-of-34 attempts.
Sometimes, being good means being lucky. Iowa was both on Saturday against Michigan.