By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa men’s basketball team did what it was supposed to do against an overmatched opponent on Sunday.

The Hawkeyes pulled away early in the first half and then cruised to a 92-58 victory over Alabama State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The game was mostly a forgone conclusion in that Iowa had very little chance of losing under any circumstance.

But it still was encouraging to see Iowa play lock-down defense, to see sophomore Isaiah Moss make 4-of-7 field-goal attempts, including two 3-point baskets, to see freshman center Luka Garza continue to perform beyond his years and to see Ahmad Wagner make a rare 3-point basket.

Sophomore forward Tyler Cook also looks to be in great shape and showed a bounce to his game that wasn’t always noticeable last season. Cook performed unselfishly on Sunday, and when his teammates see one of the offensive go-to players so willing to share the ball, they will do the same thing.

Iowa assisted on 25 of its 32 made field-goal attempts and had 11 players who finished with at least one assist led by sophomore point guard Jordan Bohannon with six.

Alabama State also struggled to get open looks and only made 10-of-34 field-goal attempts in the first half when the game still was in doubt.

“We were better defensively tonight than we were in the last game I thought," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Friday’s 95-62 victory over Chicago State in the season opener. “We were more connected. I felt we pushed it better and we wanted to run more. I thought our running game was just okay before. I thought it was better tonight. We got out and ran and got some easy baskets.”

The 6-foot- 11 Garza looks like he could average 10 points and five rebounds without even trying. But the great thing about Garza, besides his size and skill set is that he does try hard.

He recorded his first career-double on Sunday with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and needed only 19 minutes of playing time to do it.”

Fellow freshman Jack Nunge, who also stands 6-11, was part of an Iowa bench that outscored Alabama State 49-4 on Sunday. Nunge stuffed the shat sheet with six points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks

McCaffery was asked after Sunday’s game what has impressed him the most about his freshmen twin towers and if there was anything they’ve done that he didn’t expect.

“No. I knew they were both really good,” McCaffery said of Garza and Nunge. “You don’t always know what a guy is going to do under pressure. But I had watched those guys in a lot of difficult situations and usually that tells you.”

Garza led Iowa in scoring with 16 points in the season opener on Friday.

“The thing I’m most happy about is the two (wins),” Garza said. “I just want to continue to win. And whatever I can do to help the team do that, I’ll be happy with it.”

Moss faces the daunting challenge of trying to fill the void left by the graduation of all-Big Ten shooting guard Peter Jok, who led the conference in scoring last season with a 19.1 per-game average.

Moss led Iowa in scoring on Sunday with 12 points in just 18 minutes of playing time.

McCaffery has encouraged the 6-5 Moss to be more aggressive on offense and it’s starting to show.

“It helps a lot just knowing that he’s behind your back 100 percent when you take those shots,’ Moss said of McCaffery.

Sophomore guard Maishe Dailey also provided a spark with 11 points, three assists and two steals off the bench.

"In the last three weeks before the season started he has been playing great," Fran McCaffery said of the 6-7 Dailey. "Before that he was a little inconsistent. But he finally started feeling better physically and I think that helped him as well."

Iowa will face another heavy underdog when it hosts Grambling State on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

That game also should mark the debut of 6-5 freshman guard Connor McCaffery, who missed the first two games because of an ankle injury. Connor McCaffery is Fran McCaffery’s son.

“He’s making progress,” Fran McCaffery said. “I expect him back on Thursday. It’s not set yet. He couldn’t play today as much as he wanted to.”

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