By Pat Harty

One signature win against a nationally ranked opponent at the world’s most famous sports arena isn’t enough to say that the Iowa men’s basketball team is on the upswing, but it certainly is a start.

The 3-0 Hawkeyes served notice that maybe last season's 14-19 record was just a temporary setback by defeating No. 13 Oregon 77-69 in the semifinals of the 2K Empire Classic on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Iowa scored the first eight points in the game and never trailed against a team that is considered the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12 title.

The Hawkeyes made 22 consecutive free throw attempts and 29-of-33 overall and will face Connecticut in the championship game on Friday. The Huskies advanced by defeating Syracuse in the other semifinal on Thursday.

Junior point guard Jordan Bohannon led Iowa in scoring with 16 points and seven assists and also had four rebounds.

Iowa's reserves combined for 28 points off the bench, and helped to offset some early foul problems in the first half.

"I'm very proud of this team," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on his Learfield post-game radio show. "So many players contributed, a ton of points off the bench.Showed it from the free throw line. Shared the basketball.

"I'm really just proud of so many guys, I don't know where to begin."

Thursday's victory was big for McCaffery, who saw his up tempo style of play fail miserably last season. He didn't abandon that frenetic style for this season because pushing the pace on offense is how McCaffery grew up playing the game in Philadelphia and how he prefers to coach.

But he made defense a bigger priority during the offseason, and it showed in Thursday's game.

"It's not easy to lead wire to wire and we led wire to wire, and that makes me proud," McCaffery said.

Oregon 7-foot-2 freshman center Bol Bol was as good as advertised, but Iowa was better than advertised, fueled by timely 3-point shooting and by a solid performance on defense for a change.

Iowa made five 3-point baskets in the first 10 minutes of the first half and had drained eight by halftime, helping to give the Hawkeyes a 39-28 lead at the break.

But what really made the difference was Iowa’s performance on defense where the Hawkeyes held Oregon to just 26 percent shooting in the first half.

The Ducks also shot poorly in the second half and really struggled to hit shots against Iowa’s zone defense, an area where the Hawkeyes struggled last season while allowing nearly 80 points per game.

The Iowa players are on a mission to redeem themselves in the wake of last season's stunning decline and Thursday's victory shows that they mean business.

It also showed that Fran McCaffery's emphasis on defense during the offseason is paying early dividends. 

Oregon had trimmed the deficit to 45-38 when freshman Joe Wieskamp made a 3-pointer from the baseline, expanding the lead back to double figures.

Ryan Kriener then made a dunk off a post feed from point guard Jordan Bohannon to give Iowa a 52-39 lead with slightly more than 12 minutes to play, and Oregon was in serious trouble.

The Ducks had trimmed the lead to eight points when Iowa sophomore center Luka Garza made a 3-point basket from near the top of key, giving Iowa a 66-55 advantge with 3:33 remaining.

Seldom-used walk-on Riley Till provided some valuable minutes off the bench and helped to fill the void left by his former his high school teammate, Cordel Pemsl, who missed his second consecutive game with a lower leg injury that was caused from landing awkwardly in a recent practice.

Till was active on defense and so were his teammates, pretty much from start to finish.

"I want to give a big shout out to Riley Till for coming into the game," Kriener said on the Learfield post-game rtadio show. "He had some huge offensive rebounds and he really played withim himself. He got on the floor a couple times, tapped one ball away. Riley Till was big time. He gave us great energy off the bench."

The 6-9 Kriener also did his part with 11 points off the bench, while senior forward Nicholas Baer added nine points off the bench and helped to energize the defense with his constant hustle.

Iowa filled the passing lanes on defense and did a respectable job of stopping the ball in transition and of limiting penetration.

Oregon senior point guard Payton Pritchard on scored five points, which is nearly 11 points below his average.

"I thought we did a great job of containing him," Fran McCaffery said. "We really made that a focus."

Redshirt freshman point guard Connor McCaffery, who is Fran McCaffery's son, also provided a spark off the bench by making some nifty post feeds and by making a momentum-building 3-point basket early in the first half. 

Iowa’s victory adds to an impressive list of early wins for the Big Ten Conference, a list that also includes Michigan’s stunning 73-46 shredding of defending national champion Villanova on Wednesday and Ohio State’s victories at Cincinnati and at Creighton on Thursday.

It was also Iowa's first victory over a ranked opponent since defeating Wisconsin 59-57 in 2017.

And it marked the third time in the last five games that Iowa has played at legendary Madison Square Garden, which hosted the 2018 Big Ten Tournament.

Iowa defeated Illinois in the first game of the 2018 conference tournament and flirted with an upset before losing to eventual NCAA runner-up Michigan 77-71 in the second game.

So Madison Square Garden seems to bring out the best in this Iowa team, even on defense.