By Pat Harty

Just four games into the season and the surging Iowa men’s basketball team already has made a resounding statement. 

The Hawkeyes improved to 4-0 by defeating Connecticut 91-72 in the championship game of the 2K Empire Classic on Friday at legendary Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The victory came less than 24 hours after Iowa had defeated No. 13 Oregon 79-68 in a semifinal game on Thursday.

Iowa performed exceptionally well on defense in both games and that is a drastic change from last season when the Hawkeyes were a sieve on defense, allowing nearly 80 points per game while finishing 14-19 overall and just 4-14 in the Big Ten.

The Iowa players talked at media day in October about embracing the challenge to improve defensively, and from the looks of things after four games, they weren’t just providing lip service. The players meant it and are now seeing the fruits of their labor.

Iowa looks like a completely different team on defense this season compard to a year ago. The players are now clogging the passing lanes and helping on defense at the right times and stopping the ball in transition. Those three things rarely occurred last season, and hardly ever at the same time.

“This is a different Iowa team than the one I watched last year defensively,” said Fran Fraschilla, who helped call both of Iowa's games for ESPN2.

Adding to Iowa’s storyline is the incredible recovery made by sophomore center Luka Garza, who had a 10-pound cyst removed from his abdomen barely two months ago.

Iowa led 43-27 at halftime, thanks largely to the 6-foot-11 Garza, who scored 18 of his 22 points before halftime.

Junior forward Tyler Cook scored nine points in the first half, so he and Garza matched Connecticut's points total in the first half by themselves. The 6-9, 250-pound Cook would go on to lead Iowa in scoring with 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field.

Iowa's lead swelled to 24 points in the second half, but the Huskies rallied late, trimming the deficit to 13 points on three occasions, but they would get no closer than that down the stretch.

"I just couldn't be more proud of the way we shard the ball and the way we fought," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said on his Learfield post-game radio show. "Everybody that I put in played well and everybody picked us up. And I'm just thrilled."

Iowa point guard Jordan Bohannon picked up two early fouls and then spent most of the first half watching from the bench.

But the Hawkeyes continued to excel on offense, thanks largely to Connor McCaffery’s impact off the bench as the backup point guard. 

Known mostly as a pass-first point guard, the 6-5 Connor McCaffery, who is the son of Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, also showed in Friday’s victory that he can score in a variety of ways. Connor finished with 19 points and five assists and was a calming influence on offense.

He made an old-fashioned 3-point play that expanded Iowa’s lead to 61-40 with 11 minutes, 43 seconds left to play.

Connor McCaffery barely played last season as a true freshman due to injuries and illness. He was granted a redshirt and is now healthy and showing signs that he will be a key contributor this season.

"He's as tough as nails," Cook said of Connor McCaffery on the Learfield post-game radio show. "They were pressing our guards the whole game and Connor did a great job of keeping his composure and getting them off of him and advancing the ball up the court and also finding guys when they're open.

"He does a great job leading the team whenever Jordan is out. And even when Jordan is in the game, Connor does a great job facilitating and doing what he does best," 

Fran McCaffery has always fashioned himself as an offensive coach who prefers to push the pace, and up until last season, that style had helped him climb the coaching ladder.

But watching his team repeatedly get shredded on defense created a sense of urgency and convinced Fran McCaffery that he had to make some changes.

He didn’t abandon his up tempo style on offense, but he put more emphasis on defense and the results are now showing on the court.

The season still is in its infancy, but the sample size after four games is enough to see that Iowa has improved on defense, especially in regard to effort and communication. The challenge now is to sustain that level of performance on defense because there is little doubt that Iowa can score with the best of teams, especially if Connor McCaffery keeps doing what he did in Friday's game. 

Garza was named the most valuable player of the event, while Cook also made the all-tournament team.

Junior forward Cordell Pemsl missed his third consecutive game after having landed awkwardly in a recent practice. His status has been listed as day-to-day.

Iowa has now won three of its last four games at Madison Square Garden, and the loss was a 77-71 nail-biter in overtime against eventual NCAA Tournament runner-up Michigan in the second round of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament.

There was a mini controvery at the end of Friday's game when Iowa forward Ryan Kriener made a wide-open dunk from underneath the basket right before time expired, and with Iowa leading by 17 points. Kriener's dunk caused some booing from the stands, and Fran McCaffery started his post-game press conference by apologizing to Connecticut and to first-year head coach Danny Hurley on behalf of Kriener.

Hurley wasn't around to see Kriener's dunk at the end of the game because he had been ejected just minutes before.

"I want to begin by apologizing to UCONN and Coach Hurley for the dunk at the end," Fran McCaffery said. "That's not who were are. Ryan feels terrible and grabbed me on the way here and asked me to say something."