Iowa’s win over Northwestern encouraging because of how it happened
Opponents reminded that Luka Garza is hardly a solo act on offense
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Unless some opponent decides to surround him with four defenders, and just lets his teammates take wide-open shots, Luka Garza will always be Iowa’s top option on offense.
The 6-foot-11 senior center is often unstoppable when facing just one defender, and sometimes close to unstoppable when facing two, and even three defenders.
But Garza isn’t Superman, and there will be games in which we’re reminded of that, including Tuesday’s 87-72 victory over Northwestern at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Garza has reached a level of stardom where scoring 18 points and grabbing six rebounds, as he did against Northwestern, is considered ordinary, because for him, it is ordinary from a statistical standpoint.
But it’s hardly reason for concern, and if anything, what happened against Northwestern was encouraging.
It was fun watching Garza score at least 20 points against 18 consecutive Big Ten opponents, the kind of thing we may never see again.
But it’s more important from a big picture standpoint that in Iowa’s two biggest wins this season against North Carolina and upstart Northwestern, Garza was held below 20 points, and yet Iowa still had enough firepower to prevail.
Garza only scored 16 points in Iowa’s 93-80 victory over North Carolina on Dec. 8 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. But he also grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked four shots.
It is easy to get swept away with Garza’s incredible scoring because he can make scoring 30 points look easy.
But for Iowa to reach its full potential, Garza shouldn’t have to score that many points, not with a supporting cast that includes sharpshooting guards Jordan Bohannon and C.J. Fredrick, and versatile swingman Joe Wieskamp.
Bohannon is Iowa’s all-time leader in 3-point field goals, and one of the most clutch shooters in Big Ten history, while the 6-3 Fredrick is an emerging force at shooting guard.
Bohannon made six 3-point baskets and scored 24 points against Northwestern, and he made seven 3-pointers and led Iowa with 24 points against North Carolina.
But in Iowa’s other eight games, Bohannon has scored fewer than 10 points.
Bohannon credited Iowa coach Fran McCaffery for pushing the right motivational buttons heading into the Northwestern game.
“Fran brought me into his office a couple days ago and was preaching what he always has since I’ve been here,” Bohannon said. “He has the most confidence in me and that’s why he recruited me; because of how I play on the court, my swag, and how much different we’re on the court when I’m like that.”
McCaffery just wanted to remind Bohannon about who he is and about what he has accomplished as a a Hawkeye.
“When you’re a fifth-year senior who has made over 300 threes he probably doesn’t need as much, but I gave it to him anyway,” Fran McCaffery said of his pep talk with Bohannon. “I had a long talk with him and just reminded him how great he is, who he is, what our team needs, and just go out and play with that kind of confidence and sort of reckless abandon, while at the same time running the show.
“So it has to be a great feeling for him right now with how he played, because he knows his capable of it. He had a fabulous game against North Carolina.”
It’s hard to see Iowa winning anything significant without Bohannon contributing on offense, and the same with Fredrick and Wieskamp, for that matter.
Nobody benefits more from them making 3-point shots than Garza because it creates space for him, and reminds opponents that Garza is hardly a solo act.
Garza is a prolific scorer, and, of course, he loves scoring points.
Who doesn’t? Besides maybe Dennis Rodman?
But Garza doesn’t hunt for shots, nor does he shoot when a teammate is open.
Garza knows what he has around him as teammates, and if opponents make him a priority on defense, as almost all of them do, he is more than willing to share the basketball, as he did against Northwestern.
“I think tonight I was just trying to move the ball in the post and knew they were going to double a lot,” Garza said. “They were just trying to get it out of my hands and I’m thankful to have the shooters that I have around me, and they knocked some shots down tonight.”
Iowa heads back on the road for a game at Rutgers on Saturday, and winning probably won’t come easy because Rutgers is really good, especially at home.
Anything less than a solid team effort on both offense and defense probably wouldn’t be enough for Iowa prevail.
It shouldn’t take Garza having to score 30 to 40 points for Iowa to beat Rutgers, nor should it take Bohannon having to make six or seven threes.
Somewhere in the middle would be nice.
Iowa’s 102-95 loss at Minnesota in overtime on Christmas day was a huge disappointment because of how it unfolded with Iowa blowing a seven-point lead with 45 seconds left in regulation.
But look at what the surging Gophers did to Michigan State in their next game. So maybe Minnesota is for real.
We know that Iowa is for real. It’s just uncertain how for real.