By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IA – The 20th ranked Cyclones traveled to Iowa City for a matchup with the rival Hawkeyes Thursday night. While the Hawkeyes were without Kris Murray, that didn’t phase them at all as they secured the 19 point victory.

Here are my five takeaways from the game and postgame footage from both teams.

No Murray, No problem: There is very clearly no way to replace what Kris Murray brings to this Iowa Hawkeye men’s basketball team, but all great teams need a village to be successful. Tonight Iowa showed that they have that with this years team.

Almost all starters were in double figures against one of the best defenses in the country. Rebraca led all scorers with 22, followed by Connor McCaffery with 14, Patrick McCaffery with 13 and Tony Perkins with 10.

That kind of production is needed whether Murray is in or out. Especially with conference play on the horizon.

Hot start was much needed: The Hawkeyes needed to come out strong to makeup for the absence of Kris Murray and they did that and more.

The Hawkeyes started the game out on a 15-0 run led by a couple of Tony Perkins threes and Filip Rebraca baskets. These two teams play opposite styles as the Hawkeyes are more offense oriented, with the Cyclones being the opposite.

It was important for Iowa to play at their tempo if they wanted to win this. That start gave them momentum that they never gave back.

Filip Rebraca has arrived: Filip Rebraca has been impressive all season and Thursday night that continued. The pressure was on Rebraca to be a force in the absense of Kris Murray and he answered the bell right out of the gate.

He put togtehr his best half of the season with 11 points (5-5 fg), eight rebounds, and two assists all before the break.

The hot start rolled over into the second half as Rebraca finished with a career high 22 points and two threes. He also added 11 rebounds and four assists on the night.

It looks like Iowa could be out Kris Murray for a bit of time, this kind of play from Rebraca would be huge for the Hawks.

Knocking down shots makes all the difference: After going just 3-16 from beyond the arc in their last matchup against Duke in Madison Square Garden, there were doubts about the Hawkeye’s shooting ability. Today they put those to rest.

The Hawkeyes shot 7-14 from three in the first half and just as importantly, held Iowa State to 0-10 from beyond the arc.

Iowa then started the second half still hot with two threes from Patrick McCaffery and Ahron Ulis. A total of five different Hawkeyes hit multiple threes.

They finsihed the game 12-23 (52%). Just another bright spot as the Hawkeyes look ahead to Wisconsin

Bad ISU offense or great Iowa defense? Thursday night was by far the most impressive night defensively for the Hawkeyes all year given the competition and the circumstances.

In the first half Iowa only allowed 20 points (10-30 fg) and a whooping 0-10 from three. The Cyclones didn’t even register a point on the scoreboard until the 14-minute mark in the first half.

They carried that into the second half as Iowa State finished the game shooting only 41% from the field, 14% from three and forcing 14 turnovers.

Hard to be a potent offense and put together a defensive performance like this. Ahron Ulis and Tony Perkins are proving themselves to be among the elite defenders in college hoops.

Check out what both coaches and players from the Iowa Hawkeyes had to say postgame here: