Acie Earl (left) and Chris Street
Look Back at Iowa Basketball Wins Against AP No. 5
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It was Super Bowl Sunday, an emotion-charged day that those who were in Carver-Hawkeye Arena will never forget.
No. 11 Iowa closed strong to upset No. 5 Michigan, 88-80, on Jan. 31, 1993. It was Iowa’s first home game since standout forward and fan favorite Chris Street died in an automobile accident a dozen days earlier.
For Coach Tom Davis, the Michigan game is forgettable and unforgettable at the same time. His heart still heavy from the devastating loss, he dug deep and coached his team to victory.
“You’re kind of running through a fog when you go through that,” Davis says now. “People talk to you all the time about stuff. I remember bits and pieces. I just can’t remember the details.”
A moment of silence was held for Street before the game, to a backdrop of sobs. Fans wore black and gold ribbons, No. 40 buttons and t-shirts that read “40 - The Spirit Continues,” to honor the guy who played with so much emotion inside that No. 40 Iowa jersey. His parents, Mike and Patty, and his sisters, Sarah and Betsy, sat courtside for the game.
“We were pulling for the boys,” Mike Street remembers. “Patty didn’t want to be there.”
Mike talked her into going, something he still wrestles with today.
“I was a zombie,” Patty said. “I was there, but I wasn’t there.”
The Streets were joined by a sellout crowd of 15,500 that willed their team to victory.
“I still say it’s the best crowd I’ve seen at Iowa,” said Kenyon Murray, a freshman that season.
Street had taken Murray under his wing when Kenyon arrived on campus as the newly minted Mr. Basketball in the state of Michigan. They became fast friends.
“I don’t know how many people even sat at that game,” Murray recalled. “It was amazing. And the energy they gave us was crazy, too.”
Davis tried to leave his emotions in the locker room when he walked out to the court for the start of the game.
“You kind of lock in, and try to think about the problems at hand,” he said. “Which is probably a good thing. It gets your mind off other things.”
Jess Settles was a senior at Winfield-Mt Union High School at the time, and he’d already picked Iowa as his college choice. Settles, who had attended Street’s funeral in Indianola, said the atmosphere inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena was unlike anything he’s experienced since.
“It was just a game that you had to win, and wanted to win,” Settles said. “And yet the Fab Five was standing in the way. You’re just not going to beat them, probably. Chris Webber was a force of nature, and the rest of them were so good. The place was lit up. It was pretty special.”
Murray, who had been recruited by Michigan Coach Steve Fisher, remembers that day as being different. He didn’t have any pregame butterflies.
“I was so locked in, so focused,” Murray said. “I remember thinking, “Dude, I’m not nervous.’ The emotion really didn’t hit me until after the game.”
It was a nationally televised game on CBS, with Jim Nantz and Billy Packer on the call.
“This is Carver-Hawkeye Arena,” Nantz told his audience. “It has never been flooded with emotions like it has as Iowa and Michigan play. The Hawkeyes return home for the first time since the passing of their hero, their state hero, and star forward Chris Street. It’s not overemphasizing it to say the state has been in mourning for 12 days.”
The teams traded momentum, and the lead, for most of the 40 minutes. Michigan had a 75-73 lead with 4:15 remaining. But the Wolverines’ two biggest antagonists on this day, Val Barnes and Acie Earl, scored back-to-back baskets and Iowa didn’t look back.
The Hawkeyes missed six straight free throws late in the game, and Michigan still couldn’t catch them.
“This is a game that the University of Iowa needed, and the state of Iowa had to have,” Nantz said.
Michigan finished with 34 field goals, six more than Iowa. The Wolverines won the battle of the boards, 38-35, and had six 3-pointers to two for the Hawkeyes. The Wolverines shot 51.5 percent from the field, to Iowa’s 43.7 percent. But the only number that mattered when it was over was 88-80. With an assist from 40.
“Chris Street must have brought some kind of attitude to this game,” said Juwan Howard, now Michigan’s head coach.
As soon as the game ended, Iowa players gave the game ball to the Street family.
“The emotion didn’t hit me until we surrounded Mike and Patty and the girls,” said Murray, who scored 13 points and added a team-best seven rebounds.
Mike Street walked off the court, raising the ball toward the crowd as he entered the tunnel.
“I just remember how happy everyone was, running around hugging each other,” Davis said. “It was a togetherness kind of thing.”
Barnes finished with 27 points and Earl added 19. Three nights earlier, playing their first game since Street’s passing, Iowa had rallied from a 15-point deficit with 3:15 remaining to force overtime. Barnes and Earl carried their team to a 96-90 victory. Barnes scored 29 points Earl scored 17 of his 27 points after halftime and also had 16 rebounds.
“That was a real good example of so many guys, who hadn’t played meaningful minutes, all of a sudden coming off the bench,” Davis said. “You take Chris out of there and it’s more than one player. It impacts a lot of different things. Those two games, Michigan State and Michigan, there was so much emotion.”
Nantz and Packer had also covered Iowa’s game at Duke on Jan. 16. Street would set an Iowa record for consecutive made free throws (34). Three days later, the world lost Street the person. But his memory still lives.
Nantz will always remember the 15-minute visit he had with Street in Durham, N.C., the day before the Duke game.
“He left an indelible positive impression,” Nantz said. “Like we all were, I was crushed a couple of days later by the tragic news.”
Nantz has never forgotten Street, all these years later.
“I can’t even begin to quantify how many times I’ve thought of that great young man,” Nantz said. “Often wondering what his life would be like now. It’s been a long time since the accident but I can still see him in my mind from that time in Durham. And it still hurts.”
All-time record vs. No. 5: 9-14
Other victories vs. No. 5
Iowa 67, Illinois 62 (Feb. 21, 1953, Iowa City) - Illinois, the reigning Big Ten champion, came to Iowa Fieldhouse with a 10-2 mark and had manhandled the Hawkeyes in Champaign a week earlier by an 80-63 margin. Iowa entered the game 4-8 in league play.
And then, as the Des Moines Register’s Bill Bryson wrote, Coach Bucky O’Connor’s team delivered “a haymaker swung from the depths of the second division.”
Illinois lost for the 10th time in its last 11 visits to Iowa City despite a 24-point game from all-American center Johnny “Red” Kerr. Iowa built an 11-point lead in the closing minutes, then had to hang on for dear life. The Illini got within 64-61 with 2 minutes to play.
Then Kerr made a steal and dribbled down the floor for an uncontested layup, only to miss it. Bob Miller made a pair of free throws with 1:41 remaining, and the Hawkeyes had pulled off a monumental upset.
Chuck Jarnigan had 15 points for the winners, Deacon Davis added 14 and Herb Thompson 13.
Iowa 80, Michigan State 68 (Jan. 5, 1959, Iowa City) - Iowa Coach Sharm Scheuerman dusted off a rarely used zone defense that limited the Spartans to 22 second-half points. Even Johnny Green’s 18 points and 24 rebounds didn’t help Michigan State sidestep the loss.
Down seven points early in the second half, Iowa went on an 11-0 run and never looked back. Clarence Wordlaw scored 23 points and Dave Gunther 21 for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa 74, Indiana 68 (Jan, 18, 1965, Bloomington, Ind). - Iowa won for the fourth time in five Big Ten games. That loss had been to the Hoosiers in Iowa Fieldhouse a week before, 85-76. Iowa’s defense, and a big first half, were the key ingredients in this reversal of fortunes.
Indiana managed just three points over the last 9:40 of the opening half. Iowa had a 34-20 halftime lead that the Hoosiers cut to two, 42-40, in the second half. But the Hawkeyes were able to hold on thanks to stellar free-throw shooting. Iowa made 21 of 25 free throws in the second half, including a string of 14 straight.
Gary Olson played extended minutes after center George Peeples broke his nose 3 minutes into the game and didn’t return until the final stages when Olson got in foul trouble. Olson scored 20 points, half of them coming from the free-throw line. Chris Pervall also scored 20 for Iowa.
“We’re all proud of this win,” Iowa Coach Ralph Miller said. “I’m sure everyone who is a fan of Iowa is, too. They should be.”
Iowa 91, South Carolina 85 (Jan. 22, 1972, Chicago Stadium) - Rick Williams had the game of his life. The transfer guard from Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge, by way of Cedar Rapids Washington, scored 40 points. He made 15 of 19 shots from the field and 10 of 12 free throws. He’s one of six players in Iowa history to reach the 40-point mark.
South Carolina Coach Frank McGuire looked at the boxscore and couldn’t get past Williams’s line.
“You can talk about everything, but when he hits 15 of 19, with every shot being tightly contested, it’s time to pack the bags and go home,” McGuire said. “I never heard of this kid, and he’s the best I’ve seen this year at getting a point when it’s really needed. He’s what beat us. That shooting and Kevin Kunnert.”
Kunnert, Iowa’s center, nearly pulled off a triple-double. He had 20 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
“Kunnert demolished them inside and Williams killed them from the outside,” Iowa Coach Dick Schultz said.
Iowa 88, UCLA 71, (Dec 22, 1990, Iowa City) - Iowa center Acie Earl took it to Don MacLean and the Bruins, scoring 30 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
“We knew he was good,” UCLA Coach Jim Harrick said. “But maybe he’s even a little better than we expected.”
Earl made nine of 16 field-goal attempts, and added 12 free throws in 15 tries. Iowa was 30 of 42 at the line. UCLA, averaging 109 points in its 9-0 start, was just 13 for 21.
The Bruins also turned it over 22 times against Iowa’s pressure defense. Iowa Coach Tom Davis used many of the same press principles John Wooden had in coaching the Bruins to 10 NCAA titles.
The game was tied, 66-66, with 5:41 remaining. Iowa ended the game on a 13-0 run, nine of those points coming from the free-throw line.
“Iowa controlled everything,” Harrick said. “We were a day late and a dollar short.”
Iowa 88, Purdue 69 (Feb. 18, 1998, Iowa City) - With 3 minutes remaining in the game, some of the fans in Carver-Hawkeye Arena started the “Overrated” chant. They got no argument from Purdue Coach Gene Keady.
“I thought the chant at the end of the game, “overrated,’ was the best comment of the night,” Keady said. “That was great. I agreed with them.”
Iowa recorded its first victory over a Top 5 opponent since 1993, and it came much easier than expected. The Hawkeyes took a 53-27 halftime lead, shooting 70.4 percent from the field, 55 percent from 3 and dishing 17 assists. Iowa’s advantage ballooned to as many as 31 points in the second half. Kent McCausland scored 16 points and Ryan Bowen and Ricky Davis 14 apiece.
Iowa 67, Ohio State 64 (Feb. 9, 2000, Columbus, Ohio) - Kyle Galloway’s 3-pointer from the right corner, with :04 to play, knocked the Buckeyes out of sole possession of the Big Ten lead. George Reese’s basket had tired the game at :11. Iowa point guard Dean Oliver, who scored 21 points despite being double-teamed all game, took Rob Griffin’s in-bounds pass and blew past Ohio State’s Scoonie Penn.
“I just wanted to take off and make something happen,” Oliver said. “I saw Kyle early and I figured I’d just try to draw the defense and get it to him. I knew he'd knock it down.”
Galloway was wide open in the corner as Oliver crossed half court.
“I was completely wide open,” Galloway said. “And I was hoping to stay incognito.”
Galloway’s third 3-pointer in four attempts, and Iowa’s ninth in 14 tries, was a winner. Penn got off a desperation 3-pointer over Oliver that hit the front of the rim.
Iowa 74, Michigan 59 (Feb. 1, 2019, Iowa City) - The No. 25 Hawkeyes used a 21-2 run en route to a 42-29 halftime lead, and kept the Wolverines at bay down the stretch. The result was a court storm.
“You want them to enjoy that kind of jubilation together, and then to see them celebrate in the locker room together,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.
Iowa’s 1-2-2 press had Michigan out of rhythm offensively. The Wolverines made just eight of 33 3–point attempts. Iowa had a 48-36 rebounding edge. Luka Garza had 19 points and Joe Weiskamp 16. Ryan Kriener turned in one of the best games of his Iowa career, with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
