Bucky O'Connor
Look Back at Iowa Basketball Wins Against AP No. 6
Sixteen years after Nile Kinnick and the famed Ironmen made the 1939 Iowa football season one for the ages, basketball Coach Bucky O’Connor followed the same script in the biggest game of the 1954-55 basketball season.
The 1939 football team got the “Ironmen’ nickname because bodies were scarce, and Coach Eddie Anderson wasn’t able to rest many of his key players during the game. With a share of the Big Ten title on the line, O’Connor played his five starters all the way in a 72-70 victory at No. 6 Minnesota.
Senior Deacon Davis and juniors Bill Logan, Bill Seaberg, Carl Cain and Sharm Scheuerman were on the floor all 40 minutes in a tight and tense battle Williams Arena duel before a crowd of 20,176, then the largest gathering to ever attend a college basketball game.
A headline in the Des Moines Register the morning of March 1 read, “Record 20,176 See Five “New”Ironmen Go Route to Clinch Title Tie.”
Iowa and Minnesota were both 10-2 in league play with two games remaining. The Gophers had won in Iowa City on Jan. 8, 81-80, when Dave Tucker made the second of two free throws with 12 seconds to play. The rematch was just as close. The record crowd witnessed 11 lead changes and 15 ties.
“That was the greatest basketball game I’ve ever seen,” O’Connor said. “Passing, rebounding, cutting, driving, shooting long and short….even the refereeing was just about the best ever.” Asked what he thought was the turning point of the game, O’Connor responded, “When the (final) gun went off.”
Minnesota had a 35-33 lead at halftime as the Hawkeyes struggled with their collective shooting touch. Iowa made just nine field-goal attempts in 26 tries. It was amazing that it was within a field goal at halftime, because Minnesota recorded five more baskets (14 for 32).
In the second half, the Gophers were able to keep Iowa within reach even though the visitors had caught fire offensively against a team that was leading the Big Ten in defense. O’Connor’s squad made 13 of their first 19 field-goal attempts in the second half. The Hawkeyes ended up shooting 66.7 percent over the last 20 minutes (16 for 24). And they still couldn’t shake the pesky Gophers.
In fact, Minnesota took a 70-69 lead with just under 4 minutes to play, then got possession and went into its famed stall. But Iowa knocked the ball loose and Scheuerman’s jumper from the free-throw lane gave the Hawkeyes a 71-70 lead with 2:10 on the clock.
“I don’t know why I took that last shot,” Scheuerman said. “I just had the ball and I let it go.”
That turned out to be the last field goal of the game. Iowa got possession again and milked the clock.
“I figured we could stall it out from there,” Logan said. “We beat Minnesota at their own game, by holding the ball at the finish.”
Seaberg said Iowa’s strategy on stalling was simple.
“It was just get the ball and get rid of it fast,” he said.
Davis was fouled with :23 remaining, and made one of two free throws. Minnesota failed to score and Cain carried the game ball off the court with him.
“I think they had a little bit too much for us,” Minnesota Coach Ozzie Cowles said. “A little too much balance.”
Logan led Iowa with 25 points, which included 11 free throws in 16 attempts. Cain scored 16, Seaberg 12, Davis 11 and Scheuerman eight. Free-throw shooting proved pivotal. Both teams attempted 30 of them. Iowa made 22, Minnesota 20.
Minnesota got 27 points from center Chuck Mancel.
“I’ve never seen Chuck Mancel play such a good game,” O’Connor said. “He’s just terrific.”
Revenge was sweet for the Hawkeyes, at the most opportune time.
“I thought Minnesota played much better than when they played us down in Iowa City,” O’Connor added.
More than 350 students had watched the televised game in the Iowa Memorial Union. When the team plane touched down in Iowa City shortly after midnight, an estimated crowd of 1,000 was there to greet them. University President Virgil Hancher was among those welcoming back the team.
“As for me, I just did the worrying and our fine players did the work,”O’Connor told the gathering.
The fans were so excited that they carried Davis, Logan, Seaberg and Scheuerman off on their shoulders as they walked off the plane.
Davis told the fans to save their celebration until Iowa won at Michigan in the final regular-season game of the year on March 7.
“We don’t want a share of the crown,” Davis said. “We want the whole cake.”
But it turns out that game with the Wolverines meant nothing. Iowa won the Big Ten title and the NCAA berth that went with it when Wisconsin beat the Gophers on March 5. Two days later, Michigan escaped the Big Ten cellar by beating Iowa, 74-58.
The Hawkeyes would rebound in NCAA play, reaching the Final Four with victories over Penn State and Marquette. LaSalle took out Iowa in the national semifinals, 76-73.
All-time record vs. No. 6: 11-21
Other victories vs. No. 6
Iowa 65, Minnesota 62 (overtime) (Jan. 6, 1973, Iowa City) - Kevin Kunnert outdueled Jim Brewer and the Hawkeyes stunned the defending Big Ten champions in Iowa Fieldhouse. Kunnert had 26 points and 15 rebounds. Brewer had 14 points and 14 rebounds before fouling out with just over 2 minutes to play.
“Kunnert played a great game,” Minnesota Coach Bill Musselman said after his team’s nine-game winning streak had been snapped. “He hurt us as long as he was in there.”
With Kunnert leading the way, Iowa outrebounded the Gophers by a 47-44 margin. “This is the first time in my two years at Minnesota that we’ve been outrebounded,” Musselman said.
Glenn Angelino clinched the upset by making two free throws with :12 to play. They were his first free-throw attempts of the season. That loss cost Minnesota a share of the Big Ten title. Indiana won at 11-3. The Gophers finished 10-4.
Iowa 64, Illinois 60 (Jan. 5, 1985, Iowa City) - Iowa Coach George Raveling missed the game with an illness, but the play of center Greg Stokes was a soothing tonic.
Stokes scored 24 points and added 11 rebounds as the Hawkeyes pulled out a tight and tense thriller at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Stokes made nine of 18 shots from the field, and six of nine free throws, as Iowa improved to 13-2. Clutch free-throw shooting by freshman Jeff Moe saved the day for the Hawkeyes, Moe broke a tie with 2:30 remaining when he made two free throws.
He made two more with :23 left to give his team a 63-58 advantage. Iowa converted 16 of 24 free throws for the game, while Illinois was just six of 11.
Iowa 70, Purdue 67 (Jan. 19, 1987, West Lafayette, Ind.) - Iowa moved to No. 1 for the first time ever in the Associated Press poll, then had to prove it that night at Mackey Arena where a Hawkeye team hadn’t tasted victory since 1981.
Adding to the challenge was an eye injury to leading scorer Roy Marble that sent him to the bench for good with 11:27 remaining in the first half. But the Hawkeyes prevailed. Kevin Gamble scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Ed Horton had 14 points and eight rebounds and Iowa survived 30 turnovers with a 43-24 edge on the glass. Jeff Moe chipped in with 11 points and Bill Jones had eight points and six rebounds.
“Gamble, Moe and Jones filled Marble’s spot very well,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said. Purdue scored just two points in the final 4:48, and the Hawkeyes tied a school record with their 17th straight victory. The 1955-56 Iowa team also won 17 straight.
Iowa 98, North Carolina 97 (January 7, 1989, Chapel Hill, N.C.) - Ed Horton turned in one the best games of his career, scoring 21 points and grabbing 19 rebounds at the sold-out Smith Center.
“It was an unbelievable win, a great performance by our team,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said.
Unbelievable, for sure, because Roy Marble accounted for the winning point with a little trickery. A high octane game that saw 10 lead changes in the final 8:43 came down to free throws. It was tied, 97-97, when Horton went to the line with :25 left and missed the front end of a one-and-one. Horton was fouled again at :15, and again missed the front end of a one-and-one.
Marble rebounded, missed, then Horton got the rebound and was fouled by Steve Bucknall with :11 on the clock. Marble marched to the line, claiming he was fouled instead of Horton. He later admitted it should have been Horton. Marble missed the first free throw, but made the second. Ray Thompson blocked King Rice’s shot at the other end and the Hawkeyes celebrated.
“I’d say it was my best game, but I’d give myself a “D’ grade because I missed those free throws,” Horton said.
Marble finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. Thompson had 19 points. Les Jepsen had 10 points and 10 rebounds. It was the most points scored on a Dean Smith-coached North Carolina team since 1973. Iowa had a 54-35 edge on the boards, which included 29 on the offensive glass.
“I congratulate Tom and his team,” Smith said. “They were very aggressive on the offensive boards, and that probably won the game for them.”
Iowa 87, Indiana 70 (March 11, 1989, Iowa City) - No. 15 Iowa was looking for some late-season momentum, and Indiana Coach Bob Knight provided it.
With the Big Ten title already sewed up, Knight rested four of his five starters. That included Jay Edwards, the Big Ten player of the year; forward Todd Jadlow, who had 32 points and 13 rebounds against the Hawkeyes earlier in the season in Bloomington; and center Eric Anderson, the Big Ten’s freshman of the year.
Iowa finished the Big Ten schedule 10-8 and took a 22-9 record into the NCAA Tournament.
“It was meaningless, other than I’m sure Bob wanted them to play well and be consistent,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said. “But it meant a lot to us. It will give us a boost, mentally and physically, heading into next week.”
Iowa seniors Roy Marble, Ed Horton and B.J. Armstrong said goodbye to Carver-Hawkeye Arena with strong performances. Marble had 19 points, five assists and just one turnover, Horton had 18 points and 10 rebounds, And Armstrong had 18 points, 10 assists to one turnover.
Iowa 78, Michigan 76 (overtime) (Jan. 20, 1990, Iowa City) - Senior center Les Jepsen’s two free throws with :06 remaining in the extra session gave the Hawkeyes a stunning victory over the defending national champions.
“I dream about being in that situation every day,” Jepsen said. “You think about it a million times, and when it came down to the nitty-gritty, maybe all that dreaming really helped.”
Jepsen finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds, his ninth double-double of the season, as Iowa snapped a five-game losing streak. Matt Bullard added 23 points.
Rumeal Robinson, one of four starters returning from Coach Steve Fisher’s NCAA championship team, had 28 points. But he fouled Jepsen when the Hawkeye postman was attempting a 13-footer late in the overtime. After making both free throws, Jepsen raced down the court and pressured Robinson into a last-second miss.
Iowa 92, Ohio State 86 (Feb. 18,1992, Iowa City) - Jim Jackson, the Big Ten’s reigning player of the year, scored a career-low seven points and the Buckeyes lost sole possession of the Big Ten lead at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“I’d rather have no points and win than 40 points and lose,” said Jackson, who made just two of 10 field-goal attempts.
Jackson came into the game averaging more than 22 points, and had been in double figures in 78 of his previous 81 games at Ohio State.
James Moses paced Iowa with 21 points, Acie Earl added 20 and Val Barnes, who guarded Jackson when Iowa was in man-to-man, chipped in with 18. The Hawkeyes shot 55.8 percent from the field and had 20 assists to go with a season-low eight turnovers.
“Scoring 92 points with just eight turnovers is amazing,” Iowa Coach Tom Davis said.
Ohio State went on to win the Big Ten title at 15-3, one game better than Indiana. And Jackson was again the Big Ten player of the year.
Iowa 101, Connecticut 95 (overtime) (Nov. 24, 1995, Anchorage, Alaska) - The Hawkeyes squandered a big lead, then got several clutch performances to advance to the finals of the Great Alaska Shootout.
Iowa had leads as large as 19 points in the first half and 49-34 at halftime, but fell behind down the stretch. Iowa’s Kenyon Murray forced overtime when he scored with :03 remaining.
Andre Wololridge’s lob to Ryan Bowen with a minute left in the extra session gave Iowa the lead for good. A free throw by Murray with :40 left, and a layup with :20 to go, kept the Huskies at bay.
Chris Kingsbury led the Iowa offense with a 30-point game, 27 of them coming after halftime. Kingsbury made five of 11 triples and was 11 of 12 from the line. Jess Settles added 14 points and Murray and Russ Millard 13 apiece. Iowa’s bench outscored Connecticut’s bench, 49-10.
Iowa 43, Michigan State 36 (Jan. 12, 2008, Iowa City) - Iowa was 7-9 overall, 0-3 in Big Ten play and coming off a 31-point loss at Ohio State. Michigan State was 14-1 overall, and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
So it’s no wonder that fans stormed the court after Iowa delivered a slow-tempo shocker. The Hawkeyes shot just 27.5 percent from the field, but delivered Todd Lickliter his only victory over a rated foe in his three seasons as Iowa coach.
“We thought it was important to play in the halfcourt more than the fullcourt, and we were able to do that,” Lickliter said.
The 36 points is still the fewest ever scored by a Tom Izzo team in his 27 seasons as head coach of the Spartans.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s an embarrassing loss the way we played,” Izzo said.
Tony Freeman led Iowa with 22 points, more than half the team’’s total. Freeman made five of nine 3-pointers. His teammates were zero for 13. And Iowa won.
Iowa 67, Purdue 65 (March 5, 2011, Iowa City) - Jarryd Cole went through two coaching changes, two knee surgeries and four losing seasons at Iowa. But he had something to smile about in the final home game of his career.
Cole’s seventh career double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) led Iowa to the upset victory. Fans stormed the court and chanted Cole’s name.
“Very seldom have I gotten things to go the way I wanted to go here,” Cole said.”This was a blessing.”
Two Matt Gatens free throws with :06 to play clinched the victory, which snapped Iowa’s 23-game losing streak against rated opponents. And Cole was able to leave Carver-Hawkeye Arena on a high note.
“We all wanted it for him,” first-year Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.
