Takeaways: Fight Leads to Iowa Comeback

Hawkeyes Overcome 21-Point Deficit to Knock Off Indiana Thursday

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa’s 91-89 win over No. 15 Indiana on Thursday night was all about the fight of the Hawkeyes.

Listless at the beginning, when they fell behind 23-4 and then 28-7, the Hawkeyes (9-6 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) snapped a three-game losing streak with a furious comeback followed by another rally followed by another.

And when Kris Murray threw the basketball in the air to drain the final couple of seconds off the clock, the eruption of emotion swept away the disappointment of the last two weeks.

It was the 40th anniversary of the first basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and there have been plenty of tense Big Ten battles throughout the years.

This one felt like so many of the others, complete with the anger that comes with the crucible of the now 20-game schedule in the conference.

“Every game in our league is like this,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “We just had one (Sunday’s loss at Penn State). We lost it.

You've got to figure out a way to win some of them, and … it's going to come down to a lot of times your veteran guys and the decisions they make and how they help the young guys along.”

It was the third largest comeback in program history, one that may have saved the season for the Hawkeyes.

“It was big, just being able to complete this comeback,” said forward Kris Murray, who had 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Hawkeyes. “Obviously, we don't want to spot them that many points early on, but I think this gives us a lot of confidence."

The takeaways:

MURRAY TAKES OVER

Murray and Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis put on a show — Jackson-Davis had 30 points and nine rebounds — but the win belonged to Murray, who scored 21 second-half points while playing all 20 minutes.

“I needed to play better than I did in the first half,” Murray said. “Just be aggressive, honestly. Because when I get to my driving game, it’s hard to guard me, at all three levels.”

Murray did everything, including a sequence when he blocked the layup attempt of Indiana’s Jalen Hood-Schifino, and then after he was fouled on the rebound, made two free throws to put Iowa up 89-86 with 10 seconds to play.

“Murray had his way,” Indiana coach Mike Woodson said.

PATIENCE IN THE COMEBACK

The Hawkeyes were lifeless in Indiana’s early run, but McCaffery knew his team had plenty of time to rally.

His players knew that, too, and McCaffery said that was important.

“I think it says a lot about the character of our team because you guys have all seen a lot of games over the years, the biggest mistake teams make in a situation like that, you always hear us say, don't try to get it back all at once,” McCaffery said. “What does that mean? You start quick-shooting the ball, you start taking an inordinate amount of threes and then now they're running it back and they're dunking the ball and all of a sudden 21 becomes 31 and you have no shot.

We just tried to press them a little, be active in our zone, and execute our offense the way we planned, because early on we couldn't get anything to drop. We had a couple good looks, they didn't go, and they were capitalizing. I was just really pleased with our composure at that point.”

SCORING FROM EVERYWHERE

With Patrick McCaffery out indefinitely, the Hawkeyes needed to pick up his production and cover his minutes, and they did that.

Filip Rebraca had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Connor McCaffery had 16 points. Payton Sandfort had 11. Tony Perkins had 10.

THE YOUNG GUYS

Iowa’s second-half starters had played the first 11 minutes of the half, and Fran McCaffery knew he needed to get them a break before the under-8 media timeout. So he inserted Ahron Ulis, Dasonte Bowen and Josh Dix into the game.

The game was tied at 70 when Bowen committed a turnover, leading to an Indiana basket at the other end. The sloppiness had McCaffery scrambling to make a lineup change. Then Dix hit a 3-pointer from the right side off an assist from Ulis, then Murray scored on a layup off another Ulis assist.

“We had to play a lot of young guys tonight,” McCaffery said. “What can you say about Payton Sandfort? He was phenomenal. Josh Dix was phenomenal. And Dasonte was really good in the first half. Ulis was solid as always.

“I thought when they're in there, at crunch time, your young guys, they have to execute.”