Iowa City, Iowa- Iowa guard Devyn Marble goes up for 2 over Indiana guard Remy Abell at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, February 19, 2012. Marble had 10 points and 7 assists in the Hawkeyes' 78-66 victory over the Hoosiers. (The Daily Iowan/Adam Wesley)
By Ben Schuff
benjamin-schuff@uiowa.edu
The Iowa basketball team that faced No. 18 Indiana on Sunday played like a different group than the squad that allowed 103 points and was dunked on left and right in the teams’ first matchup on Jan. 29.
Sunday’s group of Hawkeyes played with defensive intensity and desire, resulting in a convincing 78-66 victory.
Most importantly, Sunday’s Hawkeye team played with pride.
“The coaches really hammered that in to us — giving up 103 [points], easy layups, and dunks is unacceptable,” guard Matt Gatens said. “That was in our minds going into this game.”
Several statistical categories show how Iowa’s play improved on Sunday compared to the teams’ first meeting in Bloomington, Ind. The Hawkeyes turned a minus-15 rebounding margin in Assembly Hall into a plus-6 advantage in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa scored only 11 second-chance points to Indiana’s 23 in the first meeting. On Sunday, the Hawkeyes posted 19 second-chance points to Indiana’s 8.
But the biggest difference, forward Aaron White said, was defense.
“Sixty-six versus 103 — not much more you can say,” White said. “We got stops and pushed it down their throat.”
The Hawkeyes held Indiana to 38 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent from the 3-point line. The Hoosiers entered the contest ranked fourth nationally in field-goal percentage (49.5) and third in 3-point field-goal percentage (42.7).
For comparison, the Hoosiers shot 55 percent from the field against Iowa in
January.
A large part of Iowa’s defensive success could be credited to its 2-3 zone. Indiana head coach Tom Crean said his team prepared for Iowa’s zone heading into the game, but the Hoosiers rarely had an answer for it.
“We didn’t have great flow because there were a couple guys that — it just wasn’t their day to be on the court in an expanded period of time, because they just weren’t playing as well,” Crean said. “… I’ll have to watch the tape to see if we didn’t get [the ball] where we wanted it, but we just didn’t finish — and that’s a tribute to [Iowa]. They played well.”
Iowa fell behind, 8-4, in the early minutes inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but went on a 10-0 run to capture a lead it never lost.
Iowa forced 3 Hoosier turnovers on Indiana’s final four possessions before the first media timeout at the 15:48 mark. Guards Devyn Marble and Gatens both recorded steals during that stretch. The one possession Indiana didn’t turn the ball over ended on a block by Melsahn Basabe.
Basabe had a particularly solid day, playing like the all-Big Ten Freshman he was a year ago. The sophomore forward scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to go along with 5 blocked shots.
“I thought I came into the game — I got those blocks and I was able to run the floor and get a tip-dunk early — that kind of just set me up for the whole game,” Basabe said. “I think I provided a good spark in the first half.”
Iowa led by as many as 19 late in the second period, thanks to a myriad of weapons.
Four Hawkeyes scored in double-digits, led by Gatens’ 30-point performance. The senior poured in 7 treys, a career-best for the Iowa City native.
“He’s been playing as well, if not better, than anybody in this league,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “Coaching is easy when you can start running some clock, and then run something for [Gatens]. We just kept going to him in different ways, and he kept ringing the bell.”
