By Adam Hensley
Riding its longest win streak in Big Ten play this season, Iowa (14-10) will travel to Minneapolis to face Minnesota (16-7) for its 12th conference game of the year tonight at 8 p.m.
The Hawkeyes, without Peter Jok for two of those three games during the winning streak, found other scoring options in the senior’s absence.
Earning the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor after games against Rutgers and Nebraska, Jordan Bohannon shone. The Marion native averaged 16 points, 3 assists, 2.5 rebounds, and 1 steal per game.
He also broke Iowa’s record for 3-pointers by a freshman.
“You just can’t rattle him,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “He plays at his pace. You can’t rush him. He knows exactly what we want done. The other thing he has is incredible amnesia. If he makes a mistake, it never lingers on him. That’s an important characteristic to have.”
Defensive intensity picked up over the past two games as well. Before the wins against Rutgers and Nebraska, Iowa gave up an average of 80.6 points a game on defense. During the last two victories, Iowa allowed 63 and 70 points. Those numbers are good enough to win a lot of games.
“Everybody stepped up,” Jok said. “Everybody played really good defense.”
Nebraska got off to a hot start in the first half on Sunday. The
Huskers shot 57 percent from the field, and would have had the score tied at half if not for Jok’s make at the halftime buzzer.
In the second half, Iowa clamped down on defense; Nebraska managed to shoot just 31.6 percent from the field and an even more abysmal 7.7 percent from 3-point range (through the entire game, the Hawkeyes limited the Huskers to 3 3-pointers on 20 attempts).
“I was just really proud of how we were able to pull away and get consecutive stops,” forward Nicholas Baer said.
Minnesota started off Big Ten play 3-1 but since then has gone 1-5 (a five-game losing stretch before beating Illinois, 68-59, on Feb. 4).
Nate Mason leads the Gophers in scoring, netting 14 points per contest. He’s also shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range.
As a team, Minnesota ranks second in the NCAA in blocks per game (6.4).
Standing at 6-10 and weighing 260 pounds, Reggie Lynch leads the swatting charge and the defense, for that matter.
Lynch grabs 6 boards a game and blocks 3.1 shots (his blocks rank him No. 4 in the nation).
Lynch is an interesting matchup for the Hawkeyes, who are extremely athletic in the frontcourt but not all that tall. Tyler Cook, Ahmad Wagner, Cordell Pemsl, and the rest of Iowa’s big men will need to get Lynch off his feet to get him out of a defensive rhythm.
This game is the only time Iowa and Minnesota will play in the regular season.
The last time these two teams played, Feb. 14 last season in Carver-Hawkeye, the Hawkeyes hung on for a 75-71 victory, thanks in part to Jok’s 27 points. Jarrod Uthoff and Anthony Clemmons scored 24 and 12, but only four other Hawkeyes scored, and none of them surpassed 5 points.
Uthoff also added an impressive 15 rebounds and 6 blocked shots.
Tonight’s game against the Gophers will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
After their battle with Minnesota, the Hawkeyes will travel for a pivotal matchup against Michigan State on Saturday.