By Adam Hensley
Peter Jok shrugged off a lackluster first-half performance and found his shooting stroke in the second half, and Iowa battled Minnesota into double overtime, falling 101-89.
In his second game back from an injury-related absence, the senior shot-creator ignited Iowa’s offense.
However, Minnesota proved to be too much for Iowa in the second overtime period, smothering the Hawkeyes; Iowa scored only 5 points even with the Gophers’ best defender fouling out in the first overtime.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing in a lot of ways, but I thought we showed tremendous fight,” head coach Fran McCaffery said.
A border-rivalry would not be complete without controversy, and this game did not disappoint anyone in that category.
Up by two points, Iowa’s Nicholas Baer stole the ball with 20 seconds left and passed it to Brady Ellingson, who held it in the corner as he was swarmed by Minnesota defenders.
It was unclear if Ellingson called for a time-out — Baer called for one and sprinted over to his teammate — but instead a jump ball was called, giving Minnesota one more chance to tie the game.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota defender’s foot was out of bounds.
Nate Mason cut to the basket and scored, sending the game into overtime.
Neither team pulled away in overtime, but Iowa had one final shot — a Baer heave from 25 feet out — that clanked off the rim.
In double overtime, it was clear the Hawkeyes were gassed.
Minnesota crashed the offensive glass and capitalized on two poorly timed turnovers.
The Hawkeyes were also called for two offensive fouls in that final five-minute stretch.
Down by as much as 14 at one point in the second half, McCaffery’s full-court press brought the Hawkeyes back from the dead.
“We were much better in the second half defensively,” McCaffery said. “We had a great activity level.”
In 90 seconds, Iowa went on an 11-0 run to narrow the deficit to 2 points with fewer than 10 minutes to play in the game.
Not even a minute later, Jok stripped the ball away and made a lay-up in transition to give Iowa a 57-56 lead.
Jok then found his rhythm, heating up and eventually giving Iowa a 75-73 lead on a deep 3-pointer with 1:34 to go in regulation.
Iowa proceeded to give up an open dunk, but then took the lead late once again on a Baer dunk with 45.8 seconds to go.
He was fouled but missed the free throw.
The first half wasn’t too kind to the Hawkeyes, except for Isaiah Moss.
The redshirt freshman’s hot hand kept the score close early in the game, and his thunderous one-handed dunk sparked the offense.
He scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half. No other Hawkeye scored more than 4 points.
Iowa put together a small run late in the half, cutting the deficit to 4 points after a leaning jumper by Jordan Bohannon, but Minnesota suffocated whatever momentum the Hawkeyes built.
Hitting a big 3-pointer to answer Bohannon’s bucket and also knocking down a put-back shot at the buzzer, Minnesota went into the locker room leading 40-29.
The Hawkeyes had three chances on their final possession to score but failed to connect, giving up a 7-0 run late.
Michigan State will be up next for Iowa. The two teams will go head-to-head at 5 p.m. Saturday in East Lansing.