By Blake Dowson
After a 89-67 loss on the road at Purdue on Dec. 28, Peter Jok and a few of his Hawkeye teammates talked about how the loss was embarrassing and how the Jan. 12 rematch against the Boilermakers was circled on their calendars.
The Hawkeyes came back and beat the Boilermakers in Carver-Hawkeye, 83-78, a few weeks later.
On Jan. 5, Iowa traveled to Lincoln and lost to Nebraska, 93-90, in double overtime. Exactly one month later, Iowa beat the Cornhuskers in Carver, 81-70.
Rematch games have been kind to the Hawkeyes so far this year; including a 83-63 win at Rutgers on Jan. 31, Iowa is 3-0 in such games.
Illinois handed it to the Hawkeyes in Champaign on Jan. 25, 76-64. The Hawkeyes get their second shot at the Fighting Illini at 1 p.m. Saturday in Carver-Hawkeye.
“We haven’t shot it as well on the road,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We’ve gotten behind a few times on the road, and sometimes you just have to kind of grow and learn how to compete on the road. Illinois shot it well against us last time we played them. They battled, they defended. They were really good at the start of that game, and we were not.”
The contrast in points per game in the first road matchups against Purdue and Nebraska versus the home rematches is fairly drastic.
In the road losses, the Hawkeyes averaged 78.5 points while allowing 91 per contest. That scoring margin is hand-in-hand with the game at Illinois on Jan. 25, when the Illini won by 12.
In the rematches, however, the Hawkeyes averaged 82 points while only allowing 74 per game.
That’s what McCaffery wants to see from his team Saturday. To do that, though, the Hawkeyes will have to stymie a diverse group of Illinois players.
“The thing about them is they shot the ball well from 3 [in the previous matchup], but they also shoot the ball well mid-range. Black, for example, he can really shoot the ball. Maverick Morgan really shoots the ball extremely well,” McCaffery said. “You think of those guys as big, strong guys, they’re going to score inside, but they’re face-up jump shooters, too, so your close-outs have to be better, whether it’s at the line or beyond the line.”
A big reason for the turnarounds in the rematch games thus far for the Hawkeyes has been their assist numbers.
They lagged in assists by 18 dimes in the losses; they registered 15 more than Purdue and Nebraska in the rematches.
It’s not rocket science — moving and sharing the ball leads to easy baskets and, ultimately, wins.
“Ball movement is in conjunction with screening and driving it and kicking, maybe it’s a one-dribble kick, maybe it’s two or three dribbles, flare screens, back cuts, whatever,” McCaffery said. “We always say screen and cut and move with a purpose, so you want guys to have open shots, all five guys have to screen and cut and move with a purpose. It’s really hard when a team is athletic that you’re playing and they’re up into you to be able to just create a shot. It’s really hard to do. So you’ve got to get it moving in order to do so.”