By Blake Dowson
Peter Jok ended his Senior Day scoring 21 points, Nicholas Baer right behind him with 20, three freshmen scored in double figures as well, and Iowa took care of business in its regular-season finale against Penn State, 90-79.Jok, who picked up two fouls in the first five minutes, scored only 1 point on a free throw late in the half. He did, however, light up the scoreboard in the second with 20 points.
“I was kind of energized in the first half. In the beginning of the first half, [I] got two quick fouls,” Jok said. “So sitting down calmed me down, and then at halftime Coach [Fran McCaffery] said we were going to run two-game for me, and we’re going to come to me, so the guys said they were going to find me. So I had to score. I got on a run, and they kept finding me.”
The senior from West Des Moines delivered another special shooting performance in the second half in front of the sellout crowd that showed up to send him off. He had 13 points in the first five and a half minutes, hitting three 3-pointers in that stretch. He added 7 more points before the game was over.
It was a performance that sealed the deal on Jok winning the Big Ten scoring title. Heading into Sunday, Jok was averaging 1.6 more points per game than Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan. Swanigan’s 20 points Sunday against Northwestern weren’t enough to overtake Jok, meaning the Iowa senior is only the third Hawkeye since 1952 to top the Big Ten.
“When he decided to come back [for his senior year], I told him, I said, ‘You’re going to lead the Big Ten in scoring. That’s the plan,’” McCaffery said. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’ You don’t look at him and say, ‘OK, there’s a guy who is hunting shots. There’s a guy whose only purpose in life is to lead the Big Ten in scoring.’ … He moves the ball. He understands how to hit the guy on the pick and roll. He understands how to screen … I couldn’t be more proud of that type of leadership and maturity.”
Baer, who was pushed into the shadows of the Senior Day lights a bit, scored a career-high 20 points in the win. It was his sharp shooting from deep (which is becoming an every-game occurrence at this point) that got him there.
He finished 4-of-4 from deep, the most recent barrage from 3-point range from an extended 13-of-19 stretch during Iowa’s four-game winning streak.
“When you make your first one, like I have in the last few games, you have more confidence in the second one, and hopefully the third, and they just keep rolling,” Baer said.
Iowa is playing like an NCAA Tournament team at the moment. Its overall record may not point to that, but that’s up for debate.
McCaffery said after Sunday’s game he believes Iowa is a tournament team, but it’s not up for him to decide. To take away any decision, his team needs to win this weekend in Washington, D.C.
“I think the we deserve to be in. But I think what you have to do is not focus on thinking about it and talking about it,” he said. “We can do what we have to do to get in. We got to win the next game. Then we got to win the game after that. Got to win the game after that. If you win the one after that, you’re automatically in.”