Ethan Happ is one of the best big men in the Big Ten.
Averaging 16.7 points and 8.5 rebounds a game entering the day, many thought he would have his way with a Hawkeye defense that has been poor all season.
But in Iowa’s 85-67 win over Wisconsin on Tuesday, he was overshadowed. Tyler Cook and Luka Garza were stellar in the team’s second Big Ten victory of the season.
Cook, Iowa’s leading scorer, had another strong offensive game, dropping 17 points, along with 5 rebounds.
However, he limped off the court with just over nine minutes to go and didn’t return.
Garza, on the other hand, carried his momentum from the Purdue game over, posting 17 points, 16 rebounds, a steal, and a block
His 16 rebounds were the most in a game by a Hawkeye since Adam Woodbury had 18 against the Badgers in 2016.
Garza’s first half, in particular, was exceptionally impressive. He hit the glass early, racking up 6 boards and 7 points less than nine minutes into the game.
Iowa scored 85 points, but hit only 6 3-pointers, showing how big of an impact the big men had inside.
Luckily for Iowa, Cook and Garza found their groove early and Iowa went on a 9-0 run to start the game. They wouldn’t look back and piled it on to secure their big victory.
“When you’re playing against guys like that, that are big and strong and physical and that are smart players, too, you just gotta do a little bit of extra work, so that was my mentality,” Cook said.
Iowa’s defense was far superior than it had been in previous games.
While its 3-point defense has been atrocious, it was great against the Badgers, as Wisconsin only shot 22 percent from behind the arc.
The lack of scoring from deep forced the Badgers to go inside, where they were still outperformed by Iowa.
Happ was continually limited in the first half, scoring just 4 points on 2-of-6 shooting and grabbing 4 rebounds.
Even though Happ eventually got his buckets and boards (21 points and 10 rebounds), he fouled out as the Hawkeyes slowed down one of the best players in the conference enough to pick up their second Big Ten win.
“I thought Luka was great,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “Happ’s an All-American. Luka’s a freshman. I think he really studied him this week and moved his feet. He had his hands up and took advantage of his length and physicality. He’s a hard guy to score over.”
When Purdue came to Iowa City on Jan. 20, the Hawkeyes struggled mightily. Their defense was atrocious, allowing 20 3s, and they kept settling for bad looks on the other end of the floor.
All of that changed against Wisconsin. Iowa shot 52 percent from the floor against a stingy Badger defense, while holding them to just 40 percent shooting.