Bohannon, Cook help Hawkeyes top Hoosiers on the road
Jordan Bohannon hit some clutch shots down the stretch, propelling Iowa to a win over Indiana on the road.
Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon shoots a 3 while being covered by Ohio State guard Andrew Dakich during an Iowa/Ohio State men’s basketball game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018.
February 7, 2019
In Iowa’s last road game, it gave up 55 points in the first half, but this time around, the roles were reversed.
The Hawkeyes rode a 46-point first half and a clutch second half to a 77-72 win over Indiana in Bloomington on Thursday.
It didn’t matter if Iowa took shots in the paint or from beyond the arc; it made an impact from both areas.
The Hawkeyes got out to an 11-point lead with just over six minutes left in the first half, thanks to Tyler Cook and Joe Wieskamp before Jordan Bohannon took over in the second half to close it out.
Cook wasn’t double-teamed in the post for a good chunk of the game, allowing him to go to work, and Wieskamp hit his first 4 3-pointers to help the Hawkeyes jump out to a lead in the first.
A 9-0 Indiana run then cut the lead to 2. When Iowa got its lead up to 4, Jordan Bohannon hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead to double digits, and Iowa wouldn’t look back.
Iowa forward Tyler Cook drives to the hoop during the Iowa/Illinois men’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, January 20, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Fighting Illini, 95-71.
Iowa had secure control for most of the second half, but Indiana got back to within 3 with under 4 minutes left and nothing looked sure.
With a 69-64 lead, Bohannon hit an off-balance dagger from deep with 43 seconds left to secure the win for the Hawkeyes.
Bohannon finished with 25 points with 5 3s, and scored 19 of Iowa’s 31 second-half points. He closed out the game scoring the final 11 Hawkeye points in the last 1:30 of the game.
Most of Iowa’s damage was courtesy of the deep ball, as Bohannon and Wieskamp combined for 9 3-pointers.
Whenever the Hoosiers went on a run, it seemed as if Iowa shot right back with a bomb from 3-point range.
“Early on, it was Joe – he was on fire,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “They were pushing up on J-Bo, they were fighting Cook in the post, and Garza was in foul trouble. We needed someone to step up, it was Joe Wieskamp. Toward the end of the first half, we got J-Bo loose a couple times. I think that got him going.
“Those two guys, in particular, are really good 3-point shooters, so it’s not surprising that they would make them. The good thing is we’ve got other guys who typically make them and they didn’t make them tonight. Some nights, some guys are on, some guys are off.”
Cook took advantage of the weak Hoosier defense, going inside for 21 points, also racking up 7 rebounds and 4 assists.
Foul trouble proved to be a problem throughout the game. Garza had 4 personals for most of the second half, while Ryan Kriener and Nicholas Baer had 3.
Despite multiple big men riding the bench for minutes at a time, Iowa managed to put up 32 points in the paint, mostly from Cook.
“He’s playing the game at his pace right now, but he’s also really quick and really powerful – it’s a lethal combination,” McCaffery said. “Sometimes he gets in trouble and he goes too fast. Tonight, he used his quickness and he played at his pace.”
This was a game Iowa might have let slip away last season, but Thursday was different.
“We can go to school on last year, we came down here and played pretty well for 32 minutes, and 32 minutes isn’t enough,” McCaffery said. “You got to take care of the ball, you got to move the ball, and you got to stay together on defense, and you can’t let up.”
