Hawkeyes lock in on Northern Illinois as matchup with Gonzaga looms
Despite a big game with Gonzaga Dec. 19 upcoming, the Hawkeyes remained focused and downed Northern Illinois, 106-53.
Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa guard Jordan Bohannon (3) moves to block a pass during the second quarter between Iowa and Northern Illinois at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Hannah Kinson/Daily Iowan via USA TODAY Network
December 13, 2020
Woven into Iowa men’s basketball’s most competitive stretch of nonconference games was its game against Northern Illinois. After a 106-53 loss to the Hawkeyes on Sunday afternoon, the Huskies dropped to 0-5 on the season.
With their win over Northern Illinois, the Hawkeyes moved to 6-0 on the year.
Sunday’s game could’ve been a bit of a trap game for the Hawkeyes. Coming into the game Iowa picked up big wins over No. 16 North Carolina, 93-80, and in-state rival Iowa State, 105-77.
The Hawkeyes easily could’ve glossed over the Huskies too, looking ahead to their date with No. 1 Gonzaga at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Dec. 19.
Despite all that, Iowa locked in on its game plan and executed to perfection against Northern Illinois. The Hawkeyes made 12-of-30 shots from behind the arc – boasting a 40 percent 3-point percentage. From the floor overall, Iowa shot 56 percent.
The Hawkeyes’ great field goal percentage can be attributed, in part, to reigning Big Ten Player of the Year Luka Garza. The Washington, D.C. native scored 23 points from the floor on 80 percent field goal shooting in just 20 minutes played.
Iowa’s second-leading scorer was Joe Wieskamp, who put up 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
“I challenged our guys at halftime,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “I didn’t think we played defense at the start of the game the way we need to. We ratcheted it up and our defense was better. We created some offense with our defense, our press was really good. . . So, I really wanted them to lock in defensively and defend their stuff.”
According to Wieskamp, Iowa’s one-game-at-a-time mentality never waivered, even ahead of a 1 p.m. Sunday tipoff game against a MAC team.
“Like I’ve been saying, it’s one game at a time,” Wieskamp said. “[Northern Illinois is] a Division I basketball team too. They’ve got scholarships. They have really good players that come out and compete. It’s five guys on the court against their five. Maybe their record’s not as good, but it’s still another team in front of us. It’s the type of game where we can make improvements and work on ourselves. I think that’s something that we were able to do today.”
From top to bottom, many student-athletes on Iowa’s roster got a chance to enhance their skills with some game experience on Sunday. Freshman Keegan Murray scored 10 points and pulled in five rebounds, and sophomore Patrick McCaffery poured in 14 points and grabbed four boards.
Even freshmen Ahron Ulis and Josh Ogundele saw action.
“I’ve learned a lot, especially playing with the veterans,” Ulis said. “We have a lot of older guys on our team. I just feel like that’s a positive, always playing with older guys, and just being out there learning new things and tasks on the court.”
The fine-tuning Iowa did during today’s game – both with its younger players and older players – may prove important Saturday against Gonzaga.
“I’ve been looking forward to [Gonzaga] ever since I heard we were playing them, I think our whole team kind of has,” Wieskamp said. “Like [we’ve] said, we’ve been focusing one game at a time, and we’re definitely going to lock into that scouting report this week, and get ready for that game on Saturday.”
