On an uncharacteristically warm and sunny Sunday in Iowa City, center Luka Garza, guards Jordan Bohannon and Austin Ash, and forward Michael Baer were all honored before tipoff between No. 5 Iowa and No. 25 Wisconsin as part of Hawkeye men’s basketball’s senior day festivities.

When action between the Badgers and Hawkeyes began, however, it wasn’t a senior that made a difference early in the first half. Rather, it was junior forward Joe Wieskamp.

The Muscatine, Iowa, native began the game five-of-five from the floor and 2-of-2 from 3-point range, scoring 12 points. Then, with 8:16 remaining in the first half, Wieskamp hit the floor and reached for his ankle.

After a few moments, Wieskamp remained on the floor and his teammates, head coach Fran McCaffery, and Hawkeye athletic trainer Brad Floy all came over to check on him.

Wieskamp was helped to his feet and then assisted to the locker room. At halftime, Iowa men’s basketball announced that Wieskamp would not return to Sunday’s contest with a lower right leg injury. He did, however, return to Iowa’s bench in the second half sporting a walking boot.

Picking up the slack after Wieskamp went down was Garza, who finished the first half with 11 points. At the break, Iowa led, 35-26.

Following Wieskamp’s injury, the Badgers started to mount a second-half comeback, capturing the lead with 12 minutes to remaining in the game.

From there, the Hawkeyes and Badgers traded buckets, the lead teeter-tottering between the two squads.

Big shots were made from the six-minute mark on by both squads. Bohannon scored nine points late, Murray converted an and-one off an offensive rebound and corralled another huge offensive rebound off a Connor McCaffery missed free throw with 44.8 seconds left that turned into two points for Bohannon.

With 21. 5 seconds remaining in the game, a double foul was called on Wisconsin’s Brad Davison and Murray. Murray was assessed a common foul and Davison was tagged with a flagrant foul. Davison and Murray both made all their free throws.

Wisconsin then forced a jump ball on the ensuing Iowa inbound, but it failed to convert an open 3-pointer to tie the game at 76.

When the dust settled, Iowa narrowly defeated Wisconsin, 77-73.

Iowa men’s basketball honors seniors

Before the Hawkeyes even entered Carver-Hawkeye Arena to play Sunday’s game against the Badgers, Iowa’s seniors were celebrated by their fans. A small group of mask-wearing Hawkeye fans gathered by Dan Gable’s statue outside main entrance to the arena to welcome Iowa’s seniors to Carver one last time.

Prior to tipoff, Garza, Bohannon, Baer, and Ash were all honored with bouquets and framed jerseys. Team manager Dylan Mihalke was also given some recognition before the game started.

At halftime, thank-you videos from Ash, Garza, Bohannon, Mihalke, and Baer all played.

Postgame, the Hawkeyes were honored with a jumbotron video, and Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta announced that Garza’s No. 55 jersey will be retired at the end of the 2020-21 season.

Hawkeyes secure No. 3 seed for Big Ten Tournament

Before Sunday’s game tipped off, Iowa had already clinched a double-bye for the Big Ten Tournament. What wasn’t cemented, however, was the Hawkeyes’ seed.

Iowa’s win over Wisconsin firmly planted it in third place in the Big Ten Conference standings, meaning the Hawkeyes will play their first game of the Big Ten Tournament Friday against Nebraska, Wisconsin, or Penn State depending on how early-round matchups shake out.