[Video still credit: BTN.com]

The game in brief: Iowa got absolutely murdered, giving up 83 points in a relatively slow 60-possession game, allowing 13 three-pointers and an almost unheard of 70% effective field goal percentage while turning the ball over one out of every three possessions. And all this to a team that only played six players significant minutes. This was Iowa's worst defensive performance of the year in terms of points per possession; worse than Indiana, worse than Michigan State, worse than Creighton. The only bright spots were that Aaron White played another outstanding all-around game, scoring 17 points on just 10 shots and grabbing 12 rebounds, that Matt Gatens had a good shooting game, and that the team as a whole actually shot very well, finishing with a 58.9% eFG%. In a normal game, that kind of shooting would have been more than enough to win, but this was not a normal game.

Northwestern is basically Iowa's kryptonite, an excellent three-point shooting team that spreads the floor, passes intelligently, and moves constantly. They had Iowa both coming and going, generating excellent spacing on the perimeter and then cutting to the basket whenever Iowa overplayed. MVP of the game would probably go to the Wildcats' impressive freshman Dave Sobolewski, who took advantage of the clean looks he was getting and finished with 23 points on just eight shots and put up an astounding 106% eFG% thanks to 3-3 on threes and 4-5 on twos. But really you could give the award to any one of the Wildcat starters. They are a very good shooting team, and their offense worked like a machine to generate open looks. Four players finished with three three-pointers, and 22 of their 27 field goals were assisted. That's mighty impressive.

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We previewed this game a few days ago (after a fashion), but now it's time to get down and dirty with the game itself. Iowa's trying for their first three-game winning streak of the Matt Gatens Era, as well as their first win in Evanston since 2008. They've also lost three in a row to our jNW oppressors. The loser of this game also probably has their (already very-thin) NCAA Tournament hopes permanently dashed (barring a miracle run in the Big Ten Tournament, at least). So yeah: there are some stakes here.

The game's on ESPNU at 8pm CT.

The usual rules of open threads apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no politics, no slurs, and no douchebaggery. Go Hawks.

If I was a good blogger, I would have started this feature a few months back. But I'm a half-assed blogger, so you'll just have to live with getting it now (and for the duration of the season). What is it? Pretty simple: I ask questions of an opposing team's blogger, they answer. A truly revolutionary idea, no? First up: Friend of the Pants Loretta8 from excellent just Northwestern blog, Sippin' On Purple.

1) Iowa's main defensive weaknesses are an inability to defend the post and a propensity to be victimized by good three-point shooting and effective ball movement. Be honest: is Northwestern's offense going to kill our defense or totally MURDERDEATHKILL our defense?

Yes, that match up would certainly appear to favor Northwestern, what with their #12 in the nation offense per KenPom (ahead of Ohio State, THATS RIGHT, SUCK IT BUCKEYES) and all. Although you won't have to worry about defending the post; I'm pretty sure the BHGP staff could shut down Davide Curletti and Luka Mirkovic. (Ed. Note: This is entirely possible since Patrick and HFMR are giants. -- Ross)

2) John Shurna has an unconventional shooting stroke. Would you say that it most resembles: (a) an otter having a stroke, (b) a chasing dog finally catching that elusive car, (c) a death row inmate being electrocuted, or (d) a fish flopping into a vat of acid?

I'm going with (e) an albatross with two broken wings.

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Oh my.

All credit to KCRG for digging up this gem featuring the famous 1986-1987 Iowa basketball team displaying their peerless rapping skills. In a just universe, the 2011-2012 team would be inspired to create their own version as an homage to their forebears. (Although if they do go down that path, I hope Aaron White gets drafted on to the Shirts team; the world isn't ready for that much pasty ginger-ness just yet.)

But that video... the hair, the shirts, and, my word, the shorts... I will not soon be able to erase the image of Jeff Moe's shorts from my brain.

[Photo credit: Jeff Becker]

Saturday was a feel-good game at Carver: the 1986-87 team was there and received a very warm welcome from the fans, the current Hawks came out in the sharp-looking throwback unis, and the first half went about as well as any the team has had all year. Aaron White was the star on offense and defense, nailing two threes, sprinting behind the defense to catch and convert long alley-oop pass from Bryce Cartwright, and blocking two shots. And the team's defense as a whole was very good. Many times it looked as though Penn State had the ball in position on the block for a layup, only to have a Hawkeye player step in for a charge, or a strip, or a block. That harassment in the post, combined with some terrifically bad shooting by Penn State, made it feel like the Nittany Lions wouldn't crack 20 all game. The score was 29-10 with five minutes left in the half, and the game felt effectively over.

But just to throw a little cold water on the proceedings, note two things:

1. Penn State is a truly terrible shooting team: 320th in the country (out of 345) in effective field goal percentage at 44% and 293rd in three-point percentage at 30.8%. They are also a bad team offensively in general, ranking 258th in offensive efficiency at .938 points/possession;
2. That same Penn State put up 45 points on an eFG% of 65% in the second half, making 8/16 threes; that was good for a second-half offensive efficiency of 1.36 points/possession.

To say Iowa let up would be an understatement. They seemed to take the foot off the gas as soon as the second half started, using up almost the entire shot clock on every possession on offense and allowing Penn State open look after open look on defense. Iowa got to the line 23 times in the second half and that was enough to stave off a Penn State comeback, but just be aware of that context when you think about whether Iowa's defense has turned the corner. You have to grade teams on a curve when it comes to defensive performance, and Penn State represented a very easy defensive test. Iowa aced the first 20 minutes, then just filled in "C" for every question on the last 20.

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Sure, we all have football on the brain at the moment after the surprising news re: Ken O'Keefe heading to Miami, but we can spare a few hours to think about the basketball team, right? Right. Iowa looks to build on their thrilling comeback win over Minnesota on Wednesday with a second-straight win today as they entertain B1G cellar dweller, Penn State. PSU is just 2-8 in the league but they're still not a team Iowa should take lightly. Past experience (coughcough Campbell coughcough Nebraska) should have taught us that Iowa isn't in a position to be taking any team lightly and, frankly, Penn State is probably a little better than that 2-8 record. Tim Frazier is an excellent player (he leads PSU in points, rebounds, assists, and steals) and their two league wins came over Purdue and Illinois, so they're certainly capable of beating good teams.

Of course, both of those wins came in the friendly confines of State College; Penn State is winless on the road in the league this year (in fact, they have just one true road win all season -- over Boston College in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge) and all five road defeats have been by double digits. If Iowa can play more like they did at the beginning and ending of the Minnesota game -- and less like they did in the godawful middle of that game -- this is a game they should win. Iowa's also honoring the 1986-1987 Elite Eight team at this game and wearing those sweet gold throwback jerseys we talked about a few weeks ago. So there's quite a bit going on in this game.

The game is on ESPNU at 2pm CT.

The usual rules of open threading apply: no links to illegal online streams, no porn, no religion, no politics, no slurs, and no douchebaggery. Go Hawks.

[Photo credit: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]

In many ways the game Wednesday night was the polar opposite of several other games the Hawks have played recently:

• Whereas Iowa shot a better percentage than Indiana and yet lost due to offensive rebounding, turnovers and free throws, against Minnesota, all four categories switched: Iowa shot a pretty miserable percentage from the field while Minnesota shot very well, especially from three. If it weren't for Iowa's 16 offensive rebounds, 11 steals and +12 margin in free throw attempts, the Hawks would have been hard-pressed to overcome their poor shooting. Zach McCabe, Aaron White and Melsahn Basabe deserve credit for their rebounding, grabbing three offensive rebounds each. White recorded a crucial (and awesome) play on an offensive rebound, throwing down a nasty dunk on 6'11" Elliott Eliason after sprinting down from the three point line to collect the board.
• Whereas Minnesota struggled to make threes against Iowa's zone in their previous match-up, in this game, the shots were falling. The Gophers shot 10-19 from three, even though many of the shots were contested. They needed those threes, too, because they shot just 10-32 from two-point range. Julian Welch in particular seemed to give the Hawks fits, finding holes in the zone and going 3-5 from three.
• Whereas Minnesota was the team that looked totally befuddled by the zone in their previous game, in this game it was Iowa that looked lost when the Gophers ran a zone. The Hawks spent long stretches of the game looking totally lost on offense. It's no exaggeration to say that on several possessions in the second half, the offense consisted of Devyn Marble or Matt Gatens or Bryce Cartwright pounding the ball into the ground at the three-point line while no one else on the team moved an inch.

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Junior Senior - Move Your Feet from Manolis_G on Vimeo.

We try not to bust out the Junior Senior for every win, but after the abject misery of the last two Iowa basketball games and the fact that this win clinched the first season sweep of Minnesota in basketball since 2007, well, it seemed warranted. Iowa opened up a 12-point lead in the first half by playing okay... and Minnesota playing really, really, really badly. Minnesota stopped playing so badly, started making threes (they shot 53% for behind the arc for the game and over half of their total points came from threes), and eventually built a 10-point lead of their own in the second half. They led by five as late as 2:30 left in the game. And then Iowa took over.

Kudos to Roy Devyn Marble, who was as marvelously clutch down the stretch here as he was in Iowa's earlier B1G wins over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Kudos to Matt Gatens, who was Iowa's leading scorer (18 points on 7/14 shooting) and seemed to play a role in almost every good play Iowa had.

Kudos to Aaron White and Zach McCabe, who overcame some tepid shooting (2/7 and 2/5, respectively) to still combine for 17 points and 17 rebounds and give Iowa a spark in the second half.

And kudos to Melsahn Basabe, who's often been the invisible man this season, but who contributed 8 points and 7 rebounds off the bench tonight and looked active and engaged when he was on the court.

But kudos to the entire team, really. This game just did not feel like a game Iowa would win after the early lead evaporated behind a barrage of Gopher long-range bombs. This felt like a game we've seen time and time again over the past few seasons, one where they piss away a lead and can never get enough stops to get back into the game. How nice to be wrong about that. Go Hawks.