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The No. 25 Iowa basketball team cleaned things up against a hapless Kennesaw State team in a 93-51 win at Carver on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.
I’m not sure what we want to takeaway from this one. Sure, Iowa played sloppyish but still had just 7 turnovers, shot 59 percent from the field and executed 14 steals. The biggest knock from me would be just 50 percent from the charity stripe, exacerbated by a sequence where Connor McCaffery missed three straight then committed a dumb foul on the ensuing possession. Three-point shooting is normally where Iowa gets its bread, but whatever.
Three different players scored double-figures: Luka Garza had 23, Joe Wieskamp dropped 18 while Ryan Kriener had 20. Garza climbed up to the top-35 in scoring all-time for Iowa in the game and will keep on climbin’ this season.
The win is important in the sense its a win — and it improves Iowa’s record to 10-3, reaching the midpoint to that elusive 20-win magicy number with 18 games left on the regular season schedule.
Most importantly, it gave the Hawkeyes another game to adjust to life without Jordan Bohannon. With Bohannon, Jack Nunge and Pat McCaffery out, and Cordell Pemsl’s status as perpetually hurt, (he had a season-high 19 minutes and 8 points to go along with it, but he’s probably the odd man out after Kriener) Iowa is kind of running on fumes, but these fumes are efficient. Joe Toussaint is improving and I think (hope) Bakari Evelyn is going to turn into a catalyst for this team when things get B1G and hairy.
Other musings
- Kennesaw State actually out-rebounded Iowa 34-32, but I think that was just partly a function of Iowa being content with letting the Owls possess the ball.
- Iowa had a season-high 27 assists tonight.
- This was definitely my favorite play from the game:
Let's say all of the following happens:
— Brent Yarina (@BTNBrentYarina) December 29, 2019
Luka Garza returns.
Joe Wieskamp returns.
Jordan Bohannon resembles anything close to his old self.
Joe Toussaint develops.
CJ Fredrick doesn't lose his stroke.
Iowa could be ridiculously good next year. pic.twitter.com/JEITwEYxEH
- Joe Toussaint led the team with 7 points and 5 steals. He’s developing, and it’s fun to watch.
- I look forward to this win actually hurting Iowa in KenPom, somehow.
UP NEXT Iowa takes on Penn State in the Palestra in Philly on jan. 4.