Keegan and Kris Murray combined for 42 points in a convincing 82-71 win for your Iowa Hawkeyes in Ann Arbor.
Although it was just an 11-point win, this was as dominant a performance Iowa has put out this year considering the quality of opponent. Iowa started 4-4 from deep—9 of Keegan’s 15 first-half points and 3 of Bohannon’s 9. Bo would hit 2 more later and another 2 in the second half to end with 19 points on 5-7 from deep.
There was a point where Keegan and Kris Murray were outscoring Michigan by themselves. A stretch where they combined for 11 straight Iowa points and build a 28-13 Iowa lead.
8 quick points out of the gate for @keegan3murray
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 4, 2022
He is on FIRE and we're only 4 minutes into this @IowaHoops ball game pic.twitter.com/KQoAeOcoSd
From there, Michigan went on a 7-0 run to make it single digits and begin what normally is an evaporation of a yuge Iowa lead.
Then Iowa went on an 11-1 run of its own with scoring from five different players and effectively shut the door on the game and help make it 47-30 at the break, which ended on a Bohannon chuck, just for good measure.
Iowa averaged 1 1⁄2 points per possession in the first, which obviously isn’t sustainable but is awesome nonetheless.
Normally this is when I’d start chopping veggies, but I walked off the course (shot a 91, ended par-par-par) just before tip and had a pimento cheese at the turn.
The second half featured more of the same, albeit with more contribution from Tony Perkins and Bohannon, lightening the load for Keegan.
Despite shooting 75 percent through the first 16 minutes of the second half, Michigan still found itself in a 14-point hole to Iowa. Once again, 7-0 Wolverine run got stopped dead in its tracks by Keegan, who scored on back-to-back possessions to turn off that switch.
Things got interesting again after Devante Jones nailed a 3 to cap a 7-0 run and cut Iowa’s lead to 9. Moussa Diabate had a chance to make it 8 or 7 after an egregious miss on a hook and hold, but he whiffed and Kris Murray finessed his way under the basket on the other end.
Hunter Dickinson had a quick 2 and Michigan called a timeout with it back at single digits with 4 minutes to play.
That capped an 11-2 run, but a Kris long ball shut this down for good.
A 10-second violation gave Michigan the ball back, and Dickinson fumbled it away. That was Michigan’s 9th turnover of the half, and that’s when the fans hit the exits with just over a minute to go.
Keegan found Kris under the hoop with 50 ticks left and make it 78-69. Jordan Bohannon made all 4 of his free throws a little bit later, and that was that.
See ya soon, Illinois!
The rest
- Hook and hold calls are pointless.
- Really didn’t love how Iowa looked against the press!
- Besides that, you can find warts with Iowa’s second-half performance, especially the defense that let Michigan hover over 70 percent for most the frame, but a win is a win and Iowa still put this away by double digits. Iowa was a 2 point underdog, too!
- It was really Dickinson and Brooks for Michigan in this one. Wasn’t impressed by anyone else.
- Keegan scored 23 on 9 shots. Like come on.