Welcome to the 2021-22 Iowa Basketball Top 10! To review previous entries, click the links below:
#10 - The UVA Sequence
#9 - The Tony Perkins Experience
#8 - Keegan’s Penn State Tip Drill
#7 - The Billy Taylor Game
#6 - Mt. Bohannon Erupts!
The last game of the Penn State-Minnesota-Maryland sequence saw the full-on eruption of Jordan Bohannon. Other than a handful of games to this point in the season, Bohannon struggled. The 3-ball he was brought back to provide just wasn’t falling. From the resumption of main Big Ten play (Maryland in Iowa City) to the second Minnesota game, Bohannon was 16-59 from 3 - 27.1 percent. Woof. He was providing spacing, better effort on defense, and...that’s it, and he could be overpowered on defense by bigger guys. It felt like if someone was going to be benched, it would be him and not Joe Toussaint. Again - I’m on a couch in Denver.
Fortunately for Bohannon, he was going to Maryland, a spot where he was completely and totally on fire in three previous appearances to the point Maryland probably has to name the gym Bohannon Center going forward. I don’t make the rules on this stuff, but I do believe that is the rule. Here were Bohannon’s previous lines at the Bohannon Xfinity Center:
February 27, 2017: 24 points, 8-10 from 3
January 7, 2018: 17 points, 5-10 from 3
January 7, 2021: 18 points, 6-9 from 3
So already we’re in pretty rare air, going 19-29 from 3 in one building in 3 games. There’s no better place for him to have a Get Well game. And wowza, did he get well:
Most 3-pointers made by a Power Conference player in a game this season:@JordanBo_3 - 10 @ Maryland #B1GStats pic.twitter.com/Os321XfUga
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) February 11, 2022
Bohannon finished the game with 30 points on 10-16 shooting from 3. 10-16!! He ends his career 29-45 in that arena. And the video captures all of this - wide open pull ups. Looks off screens. A couple of guys got put in a blender. The 10 made 3s is a single-game record for Iowa, surpassing the immortal Chris Kingsbury who did that twice (I remember him doing it against Drake, but I don’t remember his second eruption against Long Island). For the game, Iowa was en fuego, going for 19 made 3s in the game. Keegan Murray also had 30 points in this game - the first time Iowa had teammates go for 30 in the same game since 1976 - and it was maybe the quietest and most efficient 30 points you’ll ever see (12-14 shooting; he missed more free throws than field goals in this game) because JORDAN BOHANNON MADE 10 FREAKING 3-POINTERS! Just an amazing game.
And look, Maryland stunk. That team was doo-doo for most of the year. They didn’t have the talent of previous vintages, had a coaching change during the season, and had an interim in Danny Manning that won’t be near a power 6 head coaching job for awhile. It was a bad team and Iowa rightly eviscerated them. But this was another one of those, “Wow, look at Iowa!” nights that had you thinking if they could get some good matchups in March they could do some damage. Keegan’s going to be the best guy on the floor against almost everyone, they have a good supporting cast, better athleticism at guard than they’ve had, and even Bohannon is at least trying on the defensive end of the floor. You didn’t have to squint hard to see something, and nights like this reinforced that. This team could get the flamethrower out and torch teams. Alas...
Bohannon was MUCH better after this. Over the last 14 games of the season, Bohannon shot 43 percent from 3 and averaged 13 points per game. Absolutely on fire and a huge reason why Iowa went on such a blistering streak to end the season.
Whenever you think of Bohannon in the future, think of this game. We have other games to think about - Indiana’s going to feature later on this list, plus in my debrief; he hit IU with multiple daggers home, away, and on neutral floors over his career - but nights like this should be remembered fondly. Nights like this are when Mt. Bohannon erupted and left no survivors.