FRANALYSIS: WHO WANTS BIZON BURGERS?

I'm not really sure how I should even open this up? So, how about GO IOWA AWESOME WOOOO. Yeah, that sounds about right.

On a more serious note, the Hawkeyes were on fire from the field all night, and when they weren't making their field goals, they were busy making their free throws in the second half. That was the main difference between the two teams in this one. That, and the fact that Iowa wasn't the team that went scoreless for 6:52 of game time. Seriously, NDSU was stuck on 26 points from the 0:53 mark until there was 14:01 left in the second half. If we are talking about field goals, well, that drought lasted even longer.

NDSU finally hits a jumper, ending 11:42 streak without a field goal. Iowa leads 60-28

— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) November 18, 2014

Ouch.

During that 11:42, Iowa outscored NDSU 29-4. Here's a breakdown of the ten minute quarters.

Four Factors in Review

Points Per Possession: Iowa 1.12, NDSU 0.72

Possessions: 78

Shooting

Seriously, Iowa could have lost the other three factors and still won this game with little problem thanks to the shooting disparity between both teams. Iowa was on fire from the field all night, while the Bisons collective shooting was closer to the temperature outside. For the second game in a row, Iowa took about 35% of their field goal attempts from beyond the arc. That's different than what we're used to under Fran, but it's a wonderful development. Especially when they Hawkeyes hit 45% of their shots from long range. Seriously, Anthony Clemmons went 3-4 from downtown, Jarrod Uthoff and Josh Oglesby both went 2-5, and Peter Jok even connected on his lone 3 attempt. Those four guys are Iowa's main deep threats and if they have good years from out there, that will be nice development for Iowa's offense this season.

The extremely odd statistic from this game is probably the fact that NDSU actually made 37% of their three point attempts in this game. How in the hell did they have such a bad eFG% then? Well, they only made 8 of their 40 two point attempts. Yeah, that'll do it.

Advantage: Iowa

Turnovers

If you are wondering how Iowa shot so well, but only averaged 1.12 points per possession, look no further. The first half wasn't particularly bad, as Iowa had only 5 turnovers compared to NDSU's 9. The second half got a little sloppy for the Hawks, though, as they gave the ball up 13 times in the final 20 minutes. That was enough to give the advantage to the Bison in this category. But, again, it wasn't enough to offset the shooting disparity.

Advantage: NDSU

Offensive Rebounding

NDSU got off to a hot start by grabbing 8 of their 24 misses in the first half. That first half had a weird stretch where Iowa seemed to forget how to play defense, and let NDSU blow by them and get to the rim (looking at you, Peter Jok). They also struggled to box out, as the Bison were able to come away with 9 second chance points in the first half.

But that was the first half, and this game is a lesson in why raw stats are misleading and why you should look at rebounding rate and not just total rebounds. If you were to just glance at the box score and see that Iowa had only 6 offensive rebounds to NDSU's 12, you may think something like "Well, that's not good, now is it?" On the contrary, though. While Iowa has had better offensive rebounding performances, the two teams both hauled in similar offensive rebound rates. Sure, NDSU had 12 offensive rebounds, but they had 51 offensive rebound opportunities (!). Iowa came up with 6 offensive boards, but they only had 27 opportunities.

Advantage: NDSU (Slightly)

Free Throw Rate

Both teams had 4 free throw attempts and 33 field goal attempts in the first half. The second half was more standard Iowa, as the ratio for the Hawkeyes was 16 to 23. The Bison also increased their free throw rate in the second half with 10 free throw attempts and 34 field goal attempts, but it was clearly not to the same extent as Iowa.

Oh, and Iowa made 14-16 free throws in this one. Gabe Olaseni missed Iowa's only two on the night, but we can excuse that since he attempted 8 of those 16 free ones.

Advantage: Iowa

Overall: Iowa Won 2 Out of the 4 Factors

Players

Considering Iowa shot so well against NDSU, it should be no surprise to see so many players above the 50% mark in TS%. In total, five guys ended the game in double figures, while two others chipped in 8 points a piece. The highlight of the night was probably Adam Woodbury and Gabe Olaseni both putting up double-doubles. Woodbury did his damage in the first half, and Gabe followed up where he left off after halftime. Woody finished the game with 10 points on 5-6 shooting (all in the first half), while pulling down 11 boards (1 offensive) and swatting away one shot. Gabe, meanwhile, scored all of his 14 points after halftime. Olaseni also came away with 11 rebounds (2 offensive) and blocked 2 shots.

Moving away from the big men, Anthony Clemmons continued his unconscious play. Sapp scored 11 points on 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc and 2-2 shooting from the free throw line. That was good for an absolutely beautiful 2.22 points per scoring attempt. He also played his usual excellent defense, and forced the Bison to cough up the ball 3 times. I am trying hard to temper expectations because Iowa has only played Hampton and NDSU, but he is making it so damn difficult.

Speaking of difficult, Jarrod Uthoff's shot is the exact opposite of that. His shot is so damn easy and smooth, it should probably be illegal. While he didn't have his most efficient day from the field, his 11 points on 5-11 shooting is fine with me; especially if he's hitting 40% of his threes.

Last but not least, Aaron White scored himself a quiet 10 points against NDSU. He did his usual work down low, including showing off some grown man footwork in the process, while drawing fouls and hitting his free throws. He also grabbed his usual 8 rebounds (1 offensive) and continued his little foray as one of the team's best assist men, dishing out 5 of them.

Finally, to wrap this up, here are a few bullet points:

• Iowa had 2 dunks against NDSU, and neither of them were by Aaron White or Gabe Olaseni. Trey Dickerson threw down his second of the year, and Mike Gesell got himself one, too.
• While we are on the subject, Trey Dickerson has got some mad ups, yo. He also may have a new nickname:

TREY DUNKERSON

— Black Heart (@BHGP) November 18, 2014

• Josh Oglesby continues to be one of the better passers on this roster. He had 4 assists against NDSU.
• If Adam Woodbury continues to show a consistent jumper, that's going to be fun to watch. Seriously, this pick and pop stuff with him is quite the development.
• Peter Jok still looks like a bit of a defensive liability.
• I really think Gabe Olaseni needs a signature gesture after he swats a would-be shot into the front row. You know, something like the Mutombo finger wag, but much cooler. And I think BHGP may have a suggestion for him:

@TitoHwk he could mimic sipping a cup of tea. Pinkie up.

— JHC (@JebusHChrist) November 18, 2014

Well, that's probably enough for now.

Great game, Hawks. Bring on Texas.