The Hawkeyes blew out to a 15 point lead against the Bearcats, but survived a furious rally and 24 turnovers to hold on for a 77-70 victory on Saturday night at the United Center in the Chicago Legends event. Two key players for the Hawkeyes were Luka Garza and C.J. Fredrick and they met with the media following the victory to discuss how Iowa was able to weather the storm and get home with the victory.

Q. For any of you, what was it like to overcome the 24 turnovers in the game, especially late -especially the ones you had in the second half that almost cost you guys the game?

CJ FREDRICK: It was big. After a timeout we just kind of collectively came together and said, be strong with the ball. And we were never in doubt with each other. We stayed connected as a group. And I think after that we only had about two turnovers and finished the game. So that's what we pride ourselves on is just staying together and just staying locked in and I think that's what you saw late in the game.

LUKA GARZA: Credit to them. They were a really aggressive defensive team. They tried to get up into you and force those turnovers. And I think we let that get to us a little bit during that stretch in the second half when we got a lead. And it's a good lesson for us going forward, just to make sure that that can't happen again, and if it does, we still find a way to pull the win out. You got to win ugly too.

Q. Can you talk about the lift that Bakari gave you tonight and the big shots that he made?

LUKA GARZA: He was tremendous. He's just been doing everything Coach has asked of him, so far, playing different positions, just working hard, waiting for his opportunity, and he got it tonight and stepped up to it. That's what he presents to our team, he's just a hard worker who is going to come in and do his thing. And we all have confidence in him and we have seen this in him since the start of the season, and even in the summer, he's been playing really well for us. And it was great to see him have a night like this. He deserves that. And just really proud of him and looking forward to see what he continues to do for us.

CJ FREDRICK: Like Luka said. We love him, and we have tremendous confidence in him and just being patient and waiting for his time. And I think you saw, like, he brings a little bit of everything to the game, and I think you saw, he's a big-time player.

Q. C.J., what did this performance mean for you being from the Cincinnati area against this team?

CJ FREDRICK: It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of friends and family here, made the drive to come watch. It was just really another -- it was just another game. I didn't try to make anything bigger than, really, what it was. It was just another game and tried to execute the game plan.

Q. Luka, you played against this team in the tournament last year. Obviously, with a new coach and turned over roster. How were they different or how do they compare at all to the team you saw in the tournament last year?

LUKA GARZA: I think they still have the reputation of being a really aggressive defensive team, like I said earlier, and I think that was their mantra last year, and I think it's continuing with the new coach.Offensively, they do a little different things than they did last year and I think they're just as good offensively. They lost a couple guys but they still got a couple in Williams and Scott, who were tremendous against us last year. I know Scott and Cumberland really hurt us last year in that tournament game. So they still got a lot of pieces and they're a tremendous team. They're going to make some noise in the AAC.

Q. Luka, where do you think this game was won in the last minutes?

LUKA GARZA: I think, definitely, on the glass we got some key rebounds. I think as a team we got stops when we needed to. When we weren't scoring on the offensive end, where our offense wasn't flowing as well as we wanted it to, they were getting up into us, like I said, and we weren't really getting the shots we wanted, so we needed to make key stops down there. So credit to everyone down in that zone that was moving around. And we had to rebound out of that zone and I think we did a good job of that.

Q. (No microphone.)

CJ FREDRICK: It was just, the plan was just getting a little sloppy, uncharacteristic turnovers. Coach called a really good timeout just trying to settle us down.

FRAN MCCAFFERY: There wasn't a lot of talk. There was a lot of listening.

LUKA GARZA: That's -- what he said. (Laughing).

FRAN MCCAFFERY: C.J. was being nice. That's why I love him.