Iowa 103, UMBC 81: Harding's Double-Double Lifts Hawks to Big Win

IOWA CITY -- Iowa defeated UMBC 103-81 in a non-conference battle in Carver Hawkeye-Arena on Wednesday night.

Here are three takeaways from the blowout victory.

From the jump, the Hawkeyes and Retrievers flew up and down the court.

Combined, 153 shots were taken in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday. The over/under going into the game was 178.5 according to FanDuel -- somehow, these teams surmounted it with 184 points.

"We played a team we knew was going to take a bunch of threes," Fran McCaffery said postgame. "They're number one in the country in pace."

Luckily for Iowa, they were able to out-shoot UMBC.

"We wanted to push it -- we took 84 shots, and that's a lot of shots," McCaffery said. "We wanted to attack. I wish we would've guarded the three-point line a little better. 13-25 is usually a recipe for defeat."

Ultimately, McCaffery did point to the defense for what separated the Hawkeyes for the win.

"Our defense got better [in the final six minutes of the first half]," he said. "It was in the first 10 minutes of the second half which got us the lead, and essentially got us the win. We were able to get out and run. We did a lot of good things -- 33 assists, four turnovers, we outrebounded them."

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True freshman point guard Brock Harding has continued to prove why he's a Big Ten-level point guard game after game. On Wednesday night, he did it in double-double fashion. The Moline product put up 10 points and 12 assists.

He didn't even know he was on double-double watch till late in the game.

"[Tony Perkins] kept telling me," Harding laughed. "I had no idea. It was just him."

Perkins had the assist to Harding in transition that gave him ten points and the double-double.

"I was running behind him," Harding said. "Normally he was going to try to finish that, but I think he just wanted to get me the layup. When you've got leaders like that, that makes this team so much fun to play for."

McCaffery made sure to give his freshman point guard plenty of praise.

"He is an incredible competitor and has a tremendous mind for the game," McCaffery said. "He truly understands what is needed at a given time. He knew we needed to get some stops, get run outs, hit some cutters, get some layups. We were in the double-bonus pretty early because he was driving the ball. We looked down and saw we had a bunch of guys in double-figures because of him."

His energy off the bench was infectious on offense and defense.

"He's got that leadership," McCaffery added. "He has a natural ability to lead. He's always been a point guard. He's very confident in himself and very vocal."

There are nine days between tonight's win and Iowa's next game, a home contest against Northern Illinois on December 29. So, what's the plan to stay engaged?

"You want them to have some family time, but they've got to workout every day if they can," McCaffery said. "They need to get some shots up, do some running and do conditioning stuff. We're relying on their professionalism to do that, but I'm not worried about this group,"

McCaffery definitely doesn't have to worry about Harding getting in work over break.

"I don't like to sleep in too late, because then I'll wake up angry about not working out already," he said. "I'll probably sleep in till 7 AM, work out at 7, hang out with my family for a little bit, get some shots up and then some light strength stuff. That way I don't lose the strength I've built this season. So I'll probably have 2-3 workouts [per day] over the next four or five days."