Iowa 79, Ohio State 77: A Redemptive Victory

IOWA CITY -- Iowa grabbed its fifth Big Ten conference win on Friday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, defeating Ohio State in another late-game, fight-to-the-last-second 79-77 victory.

Here are three takeaways from the win:

For the fifth game in a row, Tony Perkins put up 20+ points. Against the Buckeyes, he led all scorers with 20, along with seven rebounds and four assists. Over this stretch, he's been playing like one of the best guards in the Big Ten and the country.

"He's my favorite point guard in the league right now," Payton Sandfort joked postgame. "I'm proud of him. He's playing at an All-Big Ten level."

He hasn't just played at a high level this season -- he's grown to be what this team needs at the point guard position.

"His game continues to mature," Fran McCaffery added. "Last year, some games he was beyond spectacular, but what you're seeing now is a confident guy who knows what we want and who knows what he has to do to lead this team. His decision making is what you want from your leader, point guard and senior."

"We didn't really run that much stuff tonight, other than to try to give him space. Once he has that, he breaks the defense down and others have opportunity from there."

One of his teammates who has been along for the ride with Perkins has seen that growth, too.

"With Tony, it's been more consistent," fellow senior Patrick McCaffery said. "You would see he'd dominate certain games last year, but it wasn't on an every-night basis like it has turned into now. He's one of the elite guards, not only in our league, but in America. I'm glad he's my teammate."

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Iowa outscored Ohio State 17-0 in transition scoring. Though the Hawkeyes rank 13th in fastbreak points nationally, they don't typically shut out opposing teams like that.

"It's always kind of a focus, but especially with this team," Sandfort said. "They're really good in transition. (Bruce) Thornton and (Rodd) Gayle are speed guys -- they get downhill and make plays. So, we did a great job walling them off."

That same sentiment didn't exactly come from the Hawkeyes' head man, but the result remained the same, nonetheless.

"They'll push it," Fran added. "Their guards are really quick, but they are a set-play team so they are calling sets a lot. They're really tough to guard because they run terrific stuff. You can't give up transition threes to (Jamison) Battle and transition layups. We pressed the one time and Thornton took it all the way through, which was unfortunate. But I thought our guys were locked in to sprinting back, facing up and nobody jogs."

For all of Patrick McCaffery's struggles this season, he hit some big shots when they mattered most on Friday night. With 21 seconds to go and a one-point lead, he stepped to the line and hit back-to-back free throws. Then he did it again with 11 seconds left. All-in-all, he went 8-8 from the line.

"It felt good," Patrick said. "I'm a confident jump-shooter and a confident foul-shooter. I knew when I stepped up to the line I was going to make them, and I'm glad we won."

"I've shot so many free throws in my life, whether that's here, workouts or practice. I've shot so many free throws, and I consider myself to be a pretty good free throw shooter. You just kind of trust the work you put in."

"That was huge, especially for him," Sandfort said. "He's been struggling. That's not saying he's not working on it, because he's been in the gym all the time. He's been very active in practice and been a good leader. I'm really happy for him. That was big for him and big for us. I'm really proud of him."

For Fran, it was good to see those free throws go in -- both as a coach and a father.

"It's really important on so many different levels," Fran said. "As a dad, you feel really good for him because you know what the journey has been like. I though he was really turning the corner at the Nebraska game and then he gets hurt."

"To see him make big free throws and just see him happy -- it's a great feeling, and it bodes well for our team."

Up next, the Hawkeyes will travel to Penn State (10-11, 4-6) to take on the Nittany Lions on Thursday, February 8. The game is set to air on Big Ten Network.