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Iowa 92, Ohio State 75

Connor McCaffery hauls down a rebound in Iowa's 92-75 win over Ohio State.
Connor McCaffery hauls down a rebound in Iowa's 92-75 win over Ohio State. (© Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports)

Almost a month ago, when Iowa and Ohio State faced off in Columbus, a close, back-and-forth first half ended with Ohio State taking a 37-35 lead into halftime. Ohio State went on a 12-4 run out of the break and never looked back, keeping Iowa at a 10-point gap for most of the second half and easing to a 93-77 victory.

Thursday, as Iowa and Ohio State squared off again, this time in Iowa City, we again had a close, back-and-forth first half. A three-pointer by OSU freshman star Brice Sensabaugh gave the Buckeyes a 36-35 lead with 2:56 to play in the first half.

And then Iowa flipped the script -- the Hawkeyes closed the half on a 12-0 run to go into halftime with a 47-36 lead.

Iowa then built its lead to 15 points just over two minutes into the second half and never looked back; the Hawkeye lead spent more time closer to 30 points than it did to 10 for most of the second half. A late Ohio State scoring surge cut the lead under 20, but this game was never in any doubt in the final 15 minutes and Iowa was able to cruise to a 92-75 victory.

The victory moves Iowa to 17-9 — and more importantly 9-6 and third place in the Big Ten, holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Maryland and Indiana.

RECAP

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Both teams were on point offensively to start the game. Iowa opened up a few early leads like 13-7 and 19-12, but Ohio State hit back behind some lights-out three-point shooting (5/6 in the first half) and made the game very close for a stretch; there were two ties and 12(!) lead changes in the first half. But the Buckeyes went cold to end the half -- they made just one field goal in the final 7 minutes (and scored just five points total over that stretch), going 1/6 from the field with four turnovers.

Iowa had its own cold spell late in the half, but finally got clicking in the final two minutes with a spree of three-pointers that ignited the crowd. Connor McCaffery drained a 3-pointer to give Iowa a 38-36 lead it would never relinquish. Payton Sandfort drilled a 3 in transition on Iowa's next possession. 30 seconds later Kris Murray swished a 3 after an offensive rebound and then Tony Perkins nailed a 3 in the final seconds of the half to give Iowa back-to-back-to-back-to-back three-pointers for a 12-0 run and a 47-36 halftime lead.

Iowa's offense didn't just stay hot after the break -- it got even better. Iowa shot 64% from the floor in the second half and averaged a sizzling 1.55 points per possession in the final 20 minutes. It was mainly on the interior, too; despite converting just 33% of 3-point attempts, Iowa was 15/17, or 88%, on 2-point shots after halftime.

With the Hawkeyes continuing to bury shot after shot, the result was sealed -- you aren't beating this Hawkeye team when they're shooting like that, especially at home.

BOX SCORE

Ohio State shot 57% from the floor, 53% from 3-point range (8/15), went 11/11 at the free throw line, scored almost 1.2 points per possession... and got absolutely torched, losing 92-75 in a game that wasn't even really that close. How? Well, Iowa also shot the ball very well (57% for the game), but the Hawkeyes also managed to attempt 16 more shots in the game — continuing a trend from the Minnesota game. That's a nice advantage when you're shooting almost 60% from the field. That huge disparity in shot attempts came from two sources: offensive rebounds and turnovers.

Iowa beat Ohio State on the glass (30-22), but the Hawkeyes absolutely dominated them on the offensive glass, rolling up an 11-2 advantage. They turned those extra scoring opportunities into a 15-4 edge in second chance points. Iowa also had seven steals and forced Ohio State into 14 turnovers (versus just seven for Iowa); those giveaways turned into a 16-4 edge for Iowa in points off turnovers.

Those two factors added up to a massive advantage for Iowa and that, coupled with general good shooting all night long, allowed Iowa to cruise..

On an individual level, the brightest star for Iowa tonight was Connor McCaffery.

Iowa's sixth year super-senior had one of the finest games of his career tonight, finishing with a dazzling stat line: 7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and a career-high 13 assists -- against zero turnovers. The only thing more stunning than his stat line in this game was his passing:


The second half alone would have been a great performance for McCaffery -- he had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 8 assists after the break. In that second half, McCaffery absolutely had the game on a string -- he was conducting Iowa's offense like a maestro, shredding Ohio State's defense with perfect passes on possession after possession. His hustle and organization on defense also helped force a handful of turnovers, which led to several quick transition buckets.

This game was peak Connor in a lot of ways -- a scattering of points, but chiefly notable for his rebounding, his hustle, his leadership and organization, and -- of course -- his passing. McCaffery entered the game leading the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio; fair to say a 13 assist, 0 turnover performance isn't going to hurt that at all.

Not to be ignored by any stretch was Tony Perkins, who led Iowa with 24 points on 11/16 shooting. He finished 2/3 from behind the arc, but most of this offensive output was a result of Perkins doing damage inside the 3-point line: attacking the rim, finishing in transition, and hitting foul-line jumpers. Iowa's offense hits another level when Perkins is playing like this.

Kris Murray had 20 points on 8/13 shooting, which was mostly notable for him faking an Ohio State defender into the second row:

Three other Iowa players also finished in double figures in scoring (12 for Ahron Ulis, 10 each for Filip Rebraca and Payton Sandfort).


DEFENSE

On a surface level, it seems a little strange to praise Iowa's defense when the numbers don't indicate anything like a standout defensive performance. But Iowa's rarely going to be an ace defensive team (especially this year's iteration), so the key is really to get some good defensive stretches and make the most of them.

Iowa did exactly that in this game, especially late in the first half and early in the second half.

The Hawkeyes switched defensive looks often and were able to harass Ohio State into missed shots and turnovers, including several giveaways that led to transition buckets. That stretch was the turning point in the game and the period at which Iowa took firm control of the game. The defense did enough during that period to set the stage for Iowa's offense to dominate -- and that's a winning formula for Iowa.

NEXT UP

Iowa returns to the road to face Northwestern in Evanston, IL on Sunday at 5:30 PM CT. BTN will televise the game. The Wildcats are 19-7 overall and 10-5 in Big Ten games, in second place overall. Iowa beat Northwestern 86-70 in Iowa City earlier this season.

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