Late-Season Push By Iowa Men Fueled by Bonds and Leadership
The Iowa men's basketball squad has had an up-and-down season thus far.
The lows were pretty low -- a 19-point loss to No. 4 Purdue, a 25-point loss to Iowa State in Ames, an 0-3 start to Big Ten play and four losses in the last month where the Hawks held a second-half lead.
The highs have been pretty high too, for what it's worth. The Hawkeyes went on a three-game win streak that included a blowout win over Nebraska at home, avenged a previous loss to Michigan by trouncing the Wolverines on the road, rallied back from a 20-point deficit to beat Minnesota and defeated two of the top six teams in the Big Ten within the last week.
At the low points, team leaders like Payton Sandfort and Tony Perkins repeatedly told the media that they emphasized remaining on the same page as a team.
"We've just got to stay positive," Perkins said after Iowa's last-second loss to Maryland at home in late January. "It wasn't the outcome we wanted, we should've won the game. But we'll get another opportunity to take this pain out this year."
"We've just got to stay together," Sandfort added. "I've kind of said that all year. We've done a great job of that. ... We love one another, and we're going to keep fighting no matter what the result is."
That's exactly what they've done over the last four weeks despite the tough losses. By the look of things, that's how they pulled off a two-point, overtime win over then-No. 20 Wisconsin at home last Saturday and followed it up with a 78-71 win over Michigan State on Tuesday. The Spartans were ranked No. 20 in the NET and had won eight of their last ten games prior to the matchup in the Breslin Center.
"It's a resilient group," Fran McCaffery said in his Zoom media availability on Friday. "We've had some tough losses and some really good wins. In those wins and losses, we really had to compete -- they were all close games. You have to sort of connect in a way that enables you to stay together."
"Then, if you make some mistakes or things don't go right, where do you go from there? Do you stay together and learn from those mistakes, or do you point fingers and blame others. This has been a really mature group that hasn't done that. They've stayed together and stayed positive. They come to practice and work hard. It's a great group to be around."
You could argue that the epitome of this team's resilience is Ben Krikke's performance against the Spartans earlier this week.
The 6'9" forward from Alberta, Canada has received his fair share of criticism in his lone season as a Hawkeye. Some of that criticism has certainly been fair, too. Prior to Tuesday, the Valparaiso transfer had gone 11 straight games with five or fewer rebounds, and he isn't exactly known for his defensive prowess.
Against Michigan State, he grabbed 14 boards in 38 minutes and was heavily relied on defensively, given Owen Freeman and Ladji Dembele's early foul trouble that left them on the bench for large periods of the contest.
"I've been challenging Ben since the last Maryland game and he has been outstanding," McCaffery said following the win. "He had to play a lot of the five spot because of foul trouble. The kid just kept fighting."
"The [rebounds] he didn't get he was in there fighting. He was mixing it up. [Michigan State] is a team that prides themselves on offensive rebounding. ... You've got to get that first miss when you can. Boy, did he do a good job of that."
McCaffery shared more on that challenge Friday afternoon.
"Ben is an awesome young guy," he said. "He's incredibly competitive and very talented. When I challenge somebody I don't ever challenge them to do what they can't do -- I challenge them knowing what they can do and what they're capable of. I told him we needed more from him and he responded. That's exactly what I expected to happen because of who he is."
McCaffery's record at this time of year is another telling piece of why this year's team has had so much success late in the season -- and why they still have a shot to make to the NCAA Tournament despite their early season struggles.
Following the victory over MSU, McCaffery's record in February is 33-14 over the past six seasons -- a .702 win percentage in Big Ten play.
"There are a lot of factors there," he said of the winning mark. "It starts with the character of the group that you have. Those teams -- we could go through the rosters -- those teams have had really good people."
"The other thing is, it has to do with your strength coach, me and my staff -- how hard we push. We need to understand that we got back at 3 am from Maryland and we had Wisconsin in two days. We're not going to have a three-hour practice. ... Our staff and our players know what's important and how hard to push. You have to stay healthy, you need your guys."
That February win-lossrecord will see a strong test on Saturday afternoon in Champaign, as the Hawkeyes are set to take on No. 12 Illinois for the first time this season.
"They're a very veteran-oriented group," McCaffery said of the conference opponent. "They're extremely athletic, they have multiple scorers. They're not only one of the best teams in our league, but one of the best in the country."
McCaffery will lean on his group of leaders like Sandfort, Perkins, and Krikke.
These are character guys, motivated guys," he said. "They want to produce. They want to be good. They're in the gym and weight room all the time grinding."
"They've done a really good job of not only communicating what's necessary [to the younger players], but competing at a very high level and showing the example. It's been fun to watch."