Iowa's offense got the job done, but it was the defense that led the Hawkeyes to victory against Iowa State.

Four Factors in Review

Iowa 1st half ISU 1st half iowa 2nd half ISU 2nd half iowa game ISU game Points Per Possession 1.19 0.79 0.97 1.00 1.08 0.88 Possessions 37 35 72

Shooting

(Shot chart courtesy of ESPN . Iowa is in black on the right. For some reason there is a Darrell Bowie layup also included in Iowa's shots.)

Iowa 2pt Near Rim 2pt Jumper 3pt FG FT Attempts 41.8% 18.2% 40.0% N/A FG% 60.9% 30.0% 40.9% 70.8% Iowa State 2pt Near Rim 2pt Jumper 3pt FG FT Attempts 38.6% 18.6% 42.9% N/A FG% 44.4% 38.5% 26.7% 66.7%

The first half was the key to this game. Hell, the first half of the first half, I would argue, was the key to this game. Iowa started off the night by using good ball movement on offense to create open looks and connected on them. On the other end of the floor, they played outstanding defense to keep Iowa State from getting hardly any easy looks of their own.

In that first 10 minutes of play, Iowa shot 5/7 near the rim, while limiting the Cyclone offense to just two shots around the basket -- one of which, they actually converted on. In the game preview, I said the best way for Iowa to give themselves a chance in this one was to limit Iowa State's ball movement and force them to take contested jumpers, and that's exactly what they did to start the game.

Iowa started the first five minutes of the game with Isaiah Moss on Monte Morris and Jordan Bohannon on Matt Thomas. The Cyclones initially took advantage of the size and experience difference between the latter pair, as Thomas scored 7 quick points in the fist five minutes of play. However, he also picked up two quick fouls, which forced Steve Prohm to sit Thomas -- the only guy who looked like he could knock down a jump shot for Iowa State -- for the next seven minutes, helping build what was Iowa's eventually insurmountable lead by launching a 13-5 Hawkeye run.

The Cyclones would get more looks at the basket before halftime, but Iowa's defense did an outstanding job of forcing Iowa State to settle for jumpers on 72% of their field goal attempts before halftime. Almost half of their shots were three-point attempts, on which they connected on just 20%. Iowa, on the other hand, attempted about 41% of their field goals around the rim, converting on 64% of them while also shooting 6-10 from three-point range.

Things were different in the second half. Iowa State's shot selection got better, as they took 47% of their attempts from near the rim, but it wasn't exactly because they were starting to carve up Iowa's defense. Instead, their nine second half offensive rebounds gave them a lot of second chance opportunities down low. To even get those second chance looks, though, Iowa still did a good job of initially forcing Iowa State to shoot jumpers. When the Cyclones did get the ball around the rim, though, a combination of Iowa contesting a good number of shots and Iowa State missing some easy ones helped the Hawkeyes hold them to just 44% shooting from up close.

Iowa, on the other hand, should be given credit on offense for not getting away from their gameplan. Their outside shooting may have dropped to 25% in the second half, but they still attacked the basket and got the ball in the painted area on 43% of their shot attempts and made 58% of them.

Overall, it was Iowa's ability to not settle for too many contested jumpers on offense, and force Iowa State into quite a few of them that allowed them to win this game so handily. The Cyclones actually had 12 more scoring opportunities (field goals attempted plus free throw possessions) than the Hawkeyes in this one, but still lost by 14 points. Shot selection, and Iowa making the most of that shot selection advantage played a big part in that.

Advantage: Iowa

Turnovers

Turnovers Turnover% Steals %of Turnovers Forced by Steals Points Off Turnovers Pts Off Turnovers Per Turnover Forced Iowa 13 18.0% 5 45.5% 9 0.82 Iowa State 11 15.2% 7 53.8% 5 0.38

Iowa turned the ball over on two more occasions than Iowa State, which means they win the quantity portion of this category. However, it's far from a total victory.

I came into this game worried about how Iowa's young players would handle an aggressive defense like Iowa State's, and while the Cyclones did force seven steals, Iowa never looked overwhelmed nor did they allow the Cyclones to get easy points off of their giveaways. The Cyclones got all of five points off 13 turnovers on the night, which is an average of 0.38 points per possession after forcing a turnover. That's the lowest full game average for any Iowa opponent this season, beating out Texas Rio Grande Valley's 0.56.

Iowa, on the other hand, scored nine points off their 11 turnovers, which isn't exactly capitalizing. But when your opponent manages barely over a third of a point after every forced turnover, you can't really complain.

Also, I thought it was interesting how Iowa State initially struggled with Iowa's 1-2-2 three quarter-court press. They run the same pressure defense after free throws, so you would think they would know how to break it. But the first three times they saw it, Iowa forced two turnovers and made Monte Morris call a timeout when he got trapped at half-court.

Overall, though, the Cyclones win the quantity portion of this factor, but Iowa wins the quality. Therefore, I'm going to call this a draw.

Advantage: Push

Offensive Rebounding

Off. Rebounds Off. Rebound% 2nd Chance Points 2nd Chance pts/Off. Rebound Iowa 7 21.2% 3 0.43 Iowa State 13 27.1% 11 0.85

Both teams performed better, overall, on the defensive glass in this one. From Iowa State, that's expected. From Iowa, though? Yeah, um... no.

Iowa's ability to hold Burton, Holden, Young, and Bowie -- all outstanding offensive rebounders -- off the glass in the first half was key to building their lead. The Cyclones got all of four second chance points and rebounded just four of their 21 first half misses, making it so Iowa State had absolutely no way to create offense. I mean, it's kind of hard to score points when you are settling for jumpers that aren't falling, you're not getting offensive rebounds, and you're not earning trips to the foul line.

The second half wasn't as smooth for Iowa, as Iowa State hauled in nine of their 27 misses. However, the Hawkeyes were able to contest those second chance looks, and Iowa State managed just seven points from those nine offensive boards. The Cyclones definitely won this category, but not by nearly enough to make a difference in the final score.

Advantage: Iowa State

Free Throw Rate

FT Made FT Attempted FT% FT Rate (FTA/FGA) Iowa 17 24 70.8% 43.6% Iowa State 6 9 66.7% 12.9%

This factor is pretty inflated, since Iowa attempted 11 of their 24 free throws in the final 1:36 of play. But Iowa still gets this category, inflated or not, for a few reasons.

First, while the Hawkeyes may not have lived at the line in this one, they were still drawing a decent amount of fouls on the floor. And, in my opinion, there were no more important fouls than the two early ones Matt Thomas picked up. He had seven of Iowa State's first 12 points, and looked like he was determined to exploit the mismatch of having the shorter and lesser-experienced Jordan Bohannon guard him. He was the only person on the floor for Iowa State who really looked aggressive on offense or looked like they could hit a jump shot, and his fouls made it so he had to take a seat. As I previously mentioned, Iowa went on a 13-5 run while he was out of the game, and the rest is history.

Aside from just those important fouls, though, Iowa actually made their free throws when they counted in this one. They started off by making just eight of their first 13 free ones. But instead of clanking rim at the end of the game (like we've seen past Iowa teams do in this series), the Hawkeyes made nine of their final 11 free throws down the stretch, and made sure to kill any sort of comeback Iowa State could muster.

Finally, Iowa abstained from fouling, which was good. Iowa State isn't good at getting to the foul line, nor is Iowa known for fouling, but it was good to see Iowa's bigs like Pemsl and Wagner mostly stay out of foul trouble.

Advantage: Iowa

Overall: Iowa Won 2 of 4 Factors

Players

Peter Jok returned to his efficient ways on Thursday, scoring 23 points on 18 scoring attempts (including his free throw possession). He shot 4-7 from downtown, 3-6 from mid-range, and 2-4 from up close.

Iowa State did their best to harass Iowa's best player, but he responded well by using ball screens, down screens, etc. to get open looks at the basket, rather than throwing up a bunch of bad shots. He also gave Iowa nine defensive rebounds, three assists, and two steals. He did have four turnovers, but fortunately, as we already saw, those didn't actually hurt Iowa too much in this one.

After Jok, Isaiah Moss had another outstanding game. He only shot 1-4 from outside, but it was his ability to push the tempo in this one that made him so valuable.

As you can see from his shot chart, Moss scored 10 of his 14 points in the paint. Of those five shots in the paint, four of them came from him attacking the basket in transition and making a layup. All four of those shots came within the first eight seconds of the shot clock, and all four of them went through the net, with two of them also drawing fouls and earning a trip to the free throw line.

Moss' offense really came alive at the end of the game when Iowa needed him. Peter Jok scored just one point in the final 10 minutes of play, so Moss scoring all nine of his second half points in the final eight minutes of game time was huge.

We also shouldn't leave out Moss' defensive efforts, either. He and Christian Williams were the ones tasked with shutting down Monte Morris and they both had a lot of success. They had a lot of help from the rest of the defense, who defended ball screens admirably, but Moss and Williams made it so Morris couldn't do what Nebraska Omaha's Tra-Deon Hollins had done to Iowa. Morris did get into the paint a handful of times, but he got very few clean looks and he wasn't able to kick it out to open shooters very often.

Next, Nicholas Baer was everywhere in this one. He scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds (two offensive), took the ball from Iowa State twice, and blocked one shot. On offense, his biggest stretch in the first half came a few minutes after Matt Thomas was subbed out. Baer rebounded a missed Donovan Jackson jumper, took it all the way down the court, and finished at the rim while being fouled. Best of all, was his reaction. He was just a little pumped.

He followed that up by making his free throw, and proceeding to take the ball from Darrell Bowie on a trap in the 1-2-2 press. After ripping the ball from Bowie's hands, he then took it the length of the court for an easy layup.

Aside from that 20 second outburst, Baer also hit five key free throws at the end of the game, and created havoc with his long arms all night long. They don't all show up in the box score, but he deflected passes all night and contested a good number of shots. His energy and smarts off the bench was a real boon for Iowa in this one.

Aside from those big three, the rest of the team did some good things.

Cordell Pemsl had 11 points, five rebounds, and block. He scored all of his points on 4-7 shooting near the rim and 3-5 shooting from the free throw line. According to Kenpom, he is currently 14th in the country in two-point field goal percentage among qualified players. That seems pretty good.

Ahmad Wagner gave Iowa some really good minutes. He scored just four points, but he had five rebounds, two assists, and played good defense on Deonte Burton. His combination of strength and athleticism really helped keep Burton from going off.

Finally, Jordan Bohannon, Brady Ellingson and Dom Uhl hit all hit some key threes. The latter two hit theirs during Iowa's big 13-5 run in the first half, while Bohannon hit one with five minutes left to push Iowa's lead back to 10, and stave off an Iowa State run.

In total, this was a great all-around team effort. Coming into this game we knew Iowa had enough offense, but the questions were on the defensive side of the ball. We knew that if this young team improved their defense or caught a team on a cold night, they were going to shock a few teams this year. That was this game.

And, yes, you can say that Iowa State missed some open looks, but that happens every game. I've rewatched the game once already, and will break it down in a post for Monday, but I genuinely believe that Iowa's defense had a lot to do with why the Cyclones had an off night on offense. They played ball screens on Monte Morris very well, they cut off dribble penetration, and they forced the Cyclones to make jumpers. Fran's gameplan of having Moss and Williams primarily guard Morris paid dividends. Once they took away the potential havoc he could have caused by getting inside the defense, the game was basically over.