Now and more than ever, it's a Hawkeye State.

Iowa turned a hotly anticipated in-state matchup into a laugher, using an early 12-0 run to take command of the game and never let go. The final score was 69-46, and it truly could have been worse; Iowa's largest lead of the game was 27 points, and the first time it hit that mark was at 51-24 with 15 minutes left in the game. From there, it was a matter of not letting UNI get close as the clock bled away, and the Panthers never got within 20 the rest of the way home.

Peter Jok unsurprisingly led all scorers with a nice and tidy 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting, including 3-for-3 from behind the arc. UNI couldn't keep Jok from getting shots off whenever he wanted, and both teams knew it. Nicholas Baer added 11 points and 11 rebounds, plus a pair of blocks and stifling defense.

This was the beating of a career for Northern Iowa's players. UNI hadn't lost this badly since a 66-41 loss to Wichita State in February 2013, and that Shockers team ended up in the Final Four. Obviously, UNI's not going to win a whole lot of games or look terribly good when hitting only 26% of its shots from the field, but Iowa routinely forced the Panthers into low-percentage jumpers; this result was to be expected.

Indeed, that's three straight excellent games played by the Hawkeyes, and the common theme is defense. In the last three victories, Iowa has held its opponents to 0.84 points per possession, according to KenPom's statistics (link here if you subscribe); by comparison, Omaha racked up 1.27 points per possession in its win at Carver-Hawkeye, and every team that beat the Hawkeyes this season has scored at least 1.11 ppp. That is an equally fast and vast turnaround for this young team; the kids will need to keep it up as the Big Ten season looms.

Iowa now has a good problem to face: how to reincorporate Tyler Cook into the rotation. Cook is close to returning from a broken finger that has kept him out for the last three weeks, and he's expected to be in uniform by the start of the Big Ten season at the latest.

McCaffery says Tyler Cook might play this week, might wait until Purdue game. — Chad Leistikow (@ChadLeistikow) December 17, 2016

Cook's role upon return is probably up in the air; with Cordell Pemsl emerging on the interior, Iowa's not starved for post scoring or size, and the Big Ten doesn't have many teams that'll test an opposing frontcourt's depth (Purdue being the obvious outlier). So maybe Cook goes right back into the starting lineup. Maybe Fran McCaffery sees a good thing working and only carves out 15-20 minutes a game for Cook to go MAX EFFORT DUNKOTRON in as he develops his skill set for Big Ten opposition. We'll see.

Either way, this is a lot of fun. Iowa's still very young, but the Hawkeyes' skill and energy have always been apparent. Now those are translating to the other side of the court as well, and if this improvement keeps up, the Baby Hawks are going to spoil a few seasons in the Big Ten before this is all said and done.

Hey, you know what else is a lot of fun? Celebrating a 23-point win over a #RealRival by MOVING YOUR DAMN FEET.