Iowa’s all-White starting five knocked off #12 Texas Tech tonight in a terrific defensive struggle. Tech is rightfully known for their tenacious, physical defense, but tonight Iowa beat them at their own game.
despite being severely undermanned (Iowa has lost starting stretch four Jack Nunge for the season with a torn acl, and first big off the bench freshman Patrick McCaffrey is out for an unknown period due to issues related to his long fight with cancer), the Whitehawks fought hard. Luka Garza suffered both a bloodied nose in the first half and 4 stitches in his upper lip in the second half, but it didn’t stop the big man from having a big day. he collected yet another double-double (17 points on 7-13 shooting, 12 rebounds, 2 blocks, an assist and a steal), as he makes a bid for all-conference and/or all-American accolades this year.
Joe Weiskamp (16 points on 6-12 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and sharpshooter Jordan Bohannon (20 points, 6 assists and only 1 turnover in 33 minutes) also had strong scoring games. Connor McCaffrey had 5 points, 5 boards, 4 assists and a steal with ZERO turnovers in 25 minutes. Fredrick added 10 points to round out the starting lineup.
defensively, the Whitehawks were superb. they held Tech, who had been shooting 45% from 3-point range on the year, to 4-24 from deep. that’s about 17%! WOW!
tomorrow Iowa plays the winner of Creighton-San Diego State.
and speaking of Creighton, if you haven’t seen them play, you’re missing out on perhaps the best shooter in college basketball. Mitch Ballock is a 6-5 junior, and he can put the ball in the basket. believe it!