The Hawkeyes took down the Runnin’ Bulldogs in their home-opener.
By Kyle Mann
Jarrod Uthoff and the Hawkeyes officially kicked off the 2015-16 season on Nov. 13, defeating Gardner-Webb, 76-59.
Iowa started slowly, and as it will continue to do as the season progresses, leaned heavily on Uthoff to put points on the board.
He scored his first 10 points without missing a shot, and the Hawkeyes led 19-17 at the 10-minute mark, despite the rest of the team shooting 3-of-11 from the floor.
The Hawkeyes struggled to find offense outside of Uthoff in the early going, and they were plagued once again by struggles on the glass.
After being exposed physically in last week’s shocking loss to Augustana, the Hawkeyes were outrebounded 20-18 in the first half, but were aided by Gardner-Webb perhaps being too physical on defense.
Iowa led 41-37 at halftime, largely thanks to going 15-of-18 from the charity stripe, including 7-of-7 from Uthoff. Iowa’s versatile forward had 21 of the team’s points, going 6-of-9 from the floor while the rest of his team shot only 6-of-18.
“That guy did everything in the first half,” Adam Woodbury said.
Iowa got exactly the start it needed to begin the second half, with back-to-back Peter Jok triples and a Mike Gesell fastbreak lay-up, forcing a Gardner-Webb time-out only shortly more than a minute into the half. Quickly extending the lead to 49-37 gave the Hawkeyes some room to operate and even more so seemed to take some momentum away from the Bulldogs.
The Hawkeyes spent much of the second half with a double-digit lead, with the biggest difference being their defense. Six second-half steals along with 3 blocks held Gardner-Webb to only 18 percent shooting in the half.
Furthermore, Fran McCaffery finally saw his team look inspired chasing after rebounds. Gardner-Webb seemed to wear down, the Bulldogs were increasingly unable to get back into the game, and Iowa ultimately won the rebounding battle, 46-39.
Uthoff didn’t score in the second half, finishing with the 21 points and 6 rebounds. Woodbury was next with 11 points and another 6 rebounds. Mike Gesell had 9 assists.
“We got beat in the first half on the glass again; now, you look at the final numbers, 46-39,” McCaffery said. “So we really did a great job in the second half. Of course, we forced more misses, too.”
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