The No. 5 Hawkeyes set down Illinois, 77-65.
By Kyle Mann
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No. 5 Iowa won its 10th Big Ten game of the season on Sunday, downing Illinois, 77-65, in Champaign.
Outside of a few minutes early in the matchup, Iowa was able to control the game, keeping Illinois at arm’s length for most of the day.
The Illini led, 6-4 early on before the Hawkeyes used a 12-0 run to roar ahead, 16-6.
The first half was never too high nor too low for either team, and the 10-point discrepancy held for much of the half. Iowa had seven different players score en route to a 38-29 halftime advantage. As usual, Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff led the way with 8 points apiece, but the Iowa defense deserves credit for the early lead.
Iowa held Illinois to 11-of-32 (34 percent) from the floor in the opening half and outrebounded the Illini, 25-14. Uthoff and Adam Woodbury alone had as many rebounds as Illinois did in the first half.
Illinois made a few shots early in the second, provoking Fran McCaffery to make some adjustments.
“They got off to a really good start in the beginning of the second half offensively; they were in a rhythm,” he said. “We went to the zone, changed the rhythm. It slowed them down a little bit; we got some misses, and we scored some points.”
The Hawkeyes started to find some separation in the second half, thanks in large part to Jok coming out at a torrid pace. Jok had 9 points in the first five minutes of the second half and assisted Uthoff on a 3, extending the lead to 56-38 at the 14:39 mark.
“We don’t rush anything, and we know what we have to do to win,” Jok said. “We have a lot of experience, and we’ve been here before.”
Illinois was on the ropes, and then Malcolm Hill, the Big Ten’s leading scorer, headed to the bench after committing his fourth foul with roughly 14 minutes remaining. So Iowa had a chance to move in for the kill.
A 3 by Dom Uhl extended the lead to 20 with 11:24 to go, but the Illini didn’t go away.
Illinois cut the lead to 10 with two minutes to go, but a bucket by Uthoff at 1:30 to go was the dagger, and the Hawkeyes went on to dribble it out for a 77-65 victory.
Jok led with 23 points, while Uthoff had 18 points and 12 rebounds. Adam Woodbury also had his fourth double-double in his last six games with 10 points, 14 rebounds, and a team-high 4 assists. In that span, Woodbury has averaged 8.5 points and 11.5 rebounds.
The Hawkeyes also held a 26-6 advantage in second-chance points and was one of the major reasons Iowa won the game.
“They didn’t go to the offensive glass a lot, they went back on defense a lot,” McCaffery said. “They got some when they were crashing late. They were worried about us in transition and wanted to get some people back, and it was effective at times.”
