Nov. 20, 2011
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DES MOINES, Iowa — It wasn’t the University of Iowa men’s basketball team’s day Sunday at the Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines, as Creighton handed the Hawkeyes their first loss of the season, 82-59.
The Bluejays shot a blistering 55.2 percent (32-of-58) from the field and 47.4 (9-of-19) from 3-point range. Creighton also had 20 assists on its 32 field goals and out rebounded Iowa, 43-27.
The Hawkeyes shot 36.2 percent (21-of-58) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from long range. Iowa had 10 assists in the contest after averaging 22.7 in their first three games of the season.
Freshman Josh Oglesby led the team with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. The guard scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half. Senior Matt Gatens was the only other Hawkeye in double figures, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting.
“This is the most competitive and best team we’ve played all year, and we knew that coming in,” said Gatens. “They played well. They shot the ball well, and we knew they had a bunch of shooters. We have to figure some things out, look inside ourselves and learn from this.”
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After taking a 16 point lead into halftime, Creighton pulled away early in the second half. A tip-in by Doug McDermott at the 14:54 mark pushed the Bluejays’ lead to 20 (56-36), and a 3-pointer by Ethan Wragge made the score 61-36 with 12:41 to play.
Creighton stretched its advantage to game-high 33 points with six minutes remaining. Oglesby scored eight of Iowa’s final 15 points.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 7-6 lead over the first five minutes of action before Creighton used a 16-3 run to open a 22-10 lead at the 8:09 mark. The Bluejays pushed their advantage to 13 points on a Grant Gibbs 3-pointer with 5:18 to go in the half.
“This shows us that you have to bring it every night,” said junior Eric May, who finished with six points and six rebounds. “Coming in we knew Creighton was a very good team, and we came out too slow and sluggish. We can’t come into a game like that.”
Creighton knocked down its sixth and seventh triple of the first half on back-to-back possessions in the closing minutes to push its lead to 45-26. Iowa went into the locker room trailing 45-29 following a Bryce Cartwright 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Bluejays shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) from the floor and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from 3-point range in the first 20 minutes. Iowa made 9-of-24 attempts (37.5 percent) and got out rebounded, 21-11.
McDermott led all scorers, netting 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting to go along with nine rebounds.
Iowa (3-1) returns to action Wednesday, hosting Campbell at 7 p.m. on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.