Dec. 19, 2012
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — It could have been Roy Devyn Marble against South Carolina State, and the Hawkeyes still might have prevailed.
Marble scored 27 points in 22 minutes to lead the University of Iowa men’s basketball team to a 90-46 rout over the Bulldogs on Wednesday night on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The win improved the Hawkeyes’ record to 10-2 this season, the team’s best start since the 2004-05.
Marble, who scored 21 points in the first half alone, made 8-of-13 field goal attempts and was 6-of-8 from 3-point land and 5-of-6 from the free throw stripe. Over the past two games, the junior has scored 57 points, after going for 30 in the Dec. 15 victory over Northern Iowa.
When he came out of the game, he was outscoring the Bulldogs by himself.
“I’ve been putting the work in, so it’s paying off,” said Marble. “It makes my game a whole lot easier when I am able to hit the perimeter shot like I am right now.”
“He’s playing really well,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery of Marble. “If our offense starts to get bogged down, he makes a play. He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now, but I wasn’t going to keep him out there today.”
Twelve of the 13 Iowa players that saw action scored. Sophomore Aaron White finished with nine points and seven rebounds, while junior Zach McCabe had nine points on 3-of-5 shooting. Freshman Mike Gesell had a career-best eight assists and six rebounds, sophomore Gabriel Olaseni had six points and 10 boards, and walk-ons Kyle Denning (six points) and Christopher Rickert (four points) also scored.
The Hawkeyes shot 49.2 percent (31-of-63) from the floor and made 11 3-pointers, converting 11-of-23 attempts. Iowa has made 23 3-point field goals over the past two contests. Iowa also out rebounded South Carolina State, 56-36, and had 22 assists on its 31 field goals.
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Iowa limited the Bulldogs to 25.4 percent shooting (18-of-71) and 20.8 percent (5-of-24) from long range.
“In terms of our defensive pressure and our mixture of pressing and our running game, we were able to simulate what Missouri did,” said McCaffery. “They’re quick, and they typically shoot the ball better than they did tonight. We had something do do with that.”
The Hawkeyes got off to a sluggish start, as South Carolina State hit its first two shots to build a 7-4 over the first four minutes. From there, it was all Iowa.
Seven straight points, including Marble’s first 3-pointer, gave the Hawkeyes the 11-7 advantage and it opened a 26-6 spurt that saw Iowa build its advantage to 30-13. Marble scored 10 points during the run.
Marble’s third 3 made the score 33-15 and three free throws pushed the margin to 38-17 with 5:30 to go in the half. The Hawkeyes then scored nine of the final 12 points to take a 47-20 lead into the break.
Marble outscored South Carolina State by himself, as the junior made 6-of-11 attempts from the floor, a career-high 4-of-6 3-point field goals and 5-of-6 free throws en route to 21 points.
After making its first two shots of the game, the Bulldogs made two-of-their-next-20, and finished the half 7-of-32 from the floor. Iowa shot 50 percent (16-of-32) and 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from 3-point range.
The Hawkeyes continued where they left off in the second half, scoring 13-of-the-first-15 points to build a 60-22 lead. Iowa hit 3-pointers on three of its first four possessions, two by Marble and a third by White.
Iowa’s reserves saw action for a majority of the second half, and the lead grew. Olaseni’s put back made the score 72-29 and freshman Patrick Ingram’s lay-up pushed the margin to 74-31. Denning and Rickert played the final six minutes, and the duo scored the team’s final eight points. Denning had back-to-back 3-pointers and Rickert hit a jumper and had a lay-up.
Iowa (10-2) closes out its nonconference slate against Coppin State on Saturday. Game time is set for 12:05 p.m. (CT).