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By JAMES ALLAN
hawkeyesports.com
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota outlasted the University of Iowa men’s basketball team in double overtime Wednesday night inside Williams Arena.
After playing to an 84-all game through the first overtime frame, the Gophers outscored the Hawkeyes, 17-5, over the final five-minute stanza to claim a 101-89 victory. The loss snaps Iowa’s three-game winning streak and drops the team’s record to 14-11 overall and 6-6 in Big Ten play.
“This is disappointing in a lot of ways, but we showed tremendous fight,” said UI head coach Fran McCaffery. “We were much better in the second half defensively. We had great activity level, we ran, moved the ball well, and we made good decisions with our dribble penetration.
“You have to give Minnesota credit, they kept fighting, too.”
The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 14 points early in the second half before surging back behind their three quarter-court full-court pressure defense and the awakening of their senior leader. After scoring two points over the first 28 minutes, senior Peter Jok brought Iowa back.
He scored 24 of his game-high 28 points in the second half. He made 8-of-20 field goals and had nine rebounds in the game.
“He got a couple of run outs to get him going,” said McCaffery. “He mixed it up and hit a couple. He was feeling it.”
Jok got going with a traditional three-point play to cut the lead to 10 with 11:41 remaining and a little more than 2 1/2 minutes later, his steal and layup gave the Hawkeyes their first lead at 57-56 with 9:09 remaining.
The game was a back-and-forth dogfight throughout, featuring 14 ties and 19 lead changes. The Hawkeyes were primed to win in regulation when a Jok touch pass led to a Nicholas Baer dunk — one that gave Iowa a 77-75 lead with 46 seconds to play.
Iowa’s defense came up with a stand and forced a turnover, but Minnesota’s Akeem Springs gave the Gophers a final chance when he tied up Brady Ellingson to force a jump ball in a controversial call while several Hawkeyes were calling for a timeout.
The Gophers capitalized when Nate Mason’s driving layup tied the game at 77 with nine seconds remaining. Minnesota’s defense then forced an off-balanced attempt from Jordan Bohannon at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
Minnesota surged to an 82-77 lead in the first overtime before Cordell Pemsl’s three-point play closed the gap to two. After Mason extended the lead to four, Jok made two free throws and Bohannon’s jumper tied the game at 84. Neither team scored the final 1:34.
Iowa briefly led in the second overtime on a long 3-point field goal from Bohannon 46 seconds in, but Minnesota responded with an 8-0 run to take command. Iowa didn’t make another field goal in the overtime frame.
Redshirt freshman Isaiah Moss scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half to keep Iowa in the game. Bohannon was the third Hawkeye in double figures with 12 points and he had eight assists to just one turnover in 45 minutes.
Minnesota had four players reach double figures, including a 25-point, 19-rebound effort from Jordan Murphy. Mason had 25 points and seven assists, while Akeem Springs (17) and Amir Coffey (13) also finished in double digits.
The Gophers had a 50-32 advantage in points in the paint, scored 24 points off Iowa’s 18 turnovers, and protected the rim to the tune of 14 blocks. Minnesota shot 43.9 percent (to 40 percent for the Hawkeyes) and had a 53-49 advantage on the glass.
Iowa returns to action Saturday, facing Michigan State at 5 p.m. (CT) at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.
