Iowa overcame a slow start in the opener of the Wednesday session of the Big Ten Tournament to advance, beating 17-seed Maryland 75-64.
The 9th-seeded Hawkeyes play Ohio State, the 8th seed, on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. CT.
Cooper Koch led the way for Iowa, setting a career-high with 19 points on 6-10 shooting (5-8 from 3.) First-team all-Big Ten guard Bennett Stirtz – I refuse to acknowledge any other ballots; sorry not sorry! – chipped in with 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists as Iowa used a sensational
21-0 run to turn a small 34-30 deficit early in the second half into a 51-34 lead on their way to a 50-point half
Maryland briefly cut the lead down to 9, but Koch hit another 3 to push the lead back to double-digits, and the lead would not dip under 10 for the remainder of the game.
It was not all sunshine and rainbows for the Hawkeyes though, as they turned in another sluggish start to a game. Iowa led 10-6 at the 12:01 mark of the first half in what was a turnover- and brick-filled opening sequence (Iowa had turnovers on their opening two possessions and on three of four possessions to start the contest), but the Terps made six-straight shots on a 15-0 run to go up 21-10.
Maryland held a 24-14 lead after a Darius Adams 3 with 4:39 remaining in the first half, but Iowa closed the half on an 11-2 run to pull within 1 at halftime, 26-25. Iowa really dominated the game from there, making 7 of 12 3s in the second frame to move on to Thursday against the Buckeyes.
Other thoughts:
- Seriously these sloppy, slow, disjointed openings to games are disgusting and must be solved. Ben McCollum was HOT about that start in his postgame comments. And rightly so – Iowa’s been awful out of the game lately. Hopefully that doesn’t happen tomorrow – think back to the hole they fell into immediately in their lone meeting with Ohio State on February 25. Iowa trailed that game 14-2 in the first 5 minutes of the game. Yes, they stormed back and won that comfortably, but Iowa simply can’t rely on that every time out. They’re playing with fire with these bad starts. It must get sorted or their stay in the NCAA Tournament will be a brief one.
- We know what Bennett Stirtz can do. He’s going to get up toward 20 a night. But he’s needed a running mate all year and he might be getting that now in Koch. In his last four games, Koch is 17-31 from 3 with point totals of 18 (career-high), 3 (Michigan, whose length clearly affected him), 18 (tied career-high), and 19 (new career-high). This is the perfect time to come alive as a second threat.
- We can’t forget a couple of other running mates. Cam Manyawu finished with 10 points, and it could have been more had he not missed 6 of 8 free throws. Tavion Banks, back in the starting lineup after he was relegated to the bench Sunday at Nebraska for disciplinary reasons, scored 12 points and snagged 3 rebounds. And hey – Isaia Howard added 7 off the bench. Nice spread there.
- THIS STAT IS INSANE.
