Iowa avoids similar fate as Michigan, Wisconsin in previous shockers

IOWA CITY — On paper it appeared to be an epic mismatch.

One team was ranked in the top five. The other was stuck in last place. Then, a game happened and hung in the balance until the very end.

Does this sound like No. 5 Iowa's 75-71 win against Minnesota on Sunday? Yep. It's also like Rutgers' 67-62 upset win against No. 4 Wisconsin in 2015. And Penn State's 84-78 win against No. 4 Michigan in 2013.

Every year there's at least one head-scratching Big Ten basketball result. In the most recent example, the Hawkeyes (20-5, 11-2) were fortunate to beat the Gophers, who fell to 6-19 overall and 0-13 in league play. Minnesota's bench outscored Iowa's 27-6 and won the battle for second-chance points 13-0. Minnesota scored one more field goal and both teams sank six 3-pointers.

Unprompted, Iowa players echoed a familiar phrase when good teams triumph without playing at their best.

'A win's a win,' Iowa guard Mike Gesell said. 'We showed a lot of character to be able to pull a game out like that. We had a lot of dumb plays and then a lot of plays that were very good. There's a lot of positives and negatives in every game, and we're just going to learn from it. At the end of the day, it was a big win in the Big Ten.'

'A win's a win,' Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff said. 'We felt good about it. We just beat a good Minnesota team. I don't think their record reflects how good they are. They're scrappy, they can shoot 3s, they can drive, penetrate, hit midrange jumpers. They can do a lot of different things.'

The victory positioned Iowa atop the Big Ten standings by one game over Indiana and Maryland. The Hawkeyes remain fourth in the latest Associated Press poll and dropped one slot to sixth by the USA Today/Coaches poll. The weekend played out perfectly for Iowa after a seven-point road loss at Indiana last Thursday. Yet, Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery and Minnesota Coach Richard Pitino almost switched roles following the game.

Pitino said he 'was really excited' when describing his team's effort in a loss. In his postgame news conference, McCaffery bristled when a reporter suggested he was 'just happy to get out with a win?'

'I wouldn't look at it that way, no,' McCaffery said. 'We just beat a Big Ten team.'

The Hawkeyes held off a strong effort from a rival, which happens to be in last place. But they won, unlike Michigan and Wisconsin in those previous games. The Badgers were without two starters but were dropped by hot-shooting Rutgers on the road. The Wolverines were a game out of first place at 10-4 when traveling to Penn State (0-14) on Feb. 27, 2013. Despite leading by eight early in the second half, Michigan was outplayed in the final seven minutes according to coach John Beilein.

'I think what you saw today is why we all love college basketball,' Beilein said after the game.

Rutgers hasn't won a Big Ten game since that day and currently owns a 26-game conference losing streak. Penn State still ended up in last place that season. Both teams finished 2-16 to tie one another for the worst Big Ten record in the last six seasons. Yet for one day, they shocked a highly rated foe.

'You can't pay attention to their record because once you do, that's when you slip up and you end up losing,' Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons said. 'You have to approach every game as it's the No. 1 team in the country. With this league, you see that. Everybody is liable to get beat at any moment.'

Despite the confounding losses, both Michigan and Wisconsin rallied to advance to the NCAA title game. Iowa didn't have to suffer the sting of defeat, but the Hawkeyes learned the same type of lesson in victory.

'Minnesota has kind of had our number,' Gesell said. 'We lost two of the last three to them. They played very well. Top to bottom, the Big Ten is one of the best leagues in the country. You definitely cannot take a night off or you're going to get beat. You see it every single year.'

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