Iowa men greet Norm Parker after 17-point win

IOWA CITY - Seconds after Iowa's men's basketball team completed a 70-53 win against Idaho State, the Hawkeyes walked off the court and met with a friend.

Iowa football defensive coordinator Norm Parker took in the Saturday afternoon game from the floor. As the band played “In Heaven There Is No Beer,” the players lined up and shook hands with Parker, who had part of his right leg amputated in September.

“It's huge because he's going through a lot,” Iowa junior guard Matt Gatens said. “For him to come out and support us - and he's sitting right there in a wheelchair - it's great to see. Our hearts go out to him. He's a great guy, and a great coach. To be able to show our support for him in front of our family members is great.”

It was a spontaneous gesture, which was prompted by team trainer John Streif. Parker also had a heart-filled message for one of the players.

“I talked to him about defense,” sophomore forward Eric May said. “He said it had better get better. It's something to work for.”

Parker's message resonated with the Hawkeyes (4-4), especially how the game unfolded. With 6 minutes, 18 seconds left in the first half, Iowa led 33-7. With 9:09 left in the game, Idaho State (2-4) had cut the Hawkeyes' lead to five points.

The letdown was reminiscent of Iowa's rough outing at Wake Forest on Tuesday, when the Hawkeyes built an 18-point first-half lead then watched it evaporate into a 10-point second-half deficit.

“The disconcerting thing for us is how we played at the end of the first half and how we played at the start of the second half,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “That was problematic in our previous game, obviously, so we wanted to address that and didn't care of that.

“Fortunately, we made enough plays defensively.”

Iowa scored 27 points off 23 Idaho State turnovers. But the Bengals stuck around for most of the second half. Iowa led only 60-53 with 4:48 left in the game.

But that's when the Hawkeyes got out of their funk on both ends of the court. Iowa's Jarryd Cole was fouled making a layup and hit a free throw to extend the lead to 10 points. Bryce Cartwright, who led all scorers with 15 points, sank a jumper and later iced the game with two free throws. May threw down a dramatic dunk on a fast break.

On Idaho State's final eight offensive possessions, the Bengals missed four 3-pointers and committed four turnovers.

“I thought down the stretch we had some guys make big plays and that was good to see,” McCaffery said. “So good win, but we have to get better.”