Hlas: Hawkeyes bring their best at the best time

SEATTLE — Iowa ended a drought with a deluge.

The Hawkeyes men's basketball team did what so many teams talk about doing, but so few accomplish. They saved their best game for the NCAA tournament.

Anything good after Iowa's 83-52 squash of Davidson at KeyArena is gravy now. Nobody had the Hawkeyes headed to the NCAA's Round of 32 in November. Few would have had them there eight days earlier after they staggered to a Big Ten tourney loss to Penn State.

That game turned out to be a hiccup. This was a roar. And now, Iowa's 14 years without an NCAA tourney victory are over.

'We were young lads back then,' said Iowa's English center, Gabe Olaseni.

'I didn't even pay attention to that,' Hawkeye forward Jarrod Uthoff said. 'History's history. This team is this team. It's unlike any team we've had in the past how-many years.'

Now the South Region's 7th-seeded Hawkeyes go from getting a gorilla off their backs to being a certified threat to monkey with 2nd-seed Gonzaga's high expectations Sunday.

If they play like they did against Davidson, they can zap the Zags, assuming Gonzaga didn't blow its 43-30 halftime lead over North Dakota State here in Friday's late game.

'Just have to get another on Sunday,' Uthoff said. Told that was a bold statement, he replied 'You have to have confidence to win games.'

Whatever confidence Davidson had — and the regular-season champion of the Atlantic 10 Conference surely had an ample amount — was steadily drained as the game progressed. Iowa's defense was primo, and its offensive productivity was likewise.

You knew coming in that the Hawkeyes had significant advantages over the Wildcats in height and length. Aaron White, who has played as well as anyone in the nation over the last four weeks, seemed to score at will in piling up 26 points.

White alone had a 13-1 run against Davidson midway through the second half. He dunked, the stole the ball for a layup, he hit a 3-pointer, he scored on a sweeping bank. He didn't come to Seattle for the halibut.

'I said yesterday I thought he was a first-round (NBA) pick and how high in the first round would be dictated by how he does during this performance and, or during, this tournament,' said Davidson Coach Bob McKillop.

'He certainly validated what I said yesterday.'

But White wasn't an island. Making things even easier for him and Iowa's other frontcourt players, guards Mike Gesell and Peter Jok both had their first double-figure scoring games in the last six.

There were questions if Iowa's guards could defend against the cutting-and-screening expertise of the Wildcats. Instead, Davidson's players couldn't contain Jok and Gesell.

How efficient were the Hawkeyes? They didn't commit a turnover from the 13:21 mark of the first half until the 5:10 point of the second half, and had just five in the game.

What wasn't to like if you were Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery? He even enjoyed the Iowa pep members clogging up the arena hallway leading to the Hawkeyes' dressing room.

The band kids screamed with approval at the team they followed to Puget Sound. McCaffery came back to them and may have high-fived each one.

'They needed some recognition,' McCaffery said. Maybe his team does after this effort, too.

This game was a drama-free beatdown. It made for terrible television from a national point of view. And it was as wonderful a night as Hawkeye basketball has experienced in a long, long time.

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