Hlas: This month's Hawkeyes aren't last month's Hawkeyes

DES MOINES — A young team incrementally improving over the course of a season is as old a story in basketball as peach buckets, set shots, and Dick Vitale extolling the virtues of the Duke Blue Devils.

What Iowa has done over the last two weeks, though, is go from stuck in neutral to leaving their state rivals in the dust.

The unmistakable rapid growth the Hawkeyes have displayed on defense in their last two games couldn't have come at a worse time for Iowa State on Dec. 8, and for Northern Iowa Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Iowa team that lost 98-89 to Omaha in Iowa City two weeks ago — the same Omaha that lost 91-47 at Iowa State two nights later — silenced UNI 69-46 nine days after tripping up Iowa State, 78-64.

Suddenly, what had looked like a long winter for the 6-5 Hawkeyes is a good bit more upbeat. All game, the way the Hawkeye players on the bench giddily reacted to the actions of their teammates on the court told you this was a ballclub full of life.

'It's just a matter of what your potential is,' said Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery. 'It'd be different if we were incapable of playing better defense.'

The Panthers didn't help themselves by missing shot after shot in the first half. Had they sank even 35 percent of their first-half tries, they would have stayed in the game. But they were 6-of-31, and many of the shots were ones they would gladly have accepted before the game.

'When those aren't falling,' UNI's Jeremy Morgan said, 'you've got to have a different level of toughness. You've got to have even more stops than you were getting before and you've got to rebound better.'

But when your shooting goes cold it's hard to stop your entire game from going south, which UNI's did.

However, Iowa had much to do with that. The Hawkeyes didn't labor nearly as much as the Panthers for their own shots, made half their first-half shots, and cleaned up on the boards.

Here is the two-week progression of defensive stats for Iowa, ignoring a home win over Stetson because, well, it's Stetson:

Points in the paint:

Omaha 40, Iowa State 24, UNI 14.

Rebounds:

Omaha 47 to Iowa's 39, Iowa 42 to Iowa State's 39, Iowa 43 to UNI's 29.

Second-chance points:

Omaha 20, Iowa State 11, UNI 1.

McCaffery credits taking lumps for helping give his men some defensive enlightenment.

'We played Seton Hall earlier in the year,' he said. 'That team is as good an offensive team as there is in this country. That was good for us.

'We go down to Florida and play two really good teams (Virginia and Memphis), two really good offensive teams with size, with length, with shooters. The thing about Omaha, they could score and they exploited some of our weaknesses and deficiencies.

'What you do is you go to work. You correct them. The only way to get them corrected is if each and every person in that locker room is committed to making that happen.'

Unlike Iowa, UNI enjoyed success in a November Florida tourney before returning home. It beat Arizona State and Oklahoma before succumbing to an excellent Xavier club. But for the moment, the Panthers are now the ones looking for answers.

But the reality is none of the three state-school Division I men's teams are as good as they were last season. It's a surprise to say the Hawkeyes have climbed above the Cyclones and Panthers in December. But all three will strive for consistency from now through March.

'I just told the guys it's a roller coaster, like I always say,' said Hawkeye guard Peter Jok, who had 21 points and again excelled and entertained. He and Dom Uhl are the only Hawkeyes who have been through more than one Big Ten season as an active player.

Playing at Purdue is as rough an opener as a Big Ten team can face this season. That's what the Hawkeyes will face on Dec. 28.

'You'll have ups and downs. It's a long year,' Jok said. 'As long as we're getting better — and that's what we've been doing — that's all that matters.'

Jok's not only really good. He's right.