Hlas: Shooting stars rocket Hawkeyes to rarefied air

IOWA CITY — When a basketball team can shoot, it becomes both stylish and savage at the same time.

Here was Iowa from the 14:56 to the 13:26 marks of Sunday's second half here:

Brady Ellingson for 3: Good. Nicholas Baer for 3: Good. Dom Uhl for 3: Good.

A 47-41 Hawkeyes lead was 56-41. The explosion left the Purdue Boilermakers in the dust, and Iowa's two-point halftime deficit quickly became a distant memory. The Hawkeyes continued their swath of devastation through the Big Ten with an 83-71 win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Those three players are all substitutes, by the way. They were among the six Hawkeyes who made threes as Iowa upped its conference record to 7-0.

For any dissertation you can give about why Iowa will be elevated into the nation's top five on Monday, 3-point shooting has to be in the opening remarks.

Last season, when the Hawkeyes went 12-6 in the Big Ten, they were just 34.4 percent from 3-point land, and made 5.4 threes per game in Big Ten play.

This season they're averaging 8.9 threes in league games after going 11-for-20 from that distance Sunday. They are 41.0 percent overall (10th-best in the nation) and lead the Big Ten in league games at 43.7 percent.

Only four previous Iowa teams have made 40 percent of their 3-pointers over a full season, and each played when the 3-point line was 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket, not the current 20-9. Why is this year's team so good from so deep?

'We're better at spacing on the floor,' said Iowa senior Jarrod Uthoff. 'We have four people who can shoot threes, maybe five at any given time, so that enables us to space the floor a lot better.'

Oh, there's also Uthoff himself. He canned 4 of his 5 three-pointers Sunday in a typical 22-point effort. Over the seven conference games, he's 17-of-33 from behind the arc. That's 51.5 percent, great for anyone, ridiculous for a 6-foot-9 player.

'They're proficient shooting 3-pointers against people of size, and that brings us out,' said Purdue Coach Matt Painter. 'That's what really gives us a problem, when (we) have two 7-footers.

'Iowa does a good job of getting threes, but also getting drives and getting the ball to the rim. They have a well-balanced attack.'

Defenses can't key on Uthoff and Peter Jok without leaving themselves subject to burn marks. Uhl has made 10 of his 15 three-point tries in Big Ten games. Baer has made 43.9 percent of his threes this season. Uhl is 6-foot-9 and Baer 6-7.

Ellingson went the first six Big Ten games without making a 3-pointer. He played sparingly the last two games and didn't take a shot. So he comes in Sunday, plays 11 minutes, and pops in a pair of 3-pointers.

'I always have confidence in my shot,' Ellingson said. That may be the team's mantra.

Maybe the shot of this game that best defines this team, however, was a 2-point jumper.

With 5:10 left, Iowa ahead 68-56 and Jok driving 1-on-1 against ace Purdue defender Rapheal Davis in transition, Jok pulled up and took a long 2-pointer with no one under the basket to rebound. Had he missed, it would probably have been the equivalent of a turnover. But he didn't miss.

'You never know who's going to get hot,' said Jok, who has made 43.9 percent of his threes in Big Ten games. 'Anybody can go off at any second.'

Anybody and almost everybody. Jok. Bang! Uhl, Baer, Ellingson. Bang, bang, bang! Uthoff. Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Iowa's first top five appearance since the 1988-89 season comes on Monday. The Hawkeyes are going in with, well, a bang.