Veterans guide Iowa through first road test

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - With all the concerns of youth, experience is what guides the Iowa men's basketball team.

With Iowa starting four seniors and a junior that have played in multiple NCAA tournaments, Marquette's vivacious arena environment and talented freshmen provided no intimidation to the Hawkeyes. Thursday, Iowa's veterans sought to prove it had intimidation value of its own in an 89-61 win at the Bradley Center.

The Hawkeyes (3-0) raced to an eight-point lead before the first media timeout. Over a nine-minute period, Iowa outscored Marquette 19-4 and led 31-10. By the end of the first half, Iowa led 48-21.

'We've had so many games on the road,” Iowa senior guard Anthony Clemmons said. 'We've experienced adversity, we've experienced losses, we experienced big wins. I think we, as a unit, know how to play on the road. Now it's about getting the young guys adapted to that and trying to set a tone for them to make sure they understand this is the way you have to play when you're on the road.”

Defense was critical to the Hawkeyes' success. The guards flooded the passing lanes and pressured Marquette's guards into errant passes. The starting backcourt had 10 turnovers, including seven by Jajuan Johnson. Iowa scored 22 points off turnovers and many were converted into fast-break points.

'We just wanted to be in the gaps, we wanted to put pressure on the ball, stay down on fakes, try to make them score over us,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'Our guys executed the game plan to perfection on the defensive end of the floor, no question about it.”

They also were patient and efficient on offense. They shared the ball and found the open shooter. Iowa hit 36 of 66 shots and had 25 assists with only 12 turnovers. Peter Jok was a beneficiary, scoring 20 points and hitting seven of 12 shots.

'We talk about finding our identity as a team, which is ball movement, side-to-side,” Jok said. 'I feel like we get better shots when we move the ball like that. We're just unselfish as a team. We find the next open guy, and I think that's why we played good today, because we were unselfish.”

The game became a statement on multiple levels for Iowa. The veterans played with midseason focus from the opening tip. They wanted to prove something to Marquette and its inside tandem of Henry Ellenson and Luke Fischer. Seniors Jarrod Uthoff and Adam Woodbury combined for 25 points and 11 boards. Ellenson, a five-star freshman recruit, was held to 1 of 8 shooting for three points. Fischer scored eight but grabbed only two rebounds and fouled out.

Iowa's veterans also wanted show their younger teammates how to perform on the road in front of a hostile crowd.

'I think an environment like this, the young guys have never been in it,” Woodbury said. 'In high school they can say that they played in big games, but until you step on the college level and you play a big-time road game against a Big East opponent, you really don't know what to expect. It kind of fell on the shoulders of our older guys who had been there before, we've been through the wars and we tried to set the tone for the guys.”

'Every time we step out on the court, we want to win,” guard Mike Gesell said. 'We want to win by as many as we can. We're looking to every possession to play as hard as we can and let the results take care of themselves. I think we really showed that defensively. Coach (Kirk) Speraw had a tremendous game plan for us defensively, and we followed it perfectly, I think.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com