Iowa gets much-needed 82-72 win over IPFW

IOWA CITY – It's debatable whether a college basketball game two days after Thanksgiving qualifies as a must-win.

Nonetheless, coming off a reality check loss to Creighton and a what's up with that loss to Campbell, you knew Iowa wanted a W Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as much as most of us needed a nap after eating all that turkey.

Despite allowing Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne (IPFW) to shoot 60.9 percent in the second half and stick around, and watching Mastodons junior guard Frank Gaines' score a game-high 25 points, the Hawkeyes snapped a two-game losing streak with an 82-72 victory.

“If you mark a guy, he can't come in and get 25. You know?” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “And, I think that's the thing that's disappointing because you can't cover a guy that talented, who has got that much of a green light, with one person.  That's a collective recognition.”

That likely was a collective sigh of relief from the crowd – announced as 9,904 but easily much less than that – with Wake Forest and the Big Ten-ACC Challenge coming up Tuesday night.

“We needed it, not only to get a win but to get a little more confidence back,” said Matt Gatens, whose 22 points led four Iowa players in double figures. “They had a guy who could score pretty much at will and they had some inside presence. It was good to see us bounce back.”

Zach McCabe and Bryce Cartwright added 12 each, and Devyn Marble 11. McCabe started for injured forward Devon Archie (sprained wrist against Campbell), but it might be a permanent move.

“I thought we had to make some change,” McCaffery said. “But it was easy because Arch sprained his wrist. He didn't practice much. He's hurting a lot.

“(Zach) deserved to be the guy. I thought he played well.”

McCabe, who helped stake Iowa to an early lead while Melsahn Basabe quickly drew two fouls and went to the bench, said he tried to give the Hawkeyes energy as a starter rather than coming off the bench. McCabe also had foul trouble, picking up his third early in the second half and joining Basabe on the sideline for a while.

“We can't allow a team to come in here and score and score and score,” McCabe said. “I think we took a step today. We just want to keep going in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, the Iowa player who drew a “great” comment from McCaffery was senior forward Andrew Brommer. He continues to play on a gimpy knee but gave Iowa an inside presence on defense that included three steals and four rebounds in 21 minutes.

“I thought he was the difference in the game,” McCaffery said. “He always seems to be in the right place.”

The Hawkeyes (4-2) led by 10 with 4:42 left before the Mastodons (2-2) cut it to four points twice. But a hook by McCabe and bank shot off a nifty move by Marble put Iowa up by eight and IPFW never drew closer than six the rest of the way.

“I understand where they're at and what they're trying to do, but they're going to be fine this season,” said IPFW coach Tony Jasick, who bemoaned his team's 24 turnovers. “I thought we came in here and competed. That is about all you can ask from your team.”

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