Hawkeyes have worked over opponents and scoreboards recently

Making shots has been the not-so-secret key to winning basketball since James Naismith took the peaches out of his peach baskets in 1891.

The Iowa men’s basketball team has made 55.3 percent of its field goal tries and 46.8 percent of its 3-point attempts over the last two games. Combine that with the Hawkeyes tending to play quickly with the ball, and you’ve got yourself some offense.

Uncommon offense, in fact. Iowa’s 110-87 win at Maryland last Thursday followed by its 98-75 triumph over Nebraska Sunday marked the first time the Hawkeyes had scored 98-plus points in two straight Big Ten games since 1988.

Only two of Fran McCaffery’s first 11 Iowa teams hit 98 points in a conference game, and there was no such 98-point Big Ten game from 1995 until the Hawkeyes scored 104 in an overtime win at Illinois in 2018.

What’s caused all this commotion? OK, Maryland and Nebraska are 13th and 14th in the Big Ten standings. But also, shooting. And more.

“I don’t think there’s anything magical,” McCaffery said Tuesday. “We play the way we always play. We move the ball, we share the ball. We kind of try to be aggressive.

“Obviously we’ve shot it pretty well from 3, that sets up a lot of opportunities for driving, for post feeds. I think our defense, as well, has been good the last two games.”

The conductor of the big bang of the last two games has been sophomore forward Keegan Murray, who scored 30 points at Maryland followed by a career-high 37 against Nebraska.

It’s the first time a player on an Iowa men’s basketball team has recorded back-to-back 30-point games in Big Ten play since Matt Gatens in 2012. No Hawkeye had scored as many points over two straight league games since Fred Brown followed a 35-point game with a 36 in 1971.

Murray is the first Iowa underclassman to notch three 30-point games in a season. He and Detroit Mercy’s Antoine Davis are the only players in the nation with three games of 35-plus points this season.

“I just think a lot of guys are getting shots (where) they like to get shots,” Murray said. “I feel like the ball’s moving really well in transition and also in the half-court offense. Our shooters are hitting open shots, which helps lots with spacing and things like that. Everyone’s just looking for each other.”

The reality is the Hawkeyes aren’t particularly likely to hang 98 points on Michigan Thursday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Wolverines, like Iowa, are 7-6 in the Big Ten. They haven’t allowed over 83 points in a game, and held explosive Purdue to 58 in a Michigan rout last Thursday.

Nonetheless, Iowa certainly appears to have cleansed its palate from its 48-46 loss at Rutgers less than a month ago.

That has proved to be an aberration, not a sign of a team about to decline. Iowa is fourth nationally in scoring, fourth in offensive efficiency

Now, the Big Ten’s top offensive team plays Michigan at home Thursday, is at Ohio State Saturday, and hosts Michigan State next Tuesday. Game on.

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