Iowa Hawkeyes cap day of change by switching to winning play, beat Minnesota, 71-59

IOWA CITY — Ahron Ulis had gone a dozen games without making a 3-pointer. Billy Taylor had gone eight tries in his career without coaching a basketball team to a win over a Big Ten team.

But you have to be flexible, able to adjust. Taylor said so himself after serving the Iowa men’s basketball team as acting head coach Sunday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes triumphed over Minnesota, 71-59.

Iowa trailed 38-34 after another lackluster first half, and had to adjust. Had to adjust its defensive intensity. Had to shoot better after 4 1/2 games of not doing so. Had to win to avoid a three-game losing streak, a 4-7 Big Ten record, and the distinct feeling this season was slipping away.

Fran McCaffery wasn’t here. He was at home, in COVID-19 protocol. Connor McCaffery, a fifth-year player, was a sideline spectator and voluntary assistant coach of sorts because of an arm contusion. Iowa had to adjust.

It did. It made 12 of its first 20 second-half shots. It forced the Gophers (2-9 Big Ten) into consecutive 30-second violations as it turned a 47-42 deficit into a 51-47 lead midway through the second half.

“Our defense was just really tough,” Taylor said. “It was tough at the start of the possession and was even tougher at the end.

“We had the urgency that we needed.”

This wasn’t Taylor’s first rodeo. He’s in his third year as an assistant coach here after winning 214 games over a 14-year head coaching career at Lehigh, Ball State and Belmont Abbey. But in eight tries against Big Ten schools — all as a smaller program playing on the road — Taylor went 0-for-8.

He had the home court and the players this day.

Speaking of players, how about Keegan Murray? The Iowa sophomore forward got out of a foul-induced funk of sorts from the Hawkeyes’ last two games.

Murray sat out over 11 minutes of the first halves of Iowa’s home loss against Purdue and its double-overtime defeat at Penn State because he committed two early fouls in both.

“Our last couple of games ended up in losses,” Murray said. “I kind of felt that was kind of my fault personally just because I wasn’t out on the floor as much as I should have been.”

Murray played all but 45 seconds Sunday, and play he did. He had 24 points and 15 rebounds, plus a team-high three assists.

Iowa changed its starting lineup for this game, moving guard Tony Perkins into a starting spot, sitting point guard Joe Toussaint, and shifting Jordan Bohannon to the point.

Sophomore Ulis got more time at the point than anyone, though, and earned it with nine points, five rebounds, and excellent defense.

Ulis hadn’t even tried a 3-pointer in his last nine games, but didn’t hesitate when he made one with 9:45 left to bump Iowa’s lead to 56-49 to cap a 14-2 Hawkeyes run. He had scored in transition on the Hawkeyes’ previous possession.

“I couldn’t buy a basket coming out for the second half," Ulis said. ”I missed a couple easy ones. So yeah, that was a big thing.“

Patrick McCaffery had a season-high 18 points for Iowa and matched his season-high of seven rebounds.

“We want to get to March Madness,” said Murray.

“This game was big for us, we knew it was big for us. … There was a message in the halftime where we’re not going to lose this game. There’s no way that we’re going to lose this game.”

It’s a message the Hawkeyes may want to recycle Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT) when they play at Maryland.

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