“Three-gan” Keegan Murray pours in 35 points to lead Hawkeyes past Maryland

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s Keegan Murray, Danny Manning said, “is a lottery pick.”

Manning would know, having been the No. 1 pick in the 1988 NBA draft himself after a sensational collegiate career at Kansas.

Manning is the interim coach of Maryland, which competed mightily before falling 80-75 to the Hawkeyes Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He saw Murray, the sophomore forward from Cedar Rapids, rack up 35 points to match his career-high.

“Keegan Murray is a first-round draft pick,” Manning said after the game. “He's a lottery pick. That's what one looks like. We got a chance to see it up close and personal today.

“He did it inside. He did it outside. Had some good blocks, offensive rebounds. He's the complete, total package. As a basketball fan, I appreciate what he does out there on the court. Just as a fan of the game. We didn't do enough to slow him down, but he's a handful.”

Great, the rest of the Big Ten must be saying. Now Murray is hitting his 3-pointers.

The sophomore forward from Cedar Rapids leads the nation in scoring, but being deadly from 3-point distance hadn’t been his calling card. Before the Hawkeyes’ 80-75 win over Maryland Monday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Murray had made just 30.2 percent of his 3s.

In this game, he popped in 5 of 6 in matching his career-high of 35 points.

“I saw my first (3-point) shot go in,” Murray said. “So obviously as a shooter, you think when that shot’s going, any shot can go in. I kept hitting shots, kept getting open, and they were falling.”

His biggest basket was a short shot. Tony Perkins’ jumper in the paint late in the shot clock was an air ball that Murray caught, then flipped in the basket for a 76-70 Iowa lead with 32 seconds left.

Maryland pulled within 77-75 with 10 seconds left, but Jordan Bohannon made 3 of 4 free throws after that to ice the win.

Murray is averaging 24.5 points, 2.3 more than anyone else in Division I.

“I kept hitting shots, kept getting open, and they were falling,” he said.

“My (3-point) percentage still is a little low, but I feel like I’m still a really great shooter and I’ll never see a shot I don’t like.”

Four of Murray’s 14 baskets were set up by passes from Joe Toussaint, who had nine assists.

“Luka (Garza) and him had a good connection last year,” Murray said. “I kind of want to implement that a little bit. He gets down the floor really quickly. I try to match his quickness getting down the floor, posting up as much as I can, just getting him easy assists.”

“It’s very simple,” said Toussaint. “I just tell him to get open, give him the ball. He can score anywhere, in three, midrange, lobs, layups, dunks. You name it, he scores from everywhere. It’s really easy when you have somebody like that.”

Easy, however, this game wasn’t. Iowa was crisp early in building a 24-12 lead, but Maryland ran off 11 straight points, and it was a contest the rest of the way. The Terrapins’ biggest lead was their 40-36 halftime edge.

Murray’s fifth 3-pointer gave Iowa a 54-53 lead with 12:11 left, and the Hawkeyes didn’t relinquish the advantage. Sophomore guards Perkins and Ahron Ulis were instrumental down the stretch.

Shortly after Ulis replaced Toussaint with 8:08 left, he confidently drove and scored for a 61-58 Iowa lead. On the Hawkeyes’ next possession, Ulis set up Perkins for a drive to the hoop for a score. Those were the first four points of a 9-0 run.

Maryland didn’t fold. Eric Ayala, who had 19 points, made his fifth 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to make it 77-75.

“I think we maintained our composure,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “Maryland is a talented team.

“We only turned it seven times, and I thought we did a pretty good job coming down the stretch. We did a good job against their pressure, that kind of speed and quickness — Connor (McCaffery) inbounding the ball, Tony, Ahron, Keegan doing a really good job getting open.”

Perkins made a good defensive play with 4.1 seconds left, fouling Ayala before he could take a potential game-tying 3-pointer. Ayala missed the first of his two foul shots, then fired his second off the backboard without touching the rim, a violation.

Bohannon then made two free throws to close it out.

Another Hawkeye who was in good form was senior forward Filip Rebraca. His 13 points marked his Iowa-high after he averaged 16.8 last season at North Dakota. He also had eight rebounds.

“That's who he is, what you just saw,” McCaffery said. “He's good. He's a talented guy. I think he's tried really hard to fit in. He's such a good person. He wants to win. He wants to be a great teammate. He wants to be coachable.

“And at some point you have to go after it the way he did tonight. … His aggressiveness, physicality, was really impressive. I'm happy for him.”

Iowa returns to action Thursday at No. 23 Wisconsin, which got a 74-69 road upset of No. 3 Purdue Monday.

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