Hawkeyes thrilled their fans Saturday, especially those who stayed to the end

IOWA CITY — For a while in the second half Saturday, it felt like not only was defeat imminent against Michigan State, but that the season was getting away from the Iowa men’s basketball team.

On Thursday morning, the Hawkeyes bused back to Iowa City from Madison, Wis., because the weather there Wednesday night was as rotten as Iowa’s offensive showing in a 64-52 loss to Wisconsin.

The Hawkeyes made 3 of 28 3-pointers there after going 3-for-24 from deep three days earlier in an 80-60 defeat at Northwestern.

Iowa guard Tony Perkins said the players talked to each other on the ride home from Madison, encouraging each other to keep shooting, keep believing. The team practiced Thursday as soon as it got back to Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It took some extra shots.

But it was the Spartans who kept making 3-pointers. They made 11 of their first 13 3s, and 11-of-15 overall. They made 31 of their 49 field goal tries in regulation for a dazzling 63.3 percent.

Yet, the shooting blitz of shooting blitzes came from Iowa in 38.7 seconds of shock and awe.

Connor McCaffery (twice), Kris Murray, Patrick McCaffery and Payton Sandfort sank 3-pointers in that span as Iowa turned a 95-84 deficit into a tie at 101 to force overtime. The Hawkeyes went on to a 112-106 triumph.

There’s so much to detail. Like … Iowa shot a combined 6-for-52 over those last two games, then went 17-for-36 Saturday against a Michigan State team that came in allowing foes to make just 29.3 percent of its 3s.

“We’re the leading 3-point defending in the conference, one of the better ones in the country,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said. “Give them credit, they hit some, but give us blame. We just didn’t stay disciplined.”

Izzo repeatedly blamed himself for the loss, saying “My guys, I thought they played their tails off. I thought they played as well as they could play, and we didn’t finish the job.”

Perkins was a closer. The junior hadn’t made more than two 3-pointers in a game in his career. He made three within a stretch of just over two minutes in the second half.

Perkins had five offensive rebounds. Michigan State, known for great rebounding over Izzo’s 28 years as head coach, had four.

Perkins had 24 points, and a career-high nine rebounds. He matched his personal bests in assists (6) and steals (3). He made 9 of his 12 shots and 4 of his 5 3s. He had a game.

So did Sandfort, who scored 22 points. He popped in a career-high six 3-pointers including the one that made overtime possible. Connor McCaffery handed the ball off to Sandfort for that one. It was McCaffery’s sixth assist and perhaps all-time best decision in a game.

“In the moment I really didn’t think about it,” Sandfort said. “It’s just what I do, rise to the occasion. Now it feels pretty nice.”

Most of the sellout crowd of 15,056 saw Sandfort’s shot go down. Some of those fans returned to their seats for the overtime after having made their way toward the exits before the second half was over and things looked grim indeed for Iowa.

Others left the arena too soon.

“My wife asked me, ‘Are you ready to go?’ There was approximately two minutes left and Iowa was down 10,” said Al Ulrich of North Liberty. “I sarcastically responded, ‘I guess!’

“We never leave the arena early at men's games. We are loyal fans.

“We made it to the car and we overheard the folks walking next to us say it was a two-point game with 30 seconds in regulation. I had that sinking feeling we were going to regret our early exit. It will NEVER happen again.”

And, let us not forget the staredown. Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery got a technical foul with 2:03 left in the second half and his team down 87-76. During a timeout with 1:29 remaining, McCaffery walked toward official Kelly Pfeifer before stopping a short distance from him. He put his hands on his hips and silently stared at Pfeifer for several seconds. He took a couple steps toward the official and stopped, and Pfeifer then did likewise.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” McCaffery instantly replied when asked about that moment, getting a big laugh from the reporters. The levity followed the figurative levitation of Hawkeye fans, especially those who stayed with the game to its end.

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