Iowa men’s basketball pulls away for 68-56 win at short-handed Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — The Iowa men’s basketball team pulled away from a three-point halftime lead to beat Minnesota, 68-56, Sunday at Williams Arena.

The Hawkeyes are 16-9 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten. The last-place Golden Gophers dropped to 7-16, 1-12.

Memorable moments

— Iowa scored 11 of the game’s first 13 points and led 16-6 when Minnesota head coach Ben Johnson called timeout with 13:32 remaining in the first half after a Kris Murray 3-pointer. Tony Perkins started aggressive, scoring the first five points on a jump shot and three-point play after a steal. He soon delivered a one-handed bounce pass to Filip Rebraca for a transition slam. The Gophers, playing their first game since last Saturday after a COVID-19 pause, took longer to warm up.

— An offensive showcase, the first half was not. Iowa shot just 33 percent from the field, 14 percent from 3-point range and 50 percent at the free throw line. The Gophers’ splits were 54-33-50, but they also had 10 turnovers, including a Patrick McCaffery steal and layup out of Iowa’s press in the final minute. The Hawkeyes had multiple opportunities at another steal on the next possession, but instead the ball ended up in the hands of Jamison Battle, who buried a 3-pointer to make it 32-29 at the break.

— Kris Murray scored nine points in the first seven minutes of the second half as Iowa extended its lead to 48-39. He started with a post-up for a layup in the first seven seconds, then finished an alley-oop layup and drilled a 3-pointer before the first media timeout. His best all-around highlight soon followed, a steal and alley-oop feed for a Filip Rebraca dunk.

— Iowa missed a lot of shots (it finished 27 of 72 from the field, 38%), but rebounded plenty of those misses (17 offensive boards). Three came on one possession, leading to a Connor McCaffery 3-pointer for a 61-51 lead and a Minnesota timeout with 5:16 to go. Murray hit a 3 on the next possession to build the scoreboard advantage back to 12. The Gophers, by the way, grabbed just two offensive boards.

Notable numbers

1 — This was Iowa’s first win against a team with a losing Big Ten record this season. The Hawkeyes were 0-4 against Wisconsin, Penn State, Nebraska and Ohio State, but 7-2 against opponents above .500 in the league, including three wins last week against teams tied for second.

11 — Iowa stole the ball from Minnesota 11 times, with Perkins, Murray and Connor McCaffery counting for three each. Iowa got 14 points off 14 Minnesota turnovers.

12 — The Hawkeyes were 12-point favorites, led by as many as 14, and won by 12.

13 — Freshmen Jaden Henley, in the starting lineup for the ninth time this season, and Joshua Ola-Joseph scored 13 straight Minnesota points in the first half — mostly at the rim — as the Gophers cut an Iowa lead that was as large as 12 to 24-22 with 5:54 left.

15.2 — Minnesota played without its injured leading scorer and rebounder, 6-foot-11 sophomore Dawson Garcia for the fifth straight game. He averages 15.2 points and 6.5 rebounds.

28 — Murray scored a game-high 28 points, four off his career high set against Penn State in January. He was 12-for-27 shooting, including 8-for-12 in the second half. Murray also tallied 14 rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

42 — Minnesota blocked nine Iowa shots, but the Hawkeyes still totaled a 42-28 edge in points in the paint.

Big picture

The win moves Iowa into a four-way tie for sixth in the Big Ten with Maryland, Michigan and Michigan State. The Hawkeyes are among eight teams with five or six league losses staring up at first-place Purdue (12-2). The top four get double-byes to the quarterfinals in the conference tournament.

What’s next?

Iowa hosts Ohio State (11-14, 3-11) at 8 p.m. Thursday (ESPN2). The Hawkeyes and Buckeyes met on Jan. 21 in Columbus, a 93-77 win for OSU. That is Ohio State’s only win in its last 12 games, including a 62-41 loss Sunday to Michigan State.

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com