Gatens' grit leaves impression on teammates

IOWA CITY - Iowa sophomore Matt Gatens barely could walk from the training room across to the hall to the team's locker room at Carver-Hawkeye Arena about one hour before tip-off.

In an afternoon shootaround, Gatens sprained his left ankle so badly it was a virtual certainty he would miss Wednesday's game against Ohio State. He was helped off the court and immediately put the ankle on ice.

"About 3:30 (Iowa trainer John) Streif called me and said he sprained it during shootaround.," said Mike Gatens, Matt's father. "I called Matt, he called me at 5 and said he had it in ice, just keeping it in ice and he said, 'I'lll be able to play.'

"I saw him go down and I was like 'Oh, no,' Iowa guard Cully Payne said. "But he came back, he's strong with it. He's a tough kid. No one really doubted that he wouldn't play."

Gatens, the team's leading scorer, gritted through warm-ups with a slight limp. For the 53rd consecutive time, he appeared in the starting lineup. He barely left the court, although he was limited in movement.

"Matt played great, especially with what happened to him, where his ankle was," Iowa freshman Eric May said. "Playing on (sprained ankles) is a tough thing to do, but he came out and he battled, what 38 minutes? Coach believed in him, believed in his ankle, so you've got be proud of that."

Gatens scored six points, all of which in the first half, and dished three assists. He also had three turnovers.

When Gatens did leave the game, he stood at the end of Iowa's bench rather than sit down for a breather.

"Once you play, you need to keep playing. That's what he did," said Mike Gatens, who played under Lute Olson in the 1970s. "You just want to stay on it so it doesn't swell up and doesn't stiffen. It's unbelievable. He's a tough kid."

Gatens' performance also left an impression on his teammates.

"Definitely toughness is the word to describe Matt," Iowa junior Jarryd Cole said. "He contributed whatever he could."