3 Takeaways: Iowa’s confidence, B1G seeding, fan turnout, academics

IOWA CITY - In the moments following his team's 10-point loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in late December, North Florida Coach Matthew Driscoll told reporters he spotted a few negative traits about the Iowa men's basketball team.

Driscoll mentioned how Iowa players hung their heads after missing shots and how they needed to develop thicker skin. His six-minute speech served as words of wisdom, not condescension. Two months later, Driscoll's message has filtered in and stuck with Iowa's players

The Hawkeyes (18-10, 9-6 Big Ten) are on a three-game winning streak in Big Ten action for the first time this season. They are playing with confidence and toughness. Part of it is better offensive execution. But on Wednesday in a 68-60 win against Illinois, it was about matching the intensity of a desperate opponent.

'Right away, right from the opening tip it was physical,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

The lead changed nine times between the longtime border rivals. But every time Illinois moved ahead, Iowa counterpunched. The Illini took a 30-26 lead on a 3-pointer from Ahmad Starks with 3:26 left in the first half. Iowa quickly followed with a dunk from Aaron White and a layup by Gabe Olaseni, both of which were assisted by backup guard Josh Oglesby. Two possessions later, Oglesby put Iowa in the lead with a 3-pointer.

Illinois twice took the lead in the second half and kept pace with the Hawkeyes, who were guided by White's stretch of 14 consecutive points. Then Iowa completed an 11-2 run and held Illinois without a score on 10 of its next 11 possessions. Iowa forced 13 Illinois turnovers and held the Illini to just 25 percent shooting in the second half.

The intensity for both teams was obvious. Both teams are hovering near the NCAA tournament bubble, and the result will matter in the final deliberations. While the on-court play wasn't always crisp, it was fiercely contested. Iowa had to match Illinois' toughness, and it did.

'The circumstances set up for an intense game and a physical, tough game and that's what we got,” White said. 'So for us, you don't want them to bring the punch. I think we just brought it, and it was just two teams knocking heads at the beginning. We didn't play perfect, we didn't play good to be honest in the first half. We turned the ball over, we were kind of soft against their physicality. Second half, we got it clicking and the thing is we hung our hat with our defense, and that's how you win.”

Back in December, Driscoll, whose team is in competition for the Atlantic Sun Conference title, said Iowa had enough talent for success. It was all about confidence, saying, 'That's something that they've got to fix, and I think it's personal.”

Iowa's players seemed to have taken that message to heart.

2. B1G tournament scenarios.

As of Thursday afternoon, Iowa (9-6) sits in fifth in seeding for the Big Ten Tournament, but are only percentage points ahead of Ohio State (8-6) and Indiana (9-7).

Wisconsin (13-2) already has clinched a top-four seed, which allows the Badgers to wait until Friday, March 13 before playing their first game. Maryland (11-4) is second and holds tiebreakers over Michigan State (10-4), which it swept, and Purdue (10-4), which it beat once.

Unless Iowa wins its final three games, it's unlikely to gain a top-four seed. The Hawkeyes lost their only head-to-head battles with Purdue and Michigan State, so a 2-1 finish probably knots Iowa with at least one of those schools. Purdue plays at Michigan State next week.

Iowa swept Ohio State, so the Hawkeyes own that tiebreaker, and beat Maryland, but the Terrapins have a two-game advantage on the Hawkeyes. Iowa and Indiana play next week at Assembly Hall in their only meeting this season. That game also impacts seeding.

If Iowa stays as the fifth seed, it plays the winner of the 12-13 game at around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 12. The seventh seed plays the 10 at 5:30 p.m., while the sixth seed plays the 11-14 winner at around 8 p.m.

On Friday, March 13, the fourth seed faces the winner of the 5-12/13 game around 1:30 p.m.

3A. Braving the Snow.

The wintry weather affected turnout for Wednesday's game. Officially 14,831 tickets were sold, but according to Iowa officials, 7,067 tickets were scanned in.

That said, the crowd's intensity probably ranked second at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this year, just behind December's Iowa-Iowa State game (of which fans didn't have to fight the weather).

Illinois' vaunted Orange Krush returned to Carver-Hawkeye Arena after infamously crashing the arena five years ago. This time, they had a section near the top of the arena's north side. They were loud as always, and it forced Iowa's Hawk Nest to match their efforts. That made the atmosphere much better.

'I looked out the window (Wednesday) at about 12 and I thought, ‘Wow, it's coming down really good,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'We drove to pregame and it was really hard, and I was wondering what kind of crowd we would get because I felt like we needed a big crowd (Wednesday), and they were absolutely spectacular.

'You can't come up with a superlative to thank them enough for the atmosphere in this building and the impact it had on our ability to win a very competitive game.”

Illinois Coach John Groce was appreciative of his fans making the 240-mile trek from Champaign.

'It was great, especially for them to travel in inclement weather,” Groce said. 'It was great to have them. I wish we would have played a little bit better for them, but we appreciate them.”

3B. Academics first.

I generally don't write much about athletes and academics. Partly because all students are supposed to learn and get good grades, from those who pay their way to the scholarship athletes. Also, I'm more concerned about my own kids' achievements (and I'm proud to say both of my children exceeded my expectations this trimester).

But one also has to respect how difficult it is to compete in a major sport and try to fulfill academic requirements. That's why I'll make an academic exception and write about junior guard Mike Gesell's academic status here. Gesell was named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division I men's basketball third team, the first Hawkeye to earn the national academic award since Adam Haluska (first team) eight years ago.

Gesell has started every game this year and leads the Hawkeyes in assists. He averages 7.1 points a game and ranks seventh in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0). But the reason why he earned this award is his 3.93 grade-point-average. He's a native of South Sioux City, Neb., and a finance major.

In the fall, Gesell was invited to Beta Gamma Sigma, the National Scholastic Honor Society for business students at the University of Iowa. Invitees have grade-point-averages that places them in the top 10 percent of their class.

Gesell's accomplishments are too impressive to ignore. Maybe he'll handle your money someday. At least, you can only hope.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com