Hawkeyes roll Penn State, stay in first place

IOWA CITY — Winning Big Ten games by double digits almost has gotten redundant for the Iowa men's basketball team this year.

The Hawkeyes (18-4, 9-1 Big Ten) claimed their eighth league game in such fashion in a methodical 73-49 win against Penn State Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa, which is ranked fifth by the Associated Press, dominated the game in every facet. In fact, the performance embarrassed Penn State Coach Pat Chambers, who apologized to Iowa counterpart Fran McCaffery in a postgame handshake.

'We didn't give them much of a game,' said Chambers, whose team fell to 11-12 overall and 2-8 in Big Ten play.

The game got out of hand almost immediately. Iowa sped to a 14-4 lead barely six minutes into the game. Then reserve forward Ahmad Wagner emphatically powered the Hawkeyes ahead to stay with a baseline dunk. He was fouled from behind by 7-foot-1 center Jordan Dickerson, and completed a three-point play.

On Iowa's next possession, Wagner caromed a shot off the glass to put the Hawkeyes ahead 19-7. But it was his dunk that left his teammates — like senior guard Anthony Clemmons — talking to themselves during the ensuing break.

'Finally,' Clemmons said, 'because everybody's been preaching, 'Go up and dunk it every time.' He has this unbelievable first step where he can get past a guy. He has a quick bounce of getting to the rim, almost like how Aaron White was. He's so strong with it. To see him do that, it only shows flashes of what's to come in the next few years.'

A. Wagner made Dunk. - ESPN Video

Iowa's offense soared from there, highlighted with 3-pointers from Dom Uhl, Jarrod Uthoff and Nicholas Baer. Uhl capped the half with a power dunk off his own miss to push Iowa ahead 45-26 at the break.

Penn State failed to keep up. The Nittany Lions connected on just one of 20 3-point attempts and missed half of their 12 free throws. While Penn State grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, it scored just 13 second-chance points.

'You can't play a great team — a top-25 team — and shoot for 1 for 20 (from 3-point range) or 6 for 12 from the free-throw line,' Chamber said. 'It's just not possible.'

'I thought right from the outset, our defense set the tone,' McCaffery said. 'We got stops. We got run-outs and kind of established how we want to play. I mean, I'd like to think our defense was completely responsible for 1 for 20; they had a bad night.'

Iowa center Adam Woodbury grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in 22 minutes. Forward Jarrod Uthoff, the Big Ten's leading scorer, led the Hawkeyes with 14 points. Peter Jok and Clemmons each added 12.

Big Ten co-leaders Iowa and Indiana appear on a natural collision course next week for first place in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers set the pace on Tuesday with a double-digit win at Michigan. Iowa's win knotted their league marks at 9-1.

Indiana (19-4) plays at Penn State on Saturday, and Iowa plays at Illinois (11-12, 3-7) on Sunday before their showdown in Bloomington on Feb. 11. But that's of little consequence to the Iowa players.

'All we're looking for is getting a win at Illinois next week,' Uthoff said. 'That's how you have to approach it. If you do it over the course of time, we're going to reach our goal.'

The Hawkeyes have their best 22-game start since the 1986-87 squad opened the season 20-2. While the players are keeping a narrow approach, the wins are piling up. And so is the excitement.

'One of the things Fran talked about in the locker room was you're 9-1, don't take this for granted,' Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta said. 'Enjoy this. You worked hard, you played well. Then we'll get for the next one. It's exciting.'

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