Hawkeyes soaring in public eye, can they handle success?

IOWA CITY — Iowa opened some eyes when it knocked off then-No. 1 Michigan State by 13 points in Iowa City last month.

The No. 19 Hawkeyes dropped some jaws when they rallied from 19 points down to stop No. 14 Purdue 70-63 at Mackey Arena. But with its convincing 76-59 victory at No. 4 Michigan State on Thursday, Iowa now has vaulted from potential Big Ten contender to viable league favorite. And maybe more.

Consider some of headlines from the national blogs written about the Hawkeyes within hours of their dominant performance at East Lansing:

— Bleacher Report: 'The Secret Is Out: Iowa Is One of CBB's Best After Sweeping Michigan State'

— ESPN: 'Iowa Hawkeyes' win proves they are now a part of the elite club'

— Yahoo: 'Iowa rolls again, and this time Michigan State has no excuse'

Both Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis and CBS Sports' Gary Parrish ranked Iowa in their top 10. After Thursday's game, ESPN's Dan Dakich said, 'Someone is going to have to tell me a better in-league resume than Iowa has going on right now. They beat Michigan State twice, once without (Denzel) Valentine, once with Valentine. They went to Purdue on the biggest night at Purdue in years, Rick Mount night, down 17 at halftime and won.'

This collective praise is about a team that inexplicably was an afterthought nationally entering the season. Iowa returned four starters from last year's squad that won its final six Big Ten games last year. The Hawkeyes finished in a third-place tie at 12-6 and won an NCAA tournament game for the first time in 14 years by 32 points.

Yet, CBSSports.com left Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff off its top 100 list entering the season, despite third-team all-Big Ten acclaim last year. Nine different Big Ten players made the list, and none were from Iowa.

So why was there such a disconnect between the national expectations and the current state of Iowa basketball? For one, the Hawkeyes were considered Final Four dark horses two years ago with a top-10 ranking but lost seven of their final eight games. Last year, they were a solid but unranked NCAA tournament team and lost first-team all-Big Ten forward Aaron White to graduation. Unlike its Big Ten competitors, Iowa didn't add any five-star freshmen entering this season.

But Iowa's veterans improved. Uthoff leads the Big Ten in scoring (18.4 points per game) and blocked shots (52), ranks ninth in rebounding and 10th in free-throw percentage, 3-point percentage and 3-pointers per game. Jok is 15th in scoring (13.8) and his defense has soared over two seasons to rank fourth in steals (1.4). Point guard Mike Gesell ranks second in assists (6.9 per game) and sixth in steals (1.3). Center Adam Woodbury is 10th in rebounding.

They also became more confident. Iowa blew a 20-point, second-half lead at Iowa State in a one-point loss last month. Instead of sulking, the Hawkeyes became emboldened. In the aftermath players talked about learning from that defeat. Often that's empty rhetoric. In this case, it appears they have.

'That was a tough loss for us. We were up 20 or whatever we were at Iowa State in the first half,' Uthoff said. 'Then you get in a situation like this (at Michigan State), and you take the things that you learned and you put them into action.'

The lessons learned appear to be intangible. In Iowa's Big Ten wins, the Hawkeyes haven't wavered in intensity. In all but one of its previous five outings against Michigan State, Iowa held significant leads only to fall apart in clutch moments. Against the Spartans this year, the Hawkeyes maintained their toughness and execution to sweep Michigan State for the first time in 23 years.

'If you think about it, we beat Michigan State that's ranked No. 1, we went to Purdue and got a win, those are two huge wins,' Uthoff said. 'Then we played Nebraska, which is a very good team. ... I think we've proven that we can take those wins and keep building on them.'

Iowa has won 10 consecutive Big Ten regular-season games, the program's longest streak in league play since taking all 14 Big Ten games in 1969-70. The Hawkeyes have won 11 straight at home by an average of 19.4 points. Sunday's opponent, Michigan (13-4, 3-1 Big Ten), has lost its last two games in Iowa City by a combined 34 points. In the teams' only meeting last year — in Ann Arbor — Iowa won by 18.

'We've really got a challenge,' Michigan Coach John Beilein said. 'We haven't played well at Iowa the last couple of years, whether we had a final two team or a Big Ten championship team. We had a couple of wins early in my tenure here, but those games haven't been close. So we've got a big challenge in front of us.

'Who's going to go into Iowa and win this year? That's going to be a challenge for anyone. So any team that can do that, whether it's us or someone else, has a great opportunity to contend for a championship.'

Iowa has shown it can handle adversity this season by the way it responded after the Iowa State loss. Can the Hawkeyes handle success with equal effort, determination and focus? That's the difference between a good season and a great one.

'I look at it like this: we are 4-0 and that's terrific, but you know what we have coming,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'We have 14 more, all of them difficult. It is great to go on the road and win. I know what that means in terms of RPI and things like that. But it just makes the next one tougher.

'Everybody that you play, if you bring anything less than your best, they're going to beat you. Every team that we play the rest of the year. And our guys understand that. We just have to make sure that we bring our best and make sure we at least give ourselves a chance every time we take the floor.'

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