Iowa’s White makes statement dunk

IOWA CITY — Aaron White made a statement play in a statement game for the Iowa senior.

With 5 minutes, 26 seconds left, White stood in the right corner defended by Illinois' Rayvonte Rice as Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons veered to his right off a screen. Clemmons stared down Illinois center Nnanna Egwu in the high post, then lobbed a pass above the rim for White.

The ball was nearly a foot higher than the basket when White reached it. Yes, White can jump.

'When I came off the screen, I was kind of reading (Egwu), he took a step a second before I saw (White),' Clemmons said. 'All I could do was float the ball up and Aaron is athletic enough, I know he's going to get any pass I throw him. I mean, that's his play. If he missed that, that's on him, no matter what kind of pass it is.'

White didn't miss. He caught the ball with both hands sent it through the rim with authority to give Iowa a 10-point lead and ultimately a 68-60 win on Wednesday night.

'I'm like, 'Why did you throw it so high?'' White said. '(Clemmons) said he thought (Egwu) was going to get it, and I don't look like I can get up, but I went up and got it.'

White's dunk provided the exclamation point to one of his best performances at Iowa. White scored a career-high 29 points and at one point he notched 14 consecutive points for the Hawkeyes.

Twice in his run, White knocked down 3-pointers, both times extending Iowa's lead to four points. He finished with a personal-best three 3-pointers and has five in six attempts over his last two games. He had nine in 39 attempts in Iowa's previous 26 games.

'I swear I'm not lying when I told you guys in the past I feel like I could shoot,' White said. 'It's kind of frustrating at the end of my career they're finally going in. I'm sure the fans are like, 'Where did this come from? 'Shoot, I made two and the Illinois coach is still yelling, he can't shoot. 'All right, I'll pull another one.''

Illinois Coach John Groce offered nothing but praise for White when he sat down for his news conference. In face, Groce's first words were about White.

'He was terrific when they needed him,' Groce said. 'He came up with big buckets, rebounds and played with inspiring effort. I thought he was best player in the game, and it wasn't even close.'

White also grabbed nine rebounds and two steals in 36 minutes.

Only three regular-season games remain for White at Iowa, plus the postseason. With every game he extends his legacy. White ranks fourth in career points with 1,726, passing B.J. Armstrong. White needs just 54 points to pass Acie Earl for second place. White is fifth in all-time rebounding (854) and is three shy of tying Michael Payne for fourth.

'I kind of had this weird feeling before the game that something special was going to happen for myself and our team and sure enough it did,' White said. 'I was just in a zone there.'

'I can't hold anything back. I kind of see where this is going, a couple games left, second to last game in the building. Just leave it all out there. I had a lot of fun. This is a lot of fun playing at this level. You can't take it for granted. That's kind of what I'm doing my last go-round.'

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