Hawkeyes pierce Bulldogs from long range
Hawkeye Nation turned out in force at McAlister Field House Thursday night, and did not go away disappointed.
Some 300 Iowa fans decked out in black and gold came out to see the Hawkeyes' basketball team, the first from the Big Ten to visit McAlister, pull away for a 70-48 victory over The Citadel before 2,024 spectators.
Iowa's freshman guards, Anthony Tucker and Matt Gatens, handled their first college road game with aplomb, combining for 34 points as the Hawkeyes hit 13 of 25 from 3-point range to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Tucker, who shot just 25 percent from 3-point range in the Hawkeyes' first two games, made 7 of 11 for 21 points against the 1-2 Bulldogs, while Gatens hit 3 of 5 and scored 13 points.
"I think they were a little bit worried about our size," Tucker said. "They were not as big as us, and they were trying to take away the inside and our rebounding, and they left the perimeter a little open. We were able to take advantage."
The Citadel tried to trap the Hawkeyes and hedged out hard on ball screens, but the patient Iowa offense worked the ball around for open 3-pointers, registering 15 assists on 25 buckets.
"Iowa is very disciplined and very well-coached," said Bulldogs coach Ed Conroy. "They made us defend multiple ball screens every possession, then they'd find a missed rotation or a missed assignment and made us pay.
"We have to be more mentally tough than that, but those 3-pointers they hit at the end of the shot clock really were daggers."
Sophomore guard Cameron Wells scored 21 points to lead the Bulldogs, and senior center Demetrius Nelson hit 5 of 8 shots for 11 points. But The Citadel managed just 4 of 17 from 3-point range, and the guard trio of Austin Dahn, Zach Urbanus and Cosmo Morabbi was just 1 of 11 from the floor, Urbanus making the only shot.
Dahn, averaging 11 points, got in foul trouble and was 0 of 2 in just 18 minutes.
The Citadel reduced its turnover total from 23 in Sunday's 82-59 loss at Virginia Commonwealth to 13 against Iowa. But most of those 13 were self-inflicted turnovers, and Iowa turned them into 23 points.
"They just took their time with the ball and never really tried to force the issue," Nelson said. "They did a good job of sticking with their game plan and executing it."
Down 12 at the break, the Bulldogs (1-2) closed to within six points and then five in the second half, but both times Iowa's freshman guards responded coolly.
Wells' pull-up jumper capped an 8-0 run and cut Iowa's lead to 34-28, but Gatens swished his third trey to quell that rally. And when Nelson spun low for a neat reverse layup and a 3-point play to make it 39-34, Tucker stepped back for a 3-pointer and an eight-point lead with 12:07 left.
The Bulldogs never got closer than nine after that, and Iowa's lead reached 22 late.
"You have to make jump shots against what The Citadel does," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. "And I felt like we were patient and found the open guy, and shot it extremely well without really hunting shots. It came very easy."
Spurred on by a large cadet turnout, the Bulldogs hung with the Hawkeyes early, tying the game at 16-16 on Wells' jumper in the lane with 7:05 left in the half.
But Iowa took command over the rest of the half, using a 16-2 run to build a 32-18 lead. Against a trapping Citadel defense, the Hawkeyes moved the ball around the perimeter until they found an open 3-pointer, and canned four of them in the final 6:42 of the half.
Tucker, who finished the half with 12 points, made the first three treys for a 27-16 lead, and Gatens added the fourth with 46 seconds left to make it 32-18. The Citadel's Bryan Streeter hit a rebound shot with 15 seconds left to cut the halftime margin to 32-20.
Tucker sank 4 of 7 3-pointers in the first half as the Hawkeyes, shooting 34.1 percent from 3-point distance coming in, converted 7 of 15 in the first 20 minutes.
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