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Iowa rides impressively hot shooting night to win over No. 16 North Carolina
By Paul Harvey
Published:
It turns out Iowa can win games even if Luka Garza does not score 30 points in a half.
Even with a rather unimpressive 6-for-20 from the floor, Garza did more than enough to impact the game against the Tar Heels. He finished with another double-double, putting up 16 points and 14 rebounds while also adding four blocks.
What turned out to be the big story, however, was the three-point shooting of the Hawkeyes. Iowa finished 17-for-40 (42.5%) from deep with Jordan Bohannon, CJ Frederick, and Joe Wieskamp combining to provide the made buckets.
Key Moment: Though Iowa did finish off with a 93-80 victory, the game was far from certain in the second half. In fact, the Hawkeyes blew a 12-point halftime lead and briefly trailed 66-65 with 9:52 left in the game. Iowa would take control of the game once again with a 16-4 run over three minutes of game time before rolling the rest of the way to the finish line.
Key Player: The case can be made for a number of different Hawkeyes, but we are going with Bohannon who had a game-high 24 points. He also led the three-point barrage with a 7-for-16 effort from deep and added six assists to his total.
What it means moving forward: Iowa is now 4-0 and continues to look like a true contender in the B1G and nationally with a showdown against No. 1 Gonzaga looming just down the road. The Hawkeyes were far from perfect, which honestly makes the win over the Tar Heels even more impressive. This team is talented and deep enough to win even when not at their best and can put up points in a hurry through a variety of different methods.
Next up is a showdown against in-state rival Iowa State on Friday.
Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.