Gopher Basketball
| Game Info | |
| Opponent: | Iowa Hawkeyes |
| When: | 1:00 pm, February 9th, 2008 |
| Where: | Williams Arena – Minneapolis, MN |
| Television: | ESPN |
It’s that magical time of the year again. That time when 1,000s of people chant their distaste for our neighbors to the south.
Let me use this forum to push my favorite modified version of the “œWho Hates Iowa?” chant.
Call: Who cans the beans?
Reply: IOWA CANS THE BEANS!
As always, please feel free to correct mistakes, add additional information you find interesting or post differing opinions by replying in the basketball forum.
University of Iowa, at a glance
- Despite having the nation’s 2nd largest collection of extinct sloth bones, Iowa only ranks 8th in paleontology. Don’t sloth bones count for anything?
- The trampoline was invented by Iowa faculty members in 1935, which is interesting simply because it instantly because the most fun thing to do in the entire state of Iowa.
- Despite the “œTigerhawk” logo that resembles a bird’s head, the only connection between an actual hawk and the nickname Hawkeyes is that the chief who, with his tribe, were defeated by the people of Iowa in 1832 happened to be named after a hawk.
- Notable U of I alumni include: Tom Arnold, known for his marriage to Roseanne and being good with knots, Bret Bielema who remembers his time at Iowa through a Hawkeye tattoo on his ankle (yes, just where that skank from the bar has her butterfly tattoo), Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, former Viking head coach Dennis Green, and longtime Gopher football pariah Lou Holtz.
A Brief History of Gopher/Iowa basketball
Minnesota/Iowa is one of the oldest rivalries of the Big 10. Minnesota has played Iowa 172 times in basketball, which is the second-most of any opponent (Wisconsin is the most-played opponent with 174 meetings to date). Despite having played two fewer games, the Minnesota/Iowa series is actually older than the Wisconsin series”¦ by two weeks. The two schools played their first game on February 3, 1900. The Gophers hosted the Hawkeyes at the Armory and scored a dominating 30 ““ 4 victory. Minnesota followed that performance up with a 38-5 massacre in February of 1901. At the time, the 38 points were the most ever scored by a Gopher team. That record was matched in their next game against the Fargo YMCA and then broken later in the season against Wisconsin. It would be 1908 before the teams played a game where Minnesota won by fewer than 20 points, and 1909 before Iowa defeated Minnesota. Minnesota and Iowa have played at least once head-to-head every season since 1936-1937.
The Gophers controlled the series into the 1920s before Iowa began consistently winning games. Much of the rivalry is predicated on a balance of power, and many coaches through Minnesota’s history have had records that hovered around .500 against the Hawkeyes. Obviously the same holds true for Iowa coaches. Despite being unblemished against the hated Badgers, Bill Musselman managed just a 3-5 record against Iowa. He was followed by Jim Dutcher who finished 11-11 in a run that featured more season sweeps by one team or the other (6) than splits (5). Clem Haskins, based on on-court results and not official NCAA records, was 12-14 against Iowa. In fact, only George Hanson, who coached the Gophers for a single season in 1970-1971, finished his career at Minnesota undefeated against Iowa. He was 1-0.
Recently though, the Haweyes have begun controlling the series. Since Dan Monson took over the Gophers in the 1999-2000 season, the Gophers are 5-13 against Iowa, including 0-2 in Big 10 Tournament games. The last win for Minnesota came in the 2005-2006 season when the Gophers beat the Hawkeyes 74-61 to the delight of the Williams Arena crowd. The current streak in the series is Iowa with four in a row, representing consecutive season sweeps the last two years.
The all-time series, if results are not altered for forfeited games is Minnesota 96-76. The official all-time series, with Clem’s games removed, is Minnesota 89-83.
Iowa this season
Iowa has had a tough go of it this season under 1st year head coach Todd Lickliter, currently sitting at an overall record of 11-12. The team has looked better of late though, and has pulled even with Minnesota (4-5) in the Big 10 standings (4-7) based on wins. Obviously, Iowa has played two more games in conference to this point.
Non-conference: After a 4-0 start, Iowa went on to lose four straight ““ all at home ““ to Bradley, Utah State, Wake Forest (as part of the Big 10/ACC Challenge, many will remember the embarrassing amount of fans in the stands from watching on ESPN2) and Lousiana-Monroe. The non-conference season also brought in-state losses to Iowa State and Drake within one week of each other. Over the course of the non-conference season, Iowa was 7-6, including 6-5 at the morgue known as Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
In-conference: Iowa began Big 10 play with 3 tough games, all losses, against Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio State, the latter two both on the road. The Buckeyes came out and got a huge lead early in their game before coasting to a 79-48 victory. Since that game, Iowa is 4-4 including a home upset over Michigan State. Despite the game being a 43-36 snooze-fest against a solid, but not nationally elite, team, Iowa fans decided to rush the court as the gesture becomes cheaper by the week.
Iowa is averaging 56.8 points per game this season, which is by far the worst in the Big 10. The next closest average is Northwestern, at 64.6 points per game. On defense though, the Hawkeyes have been solid, allowing 57.4 per contest, good enough for 2nd in the Big 10.
Iowa has struggled on the road this season, with their only victories coming at Northern Iowa and Michigan, which aren’t exactly the toughest places to play, at least this year. The one thing that could keep this game close and keep the Barn quieter than it could (and should) be is Iowa’s defense, which ““ prior to playing Wisconsin ““ had held its last three opponents to 49, 51 and 48 points.
The Hawkeyes you should know
11 ““ Tony Freeman (Jr.) Guard ““ Maywood, IL (St. Joseph’s HS)
MPG 34.1 PPG 14.9 RPG 3.1 APG 3.1
-Tony hasn’t done a great job of taking care of the ball this year, with 46 turnovers compared to 44 assists. *It should be noted that almost every guard on the Iowa roster has more turnovers than assists on the season
-Tony missed the first 9 game of the season (Iowa was 5-4) and 10 of the first 11 games
-Since his return, Tony has played 30 or more minutes in 10 out of 13 games, including 8 games of 37 minutes or more, and 2 full 40 minute games, including earlier this week against Wisconsin
-Before this season, Tony had never played more than 34 minutes
-Tony shot 3 for 14 in the 5 point loss to Drake and again in the 3 point loss to Indiana. As a leading scorer for the team, could Tony’s performance be big part of these losses?
-Tony also fouled out of the Indiana game
-Despite being in the spring semester of his junior year, Tony maintains an “œopen major.”
15 ““ Dan Bohall (So.) Guard ““ Sioux City, IA (East HS)
MPG 14.4 PPG 3.1 RPG 1.3 APG 1.9
-Dan has played significantly fewer minutes during the Big 10 season, playing just 23 minutes since the season began
-Dan has yet to make a shot in the Big 10 season, shooting 0 for 4 from the field and 0 for 2 from the free throw line. All 4 shots from the field have been 3-pointers
-Dan has as many fouls in Big 10 play as he has shots attempted (4)
-Dan saw significantly more action while Tony Freeman was out at the beginning of the season
-Dan is 12 for 46 from the floor for his career, a meager 26.1%
-Dan didn’t hit a single shot from the floor during his freshman year (0 for 6)
24 ““ Justin Johnson (Sr.) Guard ““ Tyler, TX (John Tyler HS / Tyler CC)
MPG 35.2 PPG 13.4 RPG 4.9 APG 2.0
-Justin has struggled earlier this week against Wisconsin, shooting 1 for 9, including 1 for 5 from beyond the arc.
-Justin has had other struggles this season from the floor. These include 1 for 6 performances against Indiana (L) and Michigan (W), 1 for 11 against Michigan State in his team’s upset victory, 3 for 13 against Ohio State (L), 3 for 15 against Iowa State (L), and 3 for 15 against Wake Forest (L)
-Don’t let his bad games fool you, as Justin is also capable of putting it together. In the second meeting with Ohio State, he dropped 8 for 13 from behind the arc. He had the exact same state in the team’s first loss to Indiana.
-Justin has played 31 minutes or more in all but one game this season. He has played 37 or more minutes 9 times.
-Despite grabbing a decent amount of rebounds and playing physically at times, Justin averages a free throw once every 22 minutes on the floor. He has only attempted 37 on the season
-Justin, like Tony, maintains an “œopen major.” What the hell is this? This kid is a senior who transferred from a juco program, and he doesn’t have a definitive major?
30 ““ Jeff Peterson (Fr.) Guard ““ Hyattsville, MD (DeMatha Catholic HS)
MPG 27.5 PPG 6.0 RPG 2.2 APG 3.3
-Jeff has had a tough go of it from the outside this year, shooting just 10 for 34 (23.3%)
-Much of that is due to a streak of 8 straight games (starting with SE Lousiana and rolling through the second meeting with Indiana) where he attempted at least 1 3-pointer and didn’t make a single one. In total over that stretch, he was 0 for 13
-Jeff’s FG pct overall is nothing to write home to Hyattsville about either. He’s hit 41 of 125 on the season (32.8%). His 2 for 9 in a 3 point loss to Indiana and a 2 for 10 against Iowa State stand out as particularly rough nights
-Jeff’s banner game this season was against Penn State ““ as I imagine is the case for many players ““ where he was perfect from the floor and the stripe, dropping 19 points. He hasn’t scored more than 8 against any other Big 10 opponent
-Jeff’s high school team, DeMatha, was ofter among the USA Today rankings as a top program in the country
32 ““ Jake Kelly (Fr.) Guard ““ Carmel, IN (Carmel HS)
MPG 26.0 PPG 6.3 RPG 2.0 APG 1.8
-Jake has fouled out of three games this year: Wake Forest, UL-Monroe and the first meeting against Wisconsin. Iowa lost all three of these games
-Jake has had several games this year where he has committed multiple turnovers without recording an assist. Most recently, it happened in back-to-back games against Purdue and Penn State (0 asts, 3 TOs each game)
-Jake will foul if you attack him, average a foul every 10 minutes played
44 ““ Cyrus Tate (Jr.) Forward ““ Chicago, IL (Homewood-Flossmoor HS / Northeast CC)
MPG 18.9 PPG 6.3 RPG 4.6 APG 0.2
-Cyrus played limited minutes in the non-conference season, but has been averaging 27.5 minutes per game in Big 10 play
-Cyrus has struggled at times from the free throw line this year, shooting 56% on the season. This includes 5 for 11 against Michigan and 5 for 12 against Michigan State. He did have a better day against Wisconsin earlier this week, shooting 7 for 9
-Cyrus has been an inconsistent scorer as well. In his last 6 games he has (respectively) 21, 8, 7, 2, 2 and 15
-Cyrus fouled out of the Northern Iowa game in just 20 minutes, and amazingly fouled out of the SE Louisiana game in just 14
52 ““ Kurt Looby (Sr.) Forward ““ St. John’s, Anigua (Clare Hall Secondary / Tyler CC)
MPG 20.7 PPG 4.7 RPG 5.8 APG 0.6
-Kurt has been pretty bad from the charity stripe this year, hitting just 15 for 32 (46.9%). For his career, Kurt is 53.8% free throw shooter
-Kurt’s major contributions to the team, traditionally, are shot blocking and rebounding. He hasn’t been that great at either lately though, blocking just 3 shots in the last 6 games and averaging 3.5 rebounds/game during that time
-Kurt did not play basketball during his high school career at Clare Hall Secondary in Antigua
-Kurt is majoring in “œAfrican American World Studies”
53 ““ Seth Gorney (Sr.) Center ““ Vandalia, OH (Butler HS)
MPG 23.5 PPG 4.1 RPG 4.9 APG 1.1
-Since the beginning of the Big 10 season, Seth has seen more action, averaging 31.5 minutes/game
-Seth doesn’t get to the free throw line very often for a 7-foot center, having taken only 53 free throws in his career at Iowa, spanning 1,358 minutes players. That’s one free throw every 25.6 minutes
-Seth is currently having his worst season shooting of his career. Coming into this year, he was a career 58.6% FG shooter. This year he’s shooting 44.6%
-Despite being 7 feet tall, Seth has only grabbed 10+ rebounds 3 times in 24 games played, most recently 12 against Michigan in mid-January
-Also interesting for a 7-footer is that Seth doesn’t block many shots. In his 1,358 career minutes, he’s block just 27 shots, an average of 1 block every 50.3 minutes. This year he’s right on average, blocking 11 in 563 minutes, 1 every 51.2 minutes
Talk about the Gopher – Iowa matchup on Tubby’s Barn message board.