Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Instant Reaction: Iowa Hoops comeback win vs. Indiana 91-89

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

Trent Condon made it back from Iowa City and reacts to the Hawkeyes overcoming a 21 point deficit to knock off 15th ranked Indiana.A look at the incredible play from Kris Murray, Filip Rebraca and Connor McCaffery, the work off the bench from Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort and what it means for the Hawkeyes going forward.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Back home and ready to roll here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Back from Iowa City and what a night it was as Iowa comes back in their biggest comeback victory in Big Ten play and Carver-Hawkeye Arena history on the 40th anniversary. Iowa gets it done, 91-89 over Indiana. A wild game, Iowa down big early on. They battle back, We talk about that. And what does it mean for this Iowa basketball team going forward?

All today on Locked on Hawkeyes. Our Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Trent Cotton, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen each and every day. Available wherever you get your podcasts. Hit us up with a five-star review. And you can also find us on YouTube.

Hit that subscribe button and help us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode of the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline, top all the time for your sports betting information. It has you covered all season long with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. Bet online where the game starts. Well, we are back. Our throats struggling again as we've been battling what feels like a bit of a cold here for a month. And well, it wasn't the cold that got me tonight. It was a couple of instances of going after the officiating crew in Iowa City. What a night it was. Iowa out of the gates, down right away, 23-4.

So made the decision today, a couple of tickets, decided to take my daughter. She's in second grade. She's liking the Hawkeyes, getting into sports a little bit more. She's played soccer and basketball and done gymnastics and done all those things but becoming more interested and just on a personal note here it was just a great experience it really was i didn't know how into the game she would be she was locked in from the get-go i mean there was a time i was looking down at the phone and hopping on twitter and she said dad come on the game's going on let's go and so she got after the old man a little bit but man what a fun game it looked like all right we had the trip over a little tough on a school night she was gonna have to probably sleep it on

the way home and we knew it was gonna be a late night but she was excited for it I was excited to get back to Carver and though there weren't many of us in attendance it was not a banked out house by any means at Carver Hawkeye with the top 15 team and incredibly disappointing to see that the people that were there, they were making noise, including myself a couple of times yelling at little, well, that's a little anymore, Larry Scorato, Courtney Green, who continues to have some kind of issue with Fran McCaffrey and the Iowa basketball program. I mean, this guy, frankly, he's a terrible official. I mean, there's no if, answer, but about it. And if you've been listening to me for a while here on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast,

if you've heard me on radio now for the last two decades here in the state, talking sports and talking Hawkeyes, you know, I am not, and especially in basketball, I am not a complaint about the officials guy. Any game, there are going to be calls that are going to go against you. I don't like the mentality. I think it's an excuse. I think it's a loser way out. Are there bad calls that go against you?

Absolutely. Courtney Green, though, there's something about the guy. It has not gone well with him and Freya McCaffrey throughout the time. Got the early technical. And then we have the weird end of game scenario. So again, I was at the game. We were behind the Iowa bench. We were 25 rows up or so. So couldn't hear exactly what was going on, but had a good vantage point as Fran makes his way over towards the Indiana bench. No, it started one of the assistant coaches for Indiana. he was saying something.

He was out on the floor. He was out of the coach's box, and he was talking to an official. When Fran saw that decision that he was going to go over, and he was going to make sure that he was part of the conversation. Now, things went from there. That's open to interpretation. But at least from the vantage point, that's what I saw. I didn't think it was a big deal.

But then, as things seem relatively calm, and a game, tight ball game, you don't want an official to make the call to change the outcome of the game or to really decide after just a brutal call against Philip Rabracha. But as this is happening, so Fran's over there, the assistant's over there,

and there's some John. Okay, whatever. But one of the officials made the sign for a tee. He gave the tee sign, right? Now, normally, in fact, when Fran got the tee in the first half, I mean, it's boom. Above your head, technical foul, very simple, right? You have that aspect, and we've all seen it. You watch basketball, you've seen that happen.

The weird part about what I saw from the official is it wasn't raising his arms up to make the technical call. He put his hands together, but it was almost below his waist. And I wonder, and this is just me speculating at this point. I do wonder if it was him saying, I'm going to give you a technical if you don't shut up for all intents and purposes and something like that. I wonder if that's what it was or if it wasn't a technical. Now, I haven't seen the TV broadcast.

Raptor and Benetti, they obviously are more clued in. Officials come over, explain things to them and the TV crew. So I could be all wet on this. I'm going to go back here late tonight, have a beer and talk and rewatch the game here this evening. But from what I saw from my vantage point again just speculating just wondering if possibly that was it he was not giving a technical he was saying if you guys don't shut up i'm gonna give you a t and he kind of made the signal kind of below his waist not actually giving a technical who knows maybe somebody does we'll see there'll be more

about that going forward iowa got a bad whistle for a long time. Indiana got a bad whistle at times. Ultimately, that's going to happen in basketball. Now, after the game, Woodson, he wasn't pleased. The Indiana coach, who has some detractors out there, which was interesting to see some some Indiana fans, none too pleased about their head coach and what he's done really the last couple of years with the talent that they have assembled over there. So after the game, he said, that's bullcrap. And he didn't say bullcrap. The guy should have been thrown out of the goddamn game. Unquote. That is from Mike Woodson after the game with McCaffrey coming over towards their bench. Again, he wasn't going at their bench. I think we need to put that out there too. It's not like he was chasing him

down. He wasn't jumping into the huddle. He wasn't doing anything like that. It's not what it was at all. He was going over after seeing one of the assistant coaches go pretty heavy after official. He wanted an explanation as well. In fact, when it was happening, I believe that Fran, and you see this happen a lot, was asking for both coaches to get together there at midcourt, right at the scores table, and they were going to go that direction. That's not the way that it played out, but not too bad. Mike Woodson, not pleased about that one.

First win of the year in Big Ten play. It was necessary. So many guys that we need to call out in the effort that they gave, not just what we saw from Phillip Rabracha. Battling inside again against Trace Jackson Davis with not a whole lot of help, nearly played the entire game. He got an awful call late in the game. In fact, a couple of those fouls late were pretty ticky tacky against Rabracha, but he was battling. He was playing hard. He was so, so good at an incredibly difficult matchup inside against one of the most talented guys in college basketball. Of course,

you have that. The performance again from Chris Murray, who looked completely lost early in the game, had a missed free throw, not just a miss, an air-balled free throw, then came back and hit a couple of free throws. And then the decision by him and Connor to end the ball game with three seconds left, run the fly pattern. And you could see it on, Connor just points, says go. And he does. And a beautiful pass by Connor.

Chris goes up, gets the ball, gets away. No foul was able to be called. No, he wasn't able to be grabbed. Chucks it in the air and the Hawkeyes get the victory. Those three guys were so good, but they were not alone. We're going to break things down on that front, talk about the performances that we saw in this one, and a fun night from Carver Hawkeye Arena.

It's a late night, early morning edition here of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. We'll take a quick timeout, come back with more on the other side, breaking down the game, and also look forward. What's this Iowa basketball team win number one of the Big Ten? Still one and three in Big Ten play. Still a lot of work that needs to be done, but a glimmer of hope?

Possibly. That's next on Locked on Hawkeyes. today's episode of the lockdown hawkeyes podcast is brought to you by built bar so we're in the new year right you're looking to eat a little healthier looking to head that route i'm getting on the bike a little bit more but still got those cravings in fact late night here i'm thinking about that after getting back from iowa city well if you're looking for a great treat and you don't want all this fat and calories then you have to try built bar get through the holidays i know my goal a little healthier this year talked about hopping on the bike also eating that's a part of it too

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us as we talk about Iowa's 91-89 victory against Indiana. So we talked there at the top about some of the performances that we saw out of this squad and starting with the leading scorer in the game, Chris Murray plays all 40 minutes. He goes 11 of 18 from the field, three three-pointers in the game, 10 rebounds, a couple of steals, only one turnover. He was all over the place. Had a couple of blocks. He just, he was playing at the level that you anticipate. But early in the game, as Iowa gets behind 23 to four, Bill Probraccia in one of the huddles was getting after him. I mean, he was telling him

in no uncertain terms, hey, get your head in the game. And maybe there was getting after him. I mean, he was telling him in no uncertain terms, hey, get your head in the game. And maybe there was some Serbian in there. I'm not exactly sure, but you could tell. Very demonstrative. Get Chris going. They have to have it. He's by far their most talented player.

I mean, this team is only going to go as far as Chris Murray can lead them. Is it fair? I mean, not, but it's reality. The reality is they need him at their best if they're going to be able to do anything this season. He was great tonight and a lot of big moments for Iowa. Rabracha, what more can you say?

Just an absolute bulldog, a warrior in there. He's giving up size. He's giving up height. Trace Jackson Davis, one of the most talented players in the Big Ten, if not the most talented guy. And he's battling in there. 19 points, 10 rebounds, a couple of assists. He was doing a little bit of everything throughout the course of the game. He nearly played the entire game, nearly 38 minutes, 37 minutes and 53 seconds for Rob Rocha. And finally, Connor McCaffrey hit a couple of huge

three-pointers in the game. So clutch at the free throw line. He goes six of six. Finishes with 16 points. Had three assists in the game. He was all over the place. But in a night where the starting backcourt struggled once again, Uless is just not happening for him. It just isn't. Stuck around.

A lot of people anticipated he was going to be a guy that was going to enter the transfer portal. He didn't do that. He's been rewarded with minutes with a starting opportunity it just has not gone very well had a couple of flashes but overall it's not been a good season for Aaron Uless and Tony Perkins is a guy that I thought was going to turn into a star that's a miss on my part something's off something's not right there's frustration you can see at times with him. He was better at times here, but there's still too many of those moments when he's not playing well

and some of the poutiness comes out and some of the frustrations start to build. I just can't afford that. They need Tony Perkins playing at his highest level if they're going to get back even close into bubble consideration. They need Tony Perkins to play well. I mean, frankly, he's probably got to be the second or third best player on this team

if they're going to accomplish that. But a night where those two guys are struggling. DeSante Bowen, the freshman, gave him a few good minutes in the first half overall. He played 10 minutes. I thought he was solid in the game. Had a beautiful reverse layup in there. He was all right. But it was the play of Peyton Sanford the guy that has been much

maligned this year he has had a whole whole set of issues shooting the basketball talked about it he was 0-4 in Big Ten play coming in what 0 of 18 from the floor coming in in the three Big Ten games hit a shot early in the game you could just hear the elation from the crowd and and trying to support him throughout this one. It wasn't just the shooting, though. He was doing other things. He was competent on the defensive end. He was helping out in different ways.

He was hitting shots inside the three-point arc. He was doing a little bit of everything, and that's what you need. And he saw some of that swagger, some of that confidence start to come back for Peyton Sanford. And then finally, Josh Dix. He only played just shy of 10 minutes in the game, but boy, were they impactful. He hit a big three. That was great. But it was what he did on the other end of the floor. Now, in a night where Iowa gave up 89 early in the game, Indiana was on pace for like 180 points. I mean, they were just playing at a ridiculous level. When he came

in both times, and certainly in the second half when Iowa made the run to get back into the game even closer and ultimately take the lead, it was his defensive presence, his ability to close out under control to the guys in the corner. They're playing a lot of zone. His ability to get sideline to sideline, to make the smart play. I think we saw certainly the maturation tonight of the freshman Josh Dix. And Dix is important. Another guy that with the woes that we've seen from Sanford this year, when we've seen obviously the depletion of this team now, minus Patrick McCaffrey, you're going to need minutes out of him. And he's showing an ability right now.

Is he's where he's going to be? He's not. And working off that injury that he had a year ago, one of the most gruesome injuries you're going to see in a basketball game for him to be back. This is not what we're going to see from him athletically. I saw him before the injury, much more bouncier than I anticipated. There's a little more wiggle to his game and hopefully he'll be able to regain that and then build past it in the future years. But he's a guy just was playing so smart and a team that isn't very good good defensively you need guys that can come in there and help you out and josh dicks

was able to do that even riley mulvey that came in there only played a couple minutes but boy he just he was able to give a bracha blow he didn't look overwhelmed and the night where a gundelay wasn't available again with the knee injury he looked okay at this point from what we see not a rival riley mulvey you take okay. Look at these numbers though, the plus minus, and they're crazy. So your leader in plus minus in this game, and all this measures is when you're on the floor, score more points or less points. Very simple equation. I think some people overreact to some of those numbers that you see. But your highest plus minus player was Peyton Sanford, plus 24 in the game. Right behind him, DeSante Bowen.

He was plus six in the game. The only two starters that were on the plus side in the plus minus were Phillip Abraci. He was plus three. Chris Murray was plus two. But a minus 14 from Aaron Ulis and a minus nine from Tony Perkins I think that says a whole lot about those two guys hit the panic button no you got the win you found a way down 21 points again this is the third biggest comeback victory in Iowa basketball history the biggest ever at Carver and the biggest in program history a 23 point comeback against

Gardner Webb back in November of 2012 with Fran and company as they were building the program up back up. The other one, you old-timers like me, you'll remember this one, 1987, as Iowa remained undefeated in the comeback win at Illinois. Oh, that was a beauty. B.J. Armstrong hit the shot late in that one. There were some antics. There was some pushing and shoving. Two hit the shot late in that one. There were some antics. There was some

pushing and shoving. Two teams that didn't like each other. Iowa that year, of course, lost in the Elite Eight the last time the Hawkeyes were in an Elite Eight. Came in 1987 in Dr. Tom's first season. What a team that was. Kevin Gamble, B.J. Armstrong, Roy Marble. In fact, you see those guys? No, over that shoulder. There they are. Right over my shoulder there. Roy, BJ, and Ed, that three-headed monster, the guys that were sophomores on that team, Gamble, Lohaus, they were absolutely loaded that season. You saw Illinois and Michigan get there. Ultimately, it was Indiana getting to the national championship.

And, no, yeah, Indiana winning it with Steve Alford. Yuck. uh winning that national championship unlv got i win the lead eight that's a story for another day for you young timers but you know uh in a night like that just a really cool moment and it was also the 40th anniversary of carver hawkeye arena opening so open in january of. I was two. Don't remember that one. Memory bank goes back a while. Not that far back.

You old-timers maybe can help me out. In fact, before the game, stopped off and had dinner with a couple of my buddies, Jace, who you see here, who joins me on the podcast, his dad. Mr. Bisgard was my principal in elementary school, and everybody during that time period at Osage, and it was great to catch up and reminisce about some of those good memories. And another big question that was out there really all day long, how's Iowa favoring this game? Iowa favored by one and a half.

They win it by two. Vegas knows. What does this mean for Iowa basketball? How excited should we get? Is it time to buy in a little bit more? We'll get into that. What the future holds for this season, at the very least. What can Iowa do to get back? It is a big, big hole that they have dug themselves. Can they dig out of it and get themselves, at minimum,

back in bubble conversation? We'll talk about that next year on Locked on Hawkeyes. Trey Connick back with you one final time. On the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes. Your first listen each and every day. Make sure to check out Lockdown Sports today. The biggest stories around the sports world in 20 minutes or less. Instant reaction, game recaps, and Lockdown's take of the day. Lockdown Sports today available on YouTube and wherever you get podcasts.

So the win's nice, right? All right. You got to win. First in Big Ten play. Still one in three in Big Ten play. You still got a lot of work that needs to be done the Big Ten this year is solid once again there's no elite team though Purdue was right number one for a long time I don't see them ultimately being a team that runs away with the

title at 17 and 3 18 and 2 something like that in fact well they already got a loss and nearly had another one tonight as they hold off and get the big shot late to beat Ohio State. But what does this mean for Iowa? Well, it's not going to be easy. There aren't many cupcakes on the schedule going forward. A team like Northwestern, you thought maybe coming into the year that the Wildcats were going to be a struggle once again. That has not been the case to this point.

They are playing certainly much better than people anticipated. In fact, they have the sixth best offense, the country right now, according to Kem Pomeroy. So you have that component of it. But a couple other things, a couple other notes here as we look at this matchup and look at the Big Ten and what Iowa has to do as a whole. So right now you've got Michigan and Wisconsin. They're both 3-0. Purdue's 3-1. Rutgers is 3-1. Ohio State 2-1.

Michigan Northwestern all with a couple of wins along with Penn State. And then you've got Iowa down there at 1-3. They're down with Maryland, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota are both 0-3. So you have that kind of group of teams that Iowa's playing about. But it's really not about grouping things. Remember, it's about your resume. It's not about where you finish in the conference it doesn't matter if iowa suddenly gets to ninth in the conference because there's more work that needs to be done you can't be ninth in the conference and also have you know an 8 and 12 record it's just not going to be good enough iowa i believe because of that loss to eastern illinois at minimum has to have a winning

record i believe they have to be probably a at minimum has to have a winning record. I believe they have to be probably a 12 and 8 to feel good going into the Big Ten tournament without having to make a run to the championship game or even the semifinals to get to that point. But that aside, what this win means is you got the first one, you got a road trip to Rutgers, and now three games after that are at home. We said starting tonight, Iowa probably had to be four and one here in these next five games to get there.

Can you play at this level with the limited bench that you have? Now, a lot of teams do this. Now, maybe we forgot because Fran likes to play so many guys. There's a lot of teams across the country that really do play six, seven man rotations and they're all right. If an injury hits again, I was going to be in trouble, but you can say that with a lot of teams. And I was handcuffed a little bit more, obviously not having Patrick McCaffrey out there, but you anticipate he's also going to help and he's going to come back at some point in time. Got to keep piling up victories.

There's work that needs to be done. You got a couple of nice wins on the resume. This is going to be a nice win at the end of the year. The Iowa State win is going to be a good one. You can't just have it all happen though at Carver-Hawkeye. You also have to go out there on the road and get some victories. But remember a season ago as Iowa ascended all the way up to the number five seed and kind of a disappointing seed in the NCAA tournament. Yeah, it ended in a thud. Look, losing that Richmond team, it's unthinkable. Yeah, 5-12 matchups, upsets happen all the time. That Richmond team was not good. And the way Iowa was played, it was just, it was such a disappointing end to the season. But well, for 67 teams,

it ends in disappointment. There's only one team that ultimately cuts down the nets. But to lose that one, it was frustrating, no doubt. Talk an NCAA tournament, though, there's still a lot that needs to be done. So to get to that point, just to get to 12-8, just think of it this way. Iowa has to go 11-5 the rest of the way. Well, that means holding serve at home, beating Michigan, beating Maryland, beating Northwestern. You have to beat all those teams. You cannot afford to hand any of those at Carver away. Where are you going to get the road victories? This is what they still have coming up. Of course, Rutgers on Sunday, later in January, they go to Ohio State and to Michigan State. Neither of those teams are scary,

but you're probably asking a lot. A little bit later on, they go to Purdue. That's going to be tough. Now, beating Minnesota, that can't be your only road win, as bad as the Gophers are. You get Northwestern, you get another shot against the badgers late and then indiana and circle that one february 28th after what we saw in this one the good woods and comments that he made i think there's going to be a little chippiness there tuesday february 28th at assembly hall second to last game of the year i I will wrap up at home against Nebraska. Ken Pomeroy has Iowa still projected to go 8-12 in the Big Ten. That would be 16-15 overall. You inverse that. You put them at 12-8. That puts then Iowa at 20-11. Work to be done. Can it happen? I'm not overly optimistic optimistic but there were signs to the immersive deck out

of him connor playing so many different roles being so tough in there you saw chris murray really blossom once again he's got that guy night in and night out it's not going to be easy but that glimmer of hope is it there i optimistic, Trent, here as we get back from Iowa City. It was a fun one, no doubt about it. Thanks for joining me here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. And always, thank you for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen today. Now, make Locked On Sports Today your second listen. Peter Bukowski brings you the biggest stories from around the sports world in 20 minutes.

Get the analysis and opinions before anyone else with our local and national experts and insiders locked on sports today, podcast available on YouTube in wherever you get podcasts. I need to have a cold one. I need to rest a voice after yelling at Courtney green about how much he sucks tonight. We got to get some rest here and we'll be back with you again on lockdown. Hawkeyes.

Thanks for joining us. Fun night. Go Hawks.