Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Iowa Hoops falls at Creighton, Football prepares for Illinois

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hawkeye hoops falls at Creighton, but we learned quite a bit about this Iowa basketball team, plus football injuries, and we get ready for the matchup with Illinois with a division crown on the line today. Locked on Hawkeyes. You are locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Starting point is 00:00:19 Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. We're available wherever you get podcasts. You can also find us on YouTube. While you're there, make sure you hit that subscribe button. Helps us get in front of more Hawkeye fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:57 Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started. Well, a late night edition here after Iowa falls at Creighton. 92-84, a game where Iowa went toe-to-toe with the top 10 ranked. Creighton Blue Jays, a team with a lot of experience after last year's team made it to the second weekend. Calc Brenner comes back.

Starting point is 00:01:29 You got, obviously, Trey Alexander, who we heard and saw a whole lot during the broadcast of the game. And really short of a bad start to the second half and another mini run there in the middle portion of the second half, Iowa played incredibly good. This was a well-played basketball game from this team. And did they give up too many? Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:01:50 But this is the kind of game that Iowa plays. This is their style. And this is the kind of game that they are. And as you kind of dig into this one, I think so many positives to take away. Look, I told you coming into the season, my expectations for this men's team was incredibly low. I really thought that this was going to be a rebuilding type of year, something that we just haven't seen in the McCaffrey era very often over the last decade plus.

Starting point is 00:02:14 I thought when you looked at the totality of the parts, what kind of emergence were we going to see out of a guy like Patrick McCaffrey in his final go around? What was Ben Kricke going to be able to do, making the transition from the MVC and coming to the Big Ten level? Is there another step that we can get from a guy like a Tony Perkins? But boy, these guys have answered a lot of these questions. And you start with that starting group. Another great performance out of Tony Perkins.

Starting point is 00:02:41 He was out there grinding, doing things on the defensive end. I thought Iowa got a bad whistle at times, and that's going to happen. And I think anybody that's listened to me for a long time knows that I am not one to make excuses. Go back to on the football side of things, the Cooper-Dejean, that was something completely different. That felt egregious. Basketball, look, they're all 50-50 50 calls and sometimes they're going to tell the other side did it feel that way tonight I think you can argue that uh when I was coming back in the game late in the game and you see the corner three from Sanford that apparently was blocked it really looked like Peyton was very much that he got grabbed on that play. Now, you saw how that shot landed, right?

Starting point is 00:03:26 It was about three feet right and six feet short. I don't know if Peyton Sanford's ever had a shot like that since he was probably like four years old. I mean, come on. This kind of shooter, even with defense in his face and a couple of defenders coming at him, he's not going to miss that badly. He just isn't.

Starting point is 00:03:44 And that aside, look, bad calls are going to happen. He's not going to miss that badly. He just isn't. And that aside, look, bad calls are going to happen. That's not the story of this game. That's not the road that we're going to go down here. And it was a couple of bad stretches that ultimately proved to be the difference in this basketball game. Creighton comes out, they score, hit their first 10 buckets. I think 10 of 11 from the field. The one they got an offensive rebound, a stick back, and an and one. There were some chippy plays in there. But they just didn't come out with the energy that they needed in the second half. And I think that's ultimately what lost Iowa this basketball game. It just coming out and getting run out of the gym. So Iowa gets down,

Starting point is 00:04:20 what, 17? I think it was 80-63. And here comes the second unit. And the second unit that is comprised of four freshmen, when you bring in Owen Freeman to play in the middle, had a great game. Lajay Dambale, he was excellent. Bryce Sanford, he was okay. Brock Harding, running the team. And then you had Josh Dix that was also playing with that group. So you went out there with that group,

Starting point is 00:04:44 a sophomore and four freshmen, and they got him Dix that was also playing with that group. So you went out there with that group, a sophomore and four freshmen, and they got them back into the game, and they right away got them right back into it. Quick 7-0 run. All right, it's a ballgame again. Back to 10, and here we go, and we're rolling. I thought, you know, this was a game, and we see this often with Fran, where it felt like if Iowa would have been able to hang around in the start of the second half, he was going to stick with his starters a whole lot more and he was going to go with the veterans. But down 17, it was time to push another button. I would like to see that group come in

Starting point is 00:05:13 because that group played incredibly well. That group played in the first half, I thought, really good basketball. And in fact, when you look at the numbers and the plus minus, and we can argue the merits of plus minus, it's very simply just if you score more or less points while you're on the floor, there's only one guy that had a positive plus minus in the basketball game at a high level, and that was a freshman, Owen Freeman. He was when he was on the floor, plus 10. We also got a plus two from Price Sanford, but obviously didn't play the same amount of minutes.

Starting point is 00:05:41 He played 10 minutes in the game. Another component, if you're new to listening to me, either in my radio days over the last couple of decades or here on Locked On Hawkeyes when I started up, what, a year ago, August. So we're talking about over the last 15 months. You know, one of the things, I'm a big Fran fan. I really am.

Starting point is 00:06:01 I think the Iowa fan base does not understand all the good things that he has done for this basketball program, getting them back to the level that they were under Dr. Tom, and they are back at that level. Yes, in his final season, they made a sweet 16. In the 10 years previous, they didn't. This is what the level was after Roy and BJ and Ed Horton, when that group graduated, this is what Iowa basketball was. And got them back to that level. We all want to see a sweet 16. I get that.

Starting point is 00:06:28 Everybody does. And you can argue the merits and wanting more and yada, yada, yada. That's not today's conversation. But one thing that does drive me nuts, I'm a friend defender, is the two-foul rule. Another great example in this game. So Peyton Sanford is out there. Plays 18 minutes. 18 minutes from your leading scorer.

Starting point is 00:06:52 18 minutes from a guy that can get you back in games. He gets the two fouls. He gets the second foul on a ticky-tack call. And he's done for the rest of the half. Now the reserves did a good job, but can you make an argument that if Peyton was out there playing with two fouls, that Iowa, instead of being tied at the half, is up 5, 7, 10? Yeah, I think he can.

Starting point is 00:07:18 And that's the part of it that drives me nuts. Best-case scenario, he played five minutes in the first half. Even if he plays the whole second half, he plays 25 minutes, and he's not going to play the whole second half. So you're looking at, at most, probably, what, 22 minutes in the game. You're following out your best players when you do that. I understand protecting them. I understand you want to have those guys in at the end of the game,

Starting point is 00:07:38 but at the end of the game, it doesn't matter because you're down too much. Because you sat your best player, that's going to be a problem. And that's the one thing that does drive me crazy about the two-file rule. The two-file rule also for big guys, maybe it makes a little bit more sense, more physicality. Fran trusts his guys.

Starting point is 00:07:56 And you'll see that a lot in late game situations. Now Fran trusts his players to get in the right spot, to come up with the set, get the play call. They don't need a timeout to figure it out. He trusts his guys. Then why doesn't he trust them with two fouls in the first half of games? Something I just cannot wrap my mind around.

Starting point is 00:08:14 I've asked Fran about it on my radio show a couple of different times. We've had some fun with it. Look, he's not going to change. He's not. It's something that is a hard and fast rule for him. And year after year, it's two foul participation, a number that is characterized over at Ken Pomeroy's website, KenPom.com. And year after year, Iowa has one of the lowest participation rates with two fouls.

Starting point is 00:08:43 We'll argue. I'll get mad about it. And we'll probably have this conversation a few more times over the course of the season. We will get back to the good, and there is plenty to good in this game. Yes, it was a loss. Going on the road, taking on a top 10 team, and given this kind of effort, I think changes the equation for Iowa basketball. Plus we got football talk coming up here.

Starting point is 00:08:58 An update on some injuries, and we prepare for Illinois right around the corner. Iowa playing for an outright Big Ten West championship. A win solidifies themselves in Indianapolis. All they have to do is beat the Illini on Saturday. We'll get into that as we continue. This is the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Locked On Hawkeyes is brought to you by eBay Motors.

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Starting point is 00:09:53 Your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. We'll be right back. customers. Trent Conner back with you once again on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes your first listen every day. Hey, Lockdown has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. Lockdown Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local experts of Locked On plus our national shows covering every league.

Starting point is 00:10:49 Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel. Let's get back into it here and talk a little bit more about some of the individuals and what we saw overall in this basketball game as Iowa falls to Creighton. We talked a little bit about some of the guys out there, some of the good performances and the frustration not getting Peyton Sanford out there. A little bit more in this game. Look, Ben Kricke was outstanding and the ability to hit that mid-range jumper, something that is a lost art in college basketball and basketball in general. It doesn't matter if you're talking at the little league level,

Starting point is 00:11:26 the high school level, all the way through. Mid-range jumpers, something you just don't see a whole lot anymore. But coupled with Tony Perkins, that's another strong part of TP's game. You really have two guys that can change the complexion a little bit. Kricke was really, really good bringing Kalkbrenner out a couple of different times. You could tell he was very uncomfortable and that thing looks smooth. Something we talked about when Iowa got Ben Kricke is also what a good free throw shooter that he was a season ago at Valparaiso shot 81% from the free throw line. And that's something that's going to be

Starting point is 00:11:59 incredibly important going forward. Patrick McCaffrey, I thought had a couple of really good moments in there. There's still times defensively gets a little bit lost, but he was active. He had the effort, had a really good block shot on a closeout that looked like it was going to lead out to a run out and a dunk for him. Not the case as they blew it dead as it was a shot clock violation, but good to see that. I mean, that's what you need from Patrick McCaffrey because with his size, with his length, he's never going to be a plus defender by any means. But if he can do those kinds of things,

Starting point is 00:12:31 he is a pretty good shot blocker for a guy that's not the thickest guy out there. He can block some shots with his athleticism and in his length. You want to see those kinds of things, getting some deflections, getting some steals. And that was really good to see. Oh, what else?

Starting point is 00:12:43 We mentioned Tony Perkins. He was outstanding. DeSante Bowen didn't shoot it well. He was one of six see. What else? We mentioned Tony Perkins. He was outstanding. DeSante Bowen didn't shoot it well. He was one of six from the floor, but four assists in the game. Good to see that because Brock Harding, he was great against Alabama State. He was running things out there, had three assists in the game in, what, pretty limited minutes for him, eight minutes in the game, and three more assists.

Starting point is 00:13:01 He just keeps packing them on now. What would it be? 18 assists in 32 minutes so far in his Iowa career. Yeah, that's pretty outstanding there. And then Owen Freeman. And he's given up three forward inches to Cal Brenner. He's playing power forward a little bit late in the game. You saw late in the basketball game too,

Starting point is 00:13:21 when Iowa had the opportunity maybe to make the big comeback and get the win. Your lineup was Tony Perkins, Peyton Sanford, Patrick McCaffrey, Ben Kricke, and Owen Freeman. So Freeman playing the four, Kricke at the five. You slide everybody down. Perkins was running the point, and then you had Sanford at the two and Patrick at the three. I really like that lineup, and I think that's something, especially if they're taking on a bigger team, a team with some more girth to them that has a real traditional power forward. I think that's something especially if they're taking on a bigger team a team with some more girth to them that has a real traditional power forward I think that's a lineup that makes a whole lot of sense for Iowa what they're going to do and like what they did

Starting point is 00:13:52 down the stretch uh Laji Damale got to get more minutes for this guy hits the three-pointer right away when he gets out there had another good play getting to the rim um he just there's something about him you can understand, that this is a guy that is still just scratching, scratching the potential that he has. But he's going to be a really good player for Iowa basketball. Really excited about his future. Good breakdown there of this team.

Starting point is 00:14:17 Well, now it is getting ready for what's going to be a pretty important stretch for Iowa. Of course, they got their exempt tournament coming up here with Thanksgiving right around the corner. One more tune-up coming up on Friday as they will welcome in Arkansas State. I will be a big favorite in that game. In fact, I got the numbers here from Ken Pomeroy. Let's see where they got this one. I will be favored, let's see, by about 17 points, according to Ken Pomeroy.

Starting point is 00:14:44 So big favorite in that game against Arkansas State. And then it's off to San Diego, where they'll take on Oklahoma in their first game. And then USC is also going to be out there, though. USC was struggling here tonight at last check, is also out in that exempt tournament. Then another tune-up against North Florida. That'll be on Wednesday, the 29th of November. Before the stretch with Purdue on the road, Iowa State on the road, and then a home game against Michigan. That's what awaits Iowa basketball.

Starting point is 00:15:12 Look, it's going to be incredibly important for at minimum, Iowa to get one of the games when they go out to their exempt tournament. You'd love them to win two, beat Oklahoma and say, excuse me, beat a USC. That would go a really long way to solidifying their resume and what they're doing. Obviously, when you get into Big Ten play, that Purdue matchup is going to be difficult. You probably put that one in the loss column, and the likelihood that Iowa gets a win there does not seem very high, does not seem like something that is very likely overall. But beat Michigan, if you can do that, at least get one win before we get back to the main part of the conference schedule.

Starting point is 00:15:50 One thing, start up again in January. Important because Iowa's had a lot of 0-2 starts. Since they've gone to this, what, six, seven years ago when they went to this new structure, the additional two games in there and playing these games either late November, early December in the Big Ten. Iowa's dug a lot of holes. And important not to dig an 0-2 start. Michigan looking a lot better than they certainly did a year ago as they're off to a really good start. We've got some football to talk about.

Starting point is 00:16:14 We'll do that as we continue here. Locked on Hawkeyes. Kirk Ferentz met with the media on Tuesday and got some updates on some injuries. We also got to hear a little goofy Kirk. We had a little bit of everything, and very interesting to hear on that side. Illinois is the matchup, an Illinois team playing their best football of the season. They've won three out of four.

Starting point is 00:16:35 We'll take a look at the line. I talk a little football as we roll through. We will continue on the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Today's episode of Lockdown On Hawkeyes is brought to you by FanDuel and the FanDuel Sportsbook. Score early this NFL season with FanDuel. It's America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers out there, how about this? You can get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 Moneyline bet. That's $150 if your team wins. Simple as that.

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Starting point is 00:17:21 So much going on right now. It's a great time of year and a wide range of betting options. You had the point spreads. You got player props. Over-unders. Jump on their same game parlays. They got all kinds of things. Promos happening all the time.

Starting point is 00:17:35 It is so good over at FanDuel. What you want to do is visit FanDuel.com slash locked on and kick off the NFL season. FanDuel, official partner of the NFL. Trent Conant back with you one final time here on the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Locked On Hawkeyes your first listen every day. So a little football talk to wrap things up. We got LaShawn Daniels. He'll be stopping by later in the week.

Starting point is 00:18:01 We'll break things down and see if that offensive execution that we saw during the second half and really for the second quarter on from the Iowa football team, if that's something, was that a mirage or was it real? We'll talk to LaShawn and a whole lot more coming up later in the week. Right now, the injury updates. Bo Stevens, no surprise there. He is not going to be back, it sounds like, from Kirk. But it sounded like in the press conference today, he walked away feeling pretty good about what they were able to do and how they came out of that one coming off the injury. Something that, at this point in the season, a team that was really banged up going into their bye week. Really good to see that they were able to do that.

Starting point is 00:18:41 Kirk had some jokes in there. He wasn't even punchy today. He was just a little goofy. It was a weird press conference. He talked to Dr. Mint a little bit about his brothers watching. It was different. It was different, no doubt about that. A couple other things that he was talking about throughout the course of the day.

Starting point is 00:19:00 Logan Lee. And we talked about Logan a little bit after the game. Another high-level performance last week against Rutgers from him. Playing the defensive tackle position at the University of Iowa and the structure that Iowa plays, it's very rare that you see a guy pile up big statistics. We had Davion Nixon. He had a monster year playing in the middle. We've seen a few others. Joel Johnson had a really good end to his career. But for the most part, it's about occupying space, taking on tacklers, being fundamentally sound.

Starting point is 00:19:29 And it's not a real fun one. It's not a real fun job playing defensive tackle for the Hawkeyes. Logan Lee's done it at a high level now for a number of years. And for a guy that grew up very close to Champaign, very late to get an Illinois offer, coming here and doing what he has at the University of Iowa. It's been really good. And you hear about him and what a good person and some really good comments there.

Starting point is 00:19:54 Also great comments about Phil Parker. And I think all of us know how lucky we are to have Phil Parker as the defensive coordinator. He's had overtures. He's had people that have come after him and he's confident. He's happy here. And we're lucky to have it because without Phil Parker manning this defense and what he has done and not only what a good job he did taking over the role from Norm Parker and what turned into be a very seamless transition. He took what Norm built and he's built upon that at a better level. The emergence of the cash position four or five years ago.

Starting point is 00:20:31 Look, Iowa's defense wasn't bad. In fact, it was still very good. But Phil also realized in the changing landscape of college football that they were going to have to do things differently, that they could not get away with playing a base 4-3 and doing it 80% to 90% of the snaps every game. So he created this hybrid position, 4-2-5 look, as some people call it.

Starting point is 00:20:54 You get an extra slack corner out there or an extra safety, whatever it is. And he's done it with really three very different football players, but they've all played at a high level. They've all played incredibly well, and that is a big credit to him. We're lucky to have him, and it's great to see him get his due. He is up for the Broyles Award for the Assistant Coach of the Year in college football, and he should definitely be a guy that is up there. Mention Illinois. So the Illini come in, winners of three of their last four.

Starting point is 00:21:24 Late in getting to the game on Saturday. The Iowa Rutgers game because of what we were waiting for with the Indiana-Illinois game. Direct TV. Oh yeah, it's going to be on the overflow. Didn't get there right away. Missed the first couple plays. Go to the app. I'm on the app. It's still playing the Illinois-Indiana game. It was driving me crazy. That aside.

Starting point is 00:21:40 So Illinois is playing better. And they throw out this kid that walked on, John Paddock. He's a ball state. Not a big kid, 6'1", 190. Threw 500 yards last week. Gets Minnesota the week before, comes in late in the game, takes him down for a touchdown drive to win that football game.

Starting point is 00:22:00 This is a guy that's playing good football. Should we be concerned about him? It's silly to say not really. The guy just threw for 500 yards. I don't care who you're playing, you throw for 500 yards. Things are going pretty well, right? However, we go back to where we just were. Phil Parker. I believe in Phil Parker. This Illinois defense I thought was going to be a whole lot better than what they've been this season. I think they've been one of the more disappointing units

Starting point is 00:22:29 in the Big Ten this year. You know, they had a really, really good defensive tackle. He's still there making plays. I mean, they're big and they're athletic, but it just hasn't worked for whatever reason for Illinois. You know Burt Bielema, he's going to be ready, though. Bielema's going to have his team ready. Remember when they came to Kinnick a couple years ago, it took Charlie Jones with some heroics and special teams for Iowa to dig themselves out of an early deficit and win that football game. Last year was 9-6. It was hideous. It was ugly.

Starting point is 00:23:00 Felt like one of those moments that maybe the tide was turning for Iowa football. And of course, they pulled themselves out because that's what Kirk Ferentz does. But the ability to play for a championship on Saturday and win the outright title and clinch your spot in Indianapolis and to do it in Kinnick. I talked about this earlier in the week. This is something we're not going to have an opportunity to probably see ever again, at least in the structure as we know it of the Big Ten. With divisions going away, they're not going to be awarding trophies for qualifying for a conference championship game. It's not going to be the case anymore. There will be no trophy. Even if Iowa finishes first and second in the regular season and punches their ticket back

Starting point is 00:23:40 to the Big Ten championship game, there will not be a trophy awarded. It's going to be special. Senior day is always special. It's an emotional time that you've got to get back out there and you've got to play a football game. Noah Shannon is going to be honored. Very happy to see that. And that should be really good. But a great senior group.

Starting point is 00:23:59 Tori Taylor is going to run out there for one final time. We'll have to find a new punter. We've got that hanging over our heads. But just overall, that's going to be a very special day in Kinnick. And, you know, these November games that kick off at 2.30, they end under the lights. They're not a real night game, but they're a night game. Let's make it special.

Starting point is 00:24:19 Let's have a great time in Kinnick. Get another victory. And punch our tickets to Indy. Thanks for making Locked On, Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. Mentioned LaShawn, he's going to be back with us later in the week. We'll dive a little bit deeper as well into the matchup with Illinois as we continue. Again, if you missed it, Locked On has launched

Starting point is 00:24:39 the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's Locked On Sports Today, here for you 24-7, covering the top sports stories of the day with local experts of Locked On, plus our national shows covering every league. Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. Thanks for making Locked On, Hawkeyes, your first listen every day.

Starting point is 00:25:08 We'll talk to you again tomorrow. Go Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - INSTANT REACTION: Iowa Hoops falls at Creighton, Football prepares for Illinois

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