Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - VALIDATION: Iowa Hawkeyes Secure Statement Quad 1 Victory, Bennett Stirtz & Tavion Banks DELIVER

Starting point is 00:00:00 If you're still waiting on proof that this Iowa basketball team can be something different this season, you just got it. In Bloomington, the Hawkeyes didn't just win a road game. They earned their first quad one win of the year at Indiana in Assembly Hall against a desperate Indiana team. We break it down next. You are Locked on Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. And I'm Trent Condon, and this is the Lockdown Hawkeyes podcast. Thanks for making Lockdown Hawkeyes, your first listen every day. We are your daily Iowa Hawkeye podcast here on the lockdown network.

Starting point is 00:00:46 Now number one for sports podcast. I've been covering the Hawkeyes for over 20 years on the radio here in the great state of Iowa, including currently on the Iowa Sports Radio Network. You can hear me each weekday from noon to two talking the world of sports on the sports network, including stations in Des Moines, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, the Quad Cities, and Sioux City. Today's episode is brought to you by Fanduel. The college football playoff wraps up and Fandual is the best place to get into the action.

Starting point is 00:01:13 Visit Fandual.com and get your college football playoff profit boosts every game day. We will take a look to tomorrow when the action continues for Iowa basketball, though on the women's side as the Iowa women welcome in Michigan State should be another good affair over there at Carver Hawkeye Arena. but a lot to talk here today about this. Iowa win against Indiana, the dominating performance that they had. And what's ahead for this Iowa basketball team? We talked about this slate of games that they had, what it's going to look like going forward.

Starting point is 00:01:45 But this one definitely makes things feel a whole lot better from where we were this last week and a half as we get into what we saw at Assembly Hall. 74-57 the final in this one, Iowa gets the win and ends that three-game losing streak. as talked about first time in over a decade that Coach McCollum had gone through a three-game losing streak. It was stretches of domination out of this Iowa basketball team. They raced out to an early lead. And any time that Indiana had a response, Iowa battled right back. Jason Benetti, who is absolutely tremendous on the broadcast. He was having a lot of fun as these two teams, they're in the middle of the first half.

Starting point is 00:02:25 Towards the back end of it were going back and forth. the 15 consecutive makes by both teams in that one. But you look at that during that stretch, Indiana hit nine shots in a row. Outside of those non-shots, they go 11 of 41. No, 43, 11 to 43 from the field in the ball game. A great defensive effort on this Iowa basketball team, the stalwarts at the top. And as he looked through this game, and we talked about getting off to that good start, how important that was going to be for this squad.

Starting point is 00:02:58 And get off to that good start after they had fallen behind so many times here early on. We saw against Purdue much better here and the same thing. But most importantly, look, we looked at Bennett Sturtz, preseason all-American, potential first round NBA draft pick. And what we've seen this last a week and a half, we anticipated we were going to see more. And in this one, we saw more. I think we saw the guy that we anticipated that we were going to see throughout the course of this year. And with Bennett Sturts and the way that he played, it was under control looking for spots, not forcing three pointers, much more involved.

Starting point is 00:03:33 But what I love more than anything you saw right away is he took the ball to the rim. Teams are going to overplay him. Teams are going to come up. And he's going to have opportunities as he hit one of those crazy one-legged threes in the second half of this one. There's going to be chances there. That was absolutely huge, though, getting Bennett Sturts back to the guy, absolutely, he can be in control. five assists against just two turnovers.

Starting point is 00:03:57 He goes three of five from the three point line. Not the nine a game. He was averaging during the three game losing streak. No, he did it in part of the offense. And how about this? Got to the free throw line 11 times goes 10 of 11 at the stripe him, along with Tavian Banks, who finishes 9 to 9 at the free throw line. Those two guys combined for 53.

Starting point is 00:04:19 Indiana as a team scored 57. Yet even with those two great performance and they were tremendous out of both Banks and Sturts. And it wasn't just the scoring aspect for both of those guys. Banks, what you saw from him, his ability to get an extra shot, a couple offensive rebounds in there, finishes with eight rebounds in the game. He was so good on the defensive end of the floor. It was really tremendous all over the place.

Starting point is 00:04:42 Kail Cotens, certainly not one of his best offensive games. I thought he was much more in control at times, though, knocked down a big three-pointer, had a hand in his face, gave a little up fake, came back, fired it up anyway, and knocked it in. The story of this one, not just what happened on the offensive end, we do have to talk about that defense. And as mentioned outside of the nine consecutive, Indiana looked like they didn't have a clue. And when you're painting the picture of what a Ben McCollum squad is going to look like, this is what you're going to see. Tremendous on the defensive end, very connected offensively.

Starting point is 00:05:14 They kept the turnovers down. And how about in the second half? Just two second half turnovers after having six in the first half, another tremendous one. They out rebound once again, Indiana, by one still with the team like this, you're going to take that every single time. But this is something overall makes those positive vibes come back in a big time way and leads us to what still can be out of this Iowa basketball team. It was a great day.

Starting point is 00:05:40 A lot went right. A tremendous road victory that gets done. A quad one win, that's incredibly important because we've talked about it in the past. And our everydayers, you certainly know if you listen to her podcast every day, that as good as the resume looks if you look strictly just at the net ranking. So you look at the advanced analytical sites like Bart Torvick, like Ken Pomeroy. Those places, they're predictive. And they absolutely love this Iowa basketball team.

Starting point is 00:06:08 But when you look at the resume-based metrics that are out there, it doesn't paint nearly the same kind of picture. We're going to take a look at that resume. What this win means, we're going to talk to big picture. And suddenly the schedule is going to ease up as Iowa gets. It's their first quad one victory of the year. It was an important one against Indiana. More Hawkeye Talk as we continue,

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Starting point is 00:07:39 podcast. Let's get back into what we saw in this one, Iowa with a 74-57 road victory against Indiana. Talked about a lot of different elements in this one. Talked about the great play of Banks and certainly Bennett Sturts what they were able to do. And yet even with that, you know, this was really good. There was that little stretch by Tate Sage in the first half was important. I think Indiana maybe it cut it to five at that point. He had a little five nothing spurred himself, hit a corner three pointer, got out, got a layup in transition. I also moved it a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:08:12 How about this number? Points off of turnover. 17 for Iowa. That's a big, big number when you're able to do that. And Iowa puts up 1.29 points per possession. That is tremendous playing at that kind of level. So as we go through, and even with all that, we see a game where still Cooper Kach, had a couple looks at three, had three of them, in fact, could knock him in.

Starting point is 00:08:37 And he's close. He really is. But overall, we know that Kupra Kach can knock down shots. All right, can be better there. Cam Maynwa, he was doing this thing inside really like the performance out of him. Alvaro Fulgaris, we're still waiting for the light bulb to come on. You go through in the squad and it feels like they haven't hit their apex, right? That they haven't peaked, that there's still more that can.

Starting point is 00:08:58 can be done with this squad, more that can be happening where they're going to finish things off. In the second half, how about these numbers? Iowa, those 14 of 14 at the free throw line, mentioned the two turnovers in the game in the second half. And though they didn't shoot it very well, just two and nine from the three point line, they dominate that second half of action as they go out there and weren't away with the victory. This was a fun one. And this is the one that we've been waiting for because, as I mentioned after the last couple of games, the frustrations of a losing streak absolutely are there. But you still saw the basic tenets that made you believe, yeah, this team could get there.

Starting point is 00:09:38 Yes, this team absolutely can take a step further. And there's more there. Looking right now, just been updated. I was waiting for this a moment ago. And it is now up. Iowa after the Indiana win is up to 18th in the country at Ken Pomeroy. This victory absolutely is going to help in terms of their metrics. And when we go a step further, we talk about those numbers from what the NCAA selection committee is going to look at.

Starting point is 00:10:04 I know people know that the net is the sorting tool, but that's what it is. The NCAA committee does not come together and they just, all right, we're going to look at this metric. We're going to go by net and just stack the teams up that way. That's not the way that it happens. That's not that's not the way that they take a look at the resume. They actually look inside of the numbers and what you have. And now Iowa, with the victory here against Indiana, the first quad one win of the year.

Starting point is 00:10:30 Iowa's 1 and 4 against quad 1, but you look at the losses. Purdue, Iowa State, Michigan State, Illinois, certainly not ugly by any means. The Minnesota game currently is a quad 2 loss, but they do have quad wins against Old Miss and against UCLA, that home win as UCLA sits at 44. So that's their resume. Now you got this one.

Starting point is 00:10:52 Not only is a quad one victory, I think maybe even more importantly, getting a quad one victory is important. And I think you need a couple more of them. However, getting also a road quad one victory, that's going to go a really long way. And as long as Indiana stays in the top 75, they're 36 right now in the net rankings. Very, very surprised if Indiana is going to fall out of that.

Starting point is 00:11:15 That is going to stay throughout the course of the season. So Iowa in front of them now, this is what is on tap next for the Hawkeyes as they finally end this three game losing streak. We talked about it, get through this four game stretch, get through it. They got a win at minimum. That was probably the baseline that we were hoping for. And they got that against Indiana here. After the road games against Minnesota, the home game against Illinois,

Starting point is 00:11:38 then these two road games with Purdue and Indiana. Up next Tuesday at home against Rutgers, they're off. Iowa favor by 19. after that you get USC is probably towards the bottom of that middle group, but they did something that Iowa wasn't able to do. They went on the road and beat Minnesota. So this is a team that is okay, not in the upper echelon by any means, not an elite team, anything like that, but has some nice wins.

Starting point is 00:12:04 mentioned that road win against Minnesota. They beat Seton Hall, good team earlier this year. They beat Arizona State, who's decent. Boise State, year after year, a solid team. So this is an okay USC team should be. a good matchup coming up for the Hawkeyes in that one after the Rutgers game. But this is also the time. This is the break time for Iowa.

Starting point is 00:12:23 After what they went through, three road games out of four, you get Rutgers at home, and then you got a time. Relax, recuperate, get everybody right and you're ready to go for this closing stretch. Because after USC, you take a long road trip out there to the West Coast, Oregon and Washington. That'll be a Sunday Wednesday in the beginning of February that they have. But both of those winnable road games for them. back home for Northwestern. You go to Maryland who's terrible this year,

Starting point is 00:12:49 and then it ratches it up again. As you take on Purdue, starting on Valentine's Day, February 14. You get Nebraska. Yes, the Huskers, undefeated. You got them coming in after that, and I will face them two times here in that closing stretch. After that Nebraska game,

Starting point is 00:13:06 it's on the road to Madison, taking out Wisconsin, another team in the same kind of realm as Iowa, even though they have a great road victory themselves with that win last week against Michigan. Ohio State at home, another winnable one. Penn State on the road, another winnable one, and then your final two. Michigan at home and at Nebraska.

Starting point is 00:13:24 Ken Pomeroy has this team projected to finish 12 and 8 in the Big Ten. If that plays out, we're having some bigger conversations. And that's the thing about this team that's been fun. I get it. Losing streaks suck. It's not fun at all. It's not enjoyable when you're going through things in the what-if game and how close they were against Purdue,

Starting point is 00:13:44 a couple plays here and there, and the same thing against Minnesota, and even Illinois, the way they battle back, time in timeout. Still, all that being said, it's in front of them. And real opportunities now will wait this squad.

Starting point is 00:13:58 We continue locked on Hawkeyes. Let's take a peek over at the women's side. They continue. Their undefeated run in the Big Ten, we'll continue tomorrow against Michigan State. We'll talk about that next. A little Iowa women's basketball talk. As we continue, this is Locked on Hawkeyes.

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Starting point is 00:15:24 Trent, kind of back with you one final time here as we wrap up a rapid reaction podcast for Iowa after they get the win against Indiana on the road, an absolute huge one for them. Let's jump over to women's basketball. And speaking of women's basketball, six and oh in the big 10, 15 and 2 overall. Their net ranking currently since at 14. How about this? Their RPI is five. is one of the years he actually wish they're still using the RPI.

Starting point is 00:15:50 Their streak the schedule is eighth in the country, and this schedule is going to get much more difficult. And this is the time now. We're going to learn a whole lot about this Iowa team. A very workman-like, solid victory against a good Oregon team. Michigan State comes to town. I take better. Michigan State 17 to 1.

Starting point is 00:16:08 The rank 15th. Their rate 8th in the net. Currently are the Spartans, as we'll see them tomorrow at Carver Hawke Arena. How about this, a night game on a Sunday? night in that one. Then after that, they go to Maryland. I think we all know the job that Brenda Freeze does year in and year out with that Maryland program. Here comes Ohio State then a week from Sunday as the Buckeyes will come to town. Another top 25 team. The only team not ranked during this stretch as USC. We know still an incredibly talented team, even minus Juju

Starting point is 00:16:38 Watkins. And then it wraps up Sunday February 1st as they go to UCLA to take on the Bruins and Lauren Betts. That is. a stretch. Four out of five games against ranked teams, the other one against USC, who's ranked 29th in the net. Three of them on the road, we will see. If Iowa gets a winning record during the stretch, I think we should be clicking our heels and talking about this team solidly in position to be hosting in the first couple rounds and maybe do a little bit more than that come NCAA tournament time. Thanks for being with us next week. We got a lot going on here. Locked on Hawkeyes. I'm going to be away, but I've already put together a bunch of shows for you.

Starting point is 00:17:18 We're going to break down my participated depth chart for both the offense and the defense. What I anticipate it's going to look like is what I tried to say on that front. We will have those for you a couple of different days. Break down the offense, break down the defense. Plus in the middle of the week, Todd Bromelcamp had an opportunity to talk with Todd. We talked some football with Todd, but also another area that we went to is what it's like to be on the Iowa beat. though I've covered the Hawkeyes for over 20 years, I do it into a microphone. I do it giving opinion, giving thoughts.

Starting point is 00:17:50 I don't do it writing stories, being at every press conference, though I've been to plenty of them, not in a day and day out basis like Todd Bromblecamp has. So we're going to get into that, some stories from the road as well. That's coming up on Wednesday here, locked on Hawkeyes. Thanks for being with us, as always. And we had a ton of content this week. In fact, I think this is our eighth podcast of the week. So if you missed anything, make sure you go back where we're,

Starting point is 00:18:12 working ahead a little bit here as we get ready for vacation, but we got a lot of content still coming your way here on Lockdown Hawkeyes. Lockdown Network, number one for sports podcast and not just Lockdown Hawkeyes. We got you covered for your favorite team. Baseball, getting ready for spring training. Doesn't matter if it's the Cubs, the twins, the Brewers. You could be a Marlins fan. We got you cover with every Major League baseball team, every NFL team.

Starting point is 00:18:36 Maybe you're a Bears fan like myself. You can jump aboard there and they do a great job. Thanks for being with us here on Lockdown, Hawkeyes. That will do it for today. We will talk to you again on Monday. Until then, as always, no Hawks.

Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - VALIDATION: Iowa Hawkeyes Secure Statement Quad 1 Victory, Bennett Stirtz & Tavion Banks DELIVER

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