I said pretty much all day we were going to win. I don’t know I just had this feeling like the one I had before the Michigan State game. As usual, my dad disagreed with me. Even when we got down by a few points I still thought we were going to win. I always think we are going to win, but today we actually did.
We were actually down pretty big at some points during the game. The Iowa fans were definitely into it, but we were relentless on defense. The way to explain the offense tonight was streaky. At some points we were scoring on every possession and there were other points where it was just dry-spells. Thankfully, the offense started to pick up just as we needed them too.
One thing that surprised me was there wasn’t really anybody that had a terrific game. Obviously, we had a lot of guys that had really good games, but nobody went off in order for us to win. That’s a very good thing to know about your team: that we don’t have to have a star player with a great night to win. Rice played very well all game. Though at some points his offense was questionable, his defensive intensity was outstanding throughout the game. He made a few great pokes and takeaways, while also grabbing some tough boards.
Even though he was kinda cold, I didn’t think Tracy was forcing it too much and he made some key threes for us. Kendrick also just hummed along and got his 14. He had a few nice drives and provided some balance to the offense. The reason he is important is because he helps us spread the floor because he is a threat from the outside and especially the corners.
Nnanna had his best game, possibly of the season. Had some bogus foul calls not been called on him he would have played more and done more for us. He had to sit for a while in the first half because of two fouls (one of which was a bad call) after scoring 7 early points. You could tell the difference when he was in there as far as presence around the rim.
And finally, Jon Ekey. What a game. He came out and was clutch right when we needed him to be. His shot to put us up 63-59 was also extremely important. Obviously, it was awesome when he hit the three ball because I didn’t think it was going in at all. It was sweet when it when in and was a perfect way to end the game.
The biggest story of the game though was the grit and perseverance of these guys. They could have said “Okay we are losing on the road and this game really doesn’t matter so let’s just quit”, but they didn’t. And they haven’t all season. They could have quit during the 8 game losing streak when people quit on them. But they battled back and gave us a great group to root for and an upset squad in the Big Ten.
We fought this season and we battled every game and came up with some good wins. One of the best qualities of this team is that they are playing there best basketball of the season now, which makes us dangerous for the Big Ten Tournament.
Orange&Blue Craze 