IU 68 Iowa 60

Woo-hoo! I almost forgot what it felt like to win. I kind of like it. More please. It would have been really great if they could have taken that 20-point lead and continue to run away with it, but I'm not going to complain too much when it still results in a win. But I did start to feel sick when Iowa cut it to 3 points. The good news is that IU did make some key plays at the end to come away with the win. Dumes hit a big 3 at the end (more on this later), Dumes and Williams both had steals late in the game, and Williams and Taber both had some big offensive rebounds. IU was fortunate to be playing a horrible Iowa team without Cyrus Tate who had 22 & 11 in the first meeting against IU. Against any other Big Ten team, we probably would have been looking at another blown 20-point lead. And the biggest issue would have been free throws again. IU missed all 3 of their 2nd half front-ends from the charity stripe and also missed several others. This allowed Iowa to keep crawling back. But enough about how they almost blew a 20-point lead because they didn't. They won! So, let's focus on that and what went well. Before we get to that, I do need to mention Matt Roth's amazing 9-11 3-point shooting performance on Saturday. That was simply amazing. Ties Rod Wilmont's record for made 3-pointers in a game (some of us were at the Wilmont game at NW) and broke Damon Bailey's record for most points off the bench with 29. Nicely done. For tonight's big win, we have to start with a guy that I have hounded on this blog -- Devan Dumes. Double-D was absolutely outstanding tonight. In fact, he has really been playing great the last 4 games. But even in the midst of those games where he was shooting lights out, I still called him out for not delivering in the clutch. Well, tonight, he did it all and that includes delivering in the clutch. Dumes had 27 points on 8-9 FGs, 5-5 3-pt range, and 6-8 Fts. The perfect 5-5 from the arc ties an IU record for perfect 3-point shooting in a Big Ten game with Hornsby and Smart (Vaden has the overall record with a 6-6 effort against Ball State). As great as Dumes was all night, the most important time that the team needed him was in the final couple minutes. After IU built that 20 point lead with about 12-13 minutes to go, they then got outscored 27-10 to make it only a 3-point game. The team and fans had to have that "here we go again" thought in their head (I know I did). But in the final minute and a half, Dumes nailed a huge 3, had a steal, and went 2-2 from the line. And finally, my prediction of IU's first Big Ten win coming on a big night from Dumes comes true. A+ for Mr. Dumes. By the way, Dumes is now shooting 52% (27-52) from the arc in conference play. Another impressive part of this win was that they basically did it without Tom Pritchard. He was in foul trouble all night, played only 14 minutes, and had just 2 points. That could have been more costly if Iowa had Tate in the line-up. Another guy that was outstanding tonight was Taber. 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 37 minutes. And even though those points were on layups, those layups came at some key times and layups haven't always been the most successful endeavor for Taber. But he had some nice lay-ins, some good rebounds, and just played a very good all-around game. The effort from Dumes and Taber in tonight's game is exactly what this team needs out of their Junior and Senior. The other guy that was pretty damn good tonight was Nick Williams. He had some great offensive boards. He finished just shy of a double-double with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block. And he was a perfect 6-6 from the line. Interesting stat on the FTs. Williams and Dumes were 14-16 from the line. The rest of the team was just 3-11 on the stat sheet. However, I believe it was Moore, Taber, and Roth that missed those 2nd half front-ends, so I really count that as 3 additional misses. What the hell is with 3 white guys missing FTs. I mean, if whitey can't even hit a FT anymore, whitey will be completely out of the game of basketball. Anyway, with those 3 missed front-ends, that puts the rest of the team at an abysmal 3-14. And I don't even remember if they missed any front-ends in the first half. Verdell Jones struggled shooting the ball (1-5 FGs, 2-6 FTs), but I think he continues to look better every game. An impressive 6 assists tonight. Matt Roth couldn't keep it going after the 9-11 3-point performance and was just 1-6 from the arc tonight. Daniel Moore comes in and does some good things, but good strong point guards can just overpower him and take him to the rack. Did anyone notice that he had 5 assists in just 7 minutes of play on Saturday? That was an interesting and impressive stat. Malik Story makes some bonehead plays, but I really like his offense coming off the bench. 9 points and 4 rebounds is pretty good for just 15 minutes off the bench. I'm really happy for these players to get a Big Ten win. Well deserved. I was also glad to see that they didn't go apeshit and celebrate like it was a national title. They should be proud of the win for sure, but I was wondering if they would go crazy. They didn't and just went and shook hands with Iowa, which I thought was the right way to handle it. Of course, I also think they were dead tired and in a little shock that they almost blew another 20 point lead. This was probably their best opportunity for a win, so it will be interesting to see if they will be able to get another one or two. It won't be easy any time soon as the next 3 games are at Michigan State, at Minnesota, and home against Illinois. Go Hoosiers!