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 Scott DochtermanI'm originally from Burlington, and I'm a 1997 Western Illinois University graduate. I've worked in Burlington, Muscatine, Fort Dodge and [...] |
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High-flying dunk paces Iowa past Howard by 30
With dunk video: Hawkeyes earn third straight win, blast Bison 66-36
IOWA CITY — The run-and-gun opportunities were rare Thursday night for Iowa’s men’s basketball team, but, boy, did the redheaded combination of Aaron White and Mike Gesell complete a thunderous fast-break dunk.
Midway through Iowa’s 66-36 whipping of Howard, Gesell and White raced down the court in transition with Howard’s Prince Okorah in defense. White passed to Gesell and as both approached the free-throw line, White gestured for an above-the-rim pass.
Ginger bomb … with authority.
“I saw the play at half court,” White said. “I threw it up to Mike, get it up in his hands and let him make a play. The guard stayed down, he threw it up and I finished it.”
“If the big man’s running with you, you’ve got to try to reward him,” said Gesell, a freshman point guard. “Whitey got out, gave me the pass first and I knew he was looking for the lob, and I knew that he could get up. I knew he’s a very athletic player, and I had a pretty good feeling he could get that down.”
White was fouled on the play but he missed the free throw in the excitement. The play extended Iowa’s lead to 42-18.
“We felt like this was a game we could run, and we really wanted to push the ball,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “It happened a little bit in the first half, obviously much more in the second half.”
Iowa (3-0) outscored Howard 12-0 in transition and stifled the Bison to a 26.9 shooting percentage. The Hawkeyes forced 13 turnovers and allowed its lowest point output since 2008.
“I thought the defense was great,” McCaffery said. “I mean, we contained penetration. We pressed them and rebounded well.”
Iowa struggled from 3-point range, however. The Hawkeyes hit just 4-of-21 and couldn’t get into a rhythm. But most of the perimeter attempts came from open looks.
“None of it was poor shot selection,” McCaffery said. “The only thing you could have said was a couple times we shot it quick, but everybody was open. I’m very comfortable with the shots we took.”
Devyn Marble produced an almost effortless 22 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field. He hit a pair of 3-pointers, pulled down two rebounds and dished two assists. White scored 16 points and knocked down 10-of-11 free throws. He grabbed eight boards.
Scott, I know that you are under some time constraints to get your stories filed, but one feature I would like to see, (and this is missing from the radio broadcasts this year, as well) is to hear what the opposing coach might have to say about the game and Iowa as an opponent. Do the coaches still have postgame press conferences?
It depends on the opponent. We had Keno Davis talk after Monday’s game. In a competitive game or against a quality opponent, we might have comments from an opposing player or coach.
The CMU game is a good case in point. I would have liked to read some comments from Kevin Gamble and his reactions to returning to IC under those conditions.
Umm…The term “ginger” is a bit derogatory.