Bohannon, Garza key Iowa victory
Jordan Bohannon knew what was his favorite numberwas on his final box score.
The Iowa senior guard had 19 points and a career- high 14 assists, Luka Garza had 33 points and the No. 5 Hawkeyes beat No. 16 Minnesota 86- 71 on Sunday in Iowa City, Iowa.
Bohannon also had seven rebounds andzeroturnovers in almost 36minutes.
“Youknowme, it’s the zeroturnovers,” Bo han non said when asked what was his best statistic of theday.“That’ssomething I always pridemyself in, to not turn the ballover. Besteady with the ballandfind guys.”
It was Bohannon’s overall line that impressed Iowa coach FranMcCaffery.
“He has always really been tremendous in our fastbreakandin our ability topush it,”Mc Ca ff erys aid .“From the opening tip today, hewaspushing the ballandfinding people. I thought his decisions — when to shoot, whento drive, whentomove it, whento get it in the post— were tremendous. Practically perfect.”
Joe Wieskamp added 20 points for the Hawkeyes ( 11- 2, 5- 1 Big Ten), who avenged a 102- 95 overtime loss to the Gophers on ChristmasDay.
“If itwasn’t forLukamakinghis layups, I wouldn’t have 14 assists,” Bohannon said. “I think that more than 95% ofmy passeswere assists to him.”
Iowa had 27 assists on 31 field goals. “Our guardsare reallyunselfish,” Garza said. “When we get out on transition, that’s when we’re at our best. J- Bo was findingmetonight.”
Bohannon missedmost of last season because of surgeries on both of his hips. He has scored 74 points in his last four games after totaling 27 in the previous five.
“I’ ve been through hell for the last year anda half, twoyears,” Bohannonsaid. “It was a lot forme, mentally andphysically. It took a lot of internal motivation for myself to get back to the player I know I can be.”
The Hawkeyes led 39- 37 at halftime and opened the second half with a 22- 6 run. Garza had 10 points in that stretch.
Garza, whocameinto thegameleading the nation in scoring at 27.2 points per game, was 13 of 20 fromthe field.
Minnesota ( 10- 4, 3- 4) rallied from a 63- 45 deficit to get within five twice late in the second half. It started to look like the Gophers’ earlier win against the Hawkeyes, whenthey rallied fromseven points down with 44 seconds left in the second half to send it to overtime.
“We fought hard to get back within five, which is great,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said. “But then we took ill- advised shots. We tooksomebadshots down the stretch and couldn’ t get stops .”
Minnesota made just 10 3- pointers against the Hawkeyes after having 17 in the first matchup.
“Our loss up thereon Christmas was in the back of our minds,” Wieskamp said. “This onewas kind of personal for us.”
Ex- UConn coach Rowe dies: Former UConn coach Donald “Dee” Rowe, who served for more than five decades as an ambassador for the school’s athletic department and as a mentor for coaches including Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma, died on Sunday at his home in Storrs, Connecticut. Hewas 91.
Rowe was hired as UConn’s coach in March of 1969 andwas on the bench for eight years, leading the Huskies to the round of 16 in 1976. Hewas namedNew England coach of the year twice, in 1970 and in 1976.
After retiring as coach in 1977, Rowe launched the fundraising arm ofUConn athletics and played a key role in raising money to build the school’s on- campus arena.
He also was a member of the search committees that brought Hall of Fame coaches Calhoun and Auriemma to UConn.