SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Iowa Junior Luka Garza stepped up to help defend Syracuse’s Elijah Hughes. As two Hawkeyes swarmed the freshman forward, the ball was knocked out of Hughes’ hands and out of bounds. Behind Hughes, standing on the sideline, coach Jim Boeheim raised his hands in protest before resting them on top of his head. For the rest of the game Boeheim stood – arms crossed and emotionless.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Hawkeyes had won the Syracuse-Iowa leg of the Big 10/ACC Challenge by a score of 68 to 54. While the Orange trailed by only a single point at halftime, partially containing Garza and matching the Hawkeyes’ three-point efficiency, in the second half the Hawkeyes pulled away. The loss brought the Orange to 4-4, the program’s worst start since 1970.
“There was a lot of bad out there,” Boeheim said. “I didn’t see much good.”
With three minutes left in the half, Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon took a pass just in front of the three-point line. Taking a step back away from an oncoming Syracuse defender, he nailed one of his five threes of the game. Just seconds later the Orange’s Buddy Boeheim responded with a three of his own.
A few minutes later, Marek Dolezaj, who hadn’t hit a three all season, found himself wide open from deep. With the Hawkeyes seemingly daring him to shoot, he steadied himself and put up the shot. As the ball swished through the netting, the Orange were brought to within one.
As both sides jacked up threes, the Orange worked on containing Iowa’s biggest threat: 6’11” junior Luka Garza.
With 9:45 remaining in the first half, Dolezaj stepped up on Garza and drew contact as the Hawkeye drove to the basket. As the referee signalled for an offensive foul, the crowd cheered.
As the game wore on, however, it became clear the Orange would be unable to contain Garza one-on-one. As Orange teammates flocked the Hawkeye to help defense, Iowa continued to out rebound the Orange and find the open man. After the game, coach Boeheim lamented his team’s ability to guard dominant men.
On the other end of the court, Dolezaj and teammate Bourama Sidibe worked on putting up offense of their own. Early on, they found success exploiting Garza leaving his man to help on defense. Four minutes into the contest, Garza stepped up with raised arms as Dolezaj attacked the short side of the paint, but a bounce pass found the wide open Sidebe under the bucket for an easy two points.
Coming out of the locker room with a one-point lead, Garza’s three-pointer to start the second half brought the Hawkeyes up by four – a lead they never gave up.
In the middle of the second half, the Hawkeyes went on a 10-0 run that blew the game wide open as they found weak spots in the Orange zone. With 10 minutes remaining in the contest, Iowa’s ball movement found an uncovered Joe Wieskamp near the baseline. The closest SU defender, Sidibe, was unable to close out the shot as the Hawkeyes took a 14-point lead.
As the Orange missed shots, the first half suppression of Garza on defense quickly unravelled. The Hawkeyes shot 51.7% from the field in the second half, in large part due to 60% shooting.
Joe Girard III, who had been brought to the bench by coach Boeheim near the end of the first half in favor of Howard Washington, finally got on the scoreboard with 8:30 remaining in the game. Girard III drew an and-one under the rim, but his made free throw drew the score to a seemingly insurmountable 14-points.
A media timeout with 3:26 remaining and the Hawkeyes up by 19, gave the first batch of Orange fans an opportunity to head for the exits. While the Orange faithful walked up the Dome stairs, Iowa’s Garza stood in the Hawkeye huddle – bobbing back and forth – urging his team towards the finish line. He would add two more points in the game’s final seconds, finishing with 23 points, 9 rebounds and a decisive Hawkeye win.