DECEMBER 8, 2020  // CARVER HAWKEYE ARENA  // IOWA CITY, IA

346 WORDS  //  2 MINUTE READ

On national television the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball team showed why they are ranked #3 in the nation.  The Big Ten preseason player of the year, Luka Garza was double and triple teamed for most of the 1st half by the visiting Tar Heels and the Iowa guards turned into snipers from beyond the arc to build a 16 point 1st half lead.

CJ Fredrick, Joe Wieskamp, and Jordan Bohannon scored 16, 12, and 9 respectively as they went 11-18 from beyond the 3 point line.  Bohannon final scoring line of 24 points moved him into Iowa's Top 20 in career scoring.

By the end of the game four Iowa players were in the double digits as Iowa covered the -3 Against The Spread line and went over the 158,5 Total.

There were some questions about the Iowa defense going into the game.  Iowa was strong on defense begin the game but as the game went on they showed a few struggles.  Although UNC did win the defensive rebound battle 32-24, Iowa forced 18 UNC turnovers and won the steals (8-7) and blocks (5-2).

Garza was the four leading scorer for the first time since last year against San Diego State (h/t Tom Kakert-- Hawkeye Report) and it took until 11:47 in the 2nd Half for Garza to get his double double.

Garza finished the game with 16 and 14 rebounds.  It was his 24th career double-double.

As the game progressed Iowa's shooting percentage slowly went from 52% to as low as 42%.  With teamwork and grit they saw the percentage end at 48%.

North Carolina did show a bit of a come back and did manage to lead the game for a total :51 seconds.  Iowa never saw any amount of decomposer as the bench play of Joe Toussaint and Keegan Murray put a spark into the the crowd and the Iowa team.

Iowa went on a 7 point scoring run that was highlighted by Joe Toussaint athletic base line layup.

The team played very well and expected to win.  As HassleManiac Matt Ericksen would say, "This team is special."

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