One tough final
During his weekly news conference last Thursday, Todd Lickliter pointed out that this was the first experience with finals week for five of his players and that final exams in the classroom would be followed by one big test on Saturday.
Hopefully the Hawkeyes fared better in the classroom. Drake aced this one, playing like the veteran team it is in its 60-43 rout at the Knapp Center. Iowa’s youth showed at times as much as it has in any game since West Virginia feasted on its physical advantage in a Thanksgiving weekend game in Las Vegas.
The Hawkeyes won the tap, but watched the Bulldogs set an aggressive tempo from the start.
“They had us playing catch-up almost right away. That’s a tough way to play,” Iowa guard Jeff Peterson said.
The Hawkeyes learned from their loss to the Mountaineers and it’s likely they will learn from this one as well. That’s one thing Lickliter likes about this club. It’s shown a willingness to learn and grow, one reason Iowa is 9-3 heading into next weekend’s final nonconference game against Western Illinois.
If nothing else, the holiday break will give Iowa players time to think about their last performance.
“We’ve got a week to think about what happened and get ready to do something about it,” guard Matt Gatens said. “This wasn’t the way we wanted to go into Christmas break.”
