Iowa Delivers Super Sunday Comeback

The second largest second-half comeback win in Iowa’s men’s basketball history was all but complete.

Six seconds remained on the Carver-Hawkeye Arena clock, and guard Payton Sandfort jumped and thrust his fist twice toward the crowd.

Near the Iowa bench, Patrick McCaffery danced and laughed before circling the half-court to celebrate with anyone and everyone.

Iowa’s 90-85 win over Minnesota on Sunday felt like a season-saver, a victory for a team that certainly needed one.

The Hawkeyes (14-10 overall, 6-7 Big Ten) were down by 20 points in the second half before unleashing a furious rally against the staggered Gophers (15-8, 6-6), who were good until they weren’t.

“That’s kind of just who we are,” Sandfort said. “And that’s the way we’ve been the whole year.”

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, asked about what was the recipe for this comeback, recited the ingredients.

“It’s the way comebacks always happen,” McCaffery said. “You have to be better defensively. You have to stay the course.”

It was the largest second-half comeback win since Iowa rallied from 22 points down to win at Illinois in the 1986-87 season. It tied for the fourth largest comeback win overall in program history.

Iowa held the Gophers to just 38.7 percent shooting in the second half after allowing them to score 51 first-half points on the way to a 13-point halftime lead that seemed a lot larger.

The Hawkeyes went on a 39-15 run after trailing 62-42 with 16:11 left in the game. That stretch concluded with 16 consecutive Iowa points.

“We just stressed, ‘Change the season right now. Change the effort on the defensive end,’” Sandfort said. “And that’s kind of where everything changed. Our defense was terrible (in the first half). They weren’t missing shots either, and that didn’t help. And then we really ramped up the intensity, and that’s when we were able to make the big run, and it started there.”

Fran McCaffery played 10 players in the game, but rode the same five — Patrick McCaffery, Sandfort, Owen Freeman, Tony Perkins, and Josh Dix — for the final 8:54 of the game.

“I considered (substituting) at one point,” Fran McCaffery said. “It wasn’t like, ‘Take a guy out.’ It was like, ‘Is Patrick tired? Is Tony tired?’ But (Minnesota coach) Ben (Johnson) took a couple of timeouts, and we had the media timeouts, and it was like, OK, they look fine, we have a lineup that was clicking. Both teams kind of essentially went small, so I think that it was important that we keep that group together.”

That lineup kept finding its way to the basket against a Minnesota defense that had lost forward Dawson Garcia, who had scored 18 points before leaving the game with an injury with 15:45 left and the Gophers leading 62-45.

Iowa took just three second-half 3-pointers and had 24 points inside. Johnson attributed that to the loss of Garcia.

“I just didn't like our edge,” Johnson said. “I don't think we had it — when he went out we lost our edge. And he's such a key part of that, just the confidence piece but also just the edge, even defensively. Kind of like the anchor, especially in a game like this. He kind of settles us, and so we were just fighting the rest of the half to try to get that back.”

The Hawkeyes got their edge from freshman center Owen Freeman, who shook off a slow start and a chipped tooth late in the first half to finish with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Freeman blocked four shots, the biggest one coming with the Hawkeyes up 86-82, when he roared out to tip away a 3-point attempt from Cam Christie.

“I didn’t want to foul so I kind of had to throw myself out of the way,” Freeman said. “I was able to get a fingertip on it.”

It was the perfect way to end the comeback.

Sandfort and Patrick McCaffery each had 21 points. Tony Perkins added 18.

There is a lot of work left for the Hawkeyes in the chase for a postseason berth.

Asked if this win could be used as the “takeoff moment” for the rest of the season, Sandfort already knew the answer.

“We will,” he said.