Game story from Jan. 5, 1987 (victory over Wisconsin)
Jan. 5, 1987
Hawks get Badgers in foul trouble, escape with Big Ten victory
By Rick Brown
Register Staff Writer
Iowa City, IA- – After beating Wisconsin by a total of 93 points in the Badgers’ last two visits here, Iowa’s 78-63 victory Monday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena would have to be termed a nail-bitter.
The final score was a bit deceiving. Only after Wisconsin lost the heart and soul of its club – J.J. Weber and Mike Heineman – to fouls were the Hawkeyes able to put the Badgers to bed in the final minutes.
Iowa, which jumped to second in The Associated Press poll this week, improved the nation’s longest winning streak to 14 games with the Big Ten Conference victory as Ed Horton scored 16 points, Brad Lohaus 15, Kevin Gamble 12 and Roy Marble 11.
Marble also showed his unselfish side with six assists.
“Roy was not at his best, but he was still effective,” said Iowa Coach Tom Davis. “He’s very unselfish, and I don’t want him to think he has to carry us.”
Lohaus and Gamble also had eight rebounds apiece as Iowa beat its foe on the boards for the 14 consecutive game, 32-24. The Hawkeyes had outrebounded Wisconsin by a 45-16 margin in winning last year’s game here, 101-48. Iowa beat the Badgers, 105-65, in 1985.
“This just shows you can’t take anyone lightly in the Big Ten,” said Horton. “Anyone can bump you off.”
Guard Shelton Smith scored a game-high 19 points for Wisconsin despite making just five of 20 shots from the field. Weber, who played just 28 minutes because of foul trouble, added 16 and freshman Danny Jones 13.
“You can see now why I had so much respect for Wisconsin heading into the game,” said Davis, who grew up in Ridgeway, Wis., and was coaching against his home-state university for the first time.
“They were well-coached and very physical in the frontcourt. I think you can see why they’re capable of beating anyone in the Big Ten. We’re still a team with some inexperience that has a deep bench. But we’re still learning, and that’s why I haven’t been blowing our own horn.”
Wisconsin did a commendable job of beating Iowa’s pressure defense, and rarely let the Hawkeyes get their fast-break game into gear.
“They tried to slow us down when we had to get our fast break going,” said Iowa point guard B.J. Armstrong. “We must have been scouted well.”
Wisconsin’s Coach Steve Yoder, who calls his 10-5 Badger team the best he’s had in five years at the school, said, “Iowa scores in three ways – with steals, offensive rebounds and free throws. We tried to play our game, but we were not able to keep out of foul trouble. An some of our fouls were not smart.
“Iowa does a fine job at getting the ball up and down the floor, and we knew if we got involved in that type of a game we’d come out on the short end. We still did, s o maybe we should have run.”
The lead changed hands nine times in the first 9 minutes of the game, and the biggest Hawkeye lead in the first half was six points on four occasions. Heineman and Weber both picked up their third fouls in the final 2 minutes of the half, which ended with Iowa in front, 43-39.
The Badgers clawed within two points with 16:04 remaining, but Iowa responded with what turned out to be a crucial scoring run for a 55-47 lead.
Wisconsin was hanging dangerously close at 62-56 when Weber picked up his fifth foul with 6:44 remaining. Iowa responded with six straight points for a 68-56 lead.
After Heineman picked up his fifth foul with 2:52 to go, Iowa raced off on a 10-1 spurt for its biggest lead of the game at 78-60 in the final minute.
Wisconsin’s foul woes were reflected at the free-throw line. Iowa attempted 33 free throws, making 23, while Wisconsin was just nine of 13.
“We really struggled with our offense in the last 10 minutes,” said Yoder. “When we shoot 13 free throws and the other team has 23, we’ll probably get beat every time.”
“This is a physical conference with a lot of bumping and shoving,” said the 6-foot 7-inch Weber. “I thought the officiating was poor. Sometimes you would get creamed, other times you couldn’t touch people.”
Said Heineman, “It’s touch to win on the road, but the refereers didn’t have things under control. People don’t realize how good we really are, we didn’t play that bad. I was hit with five offensive fouls, and you just don’t see that in basketball.
“We’ll continue to surprise people this year in the Big Ten. We are not going to be intimidated.”
The Hawkeyes, who had never been ranked as high as second, play their first Big Ten road game of the season at Minnesota.
WISCONSIN (63) — Ripley 2-3 0-0 6, Jones 6-6 1-2 13, Weber 8-11 0-0 16, Heineman 3-5 0-0 6, Smith 5-20 7-8 19, Fleming 0-2 1-2 1, Portmann 1-1 0-0 2, Schubring 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson 0-1 0-1 0, Robertson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-49 9-13 63.
IOWA (78) — Marble 4-7 3-4 11, Lohaus 6-7 3-6 15, Horton 4-6 8-9 16, Gamble 5-8 2-3 12, Armstrong 1-6 5-7 8, Moe 2-7 0-0 4, Lorenzen 1-2 0-0 2, Jones 2-2 1-2 5, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Wright 1-4 1-2 3, Jepsen 0-0 0-0 0, Casey 0-0 0-0 0, Jewell 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan 1-1 0-0 2, Reaves 0-0 0-0 0, Westin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-50 23-33 78.
Halftime—Iowa 43, Wisconsin 39. Fouled Out—Weber, Heineman, Portmann. Rebounds—Wisconsin 24 (Weber 5), Iowa 32 (Lohaus, Gamble 8). Assists—Wisconsin 17 (Smith 6), Iowa 17 (Marble 6). Total Fouls—Wisconsin 26, Iowa 19. Technicals—Heineman. Attendance—15,500.
