CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS – Iowa dropped its season finale on the road against Illinois, 78-76 and secured the fifth seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament.
The loss snapped an Iowa five-game win streak over Illinois.
Iowa was a perfect 15-of-15 (1.000) from the free throw line last night at Illinois. The last time Iowa went a perfect 15-of-15 from the charity stripe was March 27, 2013 at Virginia in the NIT Quarterfinals.
Iowa finished the regular season tied for fifth place in the Big Ten, marking the seventh time in eight years that Fran McCaffery guided Iowa to an upper division conference finish.
National Player of the Year candidate Luka Garza poured in a game-best 28 points tonight to lead the Hawkeyes. Garza scored 20+ points the last 16 games of the regular season to tie Fred Brown’s school record set in 1971 for most consecutive overall games with 20+ points. Garza’s 16-game streak of 20+ points against Big Ten competition is the longest by any player since Ohio State’s Dennis Hopson (16) in 1987. Garza topped 25 points the last three contests and 13 times this season.
Luka Garza is the fourth player nationally since 2007 to amass 700+ points, 300+ rebounds, 50+ blocks, and 35+ 3-pointers in a season (Frank Kaminsky, 2015; Michael Beasley, 2008; Kevin Durant, 2007).
Luka Garza (26.2 ppg) is Iowa’s first scoring leader in Big Ten games only since Adam Haluska (21.3 ppg) in 2007. Garza is the first player to average at least 26 points in Big Ten play since Purdue’s Glenn Robinson in 1994 (31.1 ppg).
Connor McCaffery tied a career high with eight assists to go along with 10 points. The last time McCaffery had eight assists was versus Illinois on March 14, 2019.
Freshman Joe Toussaint had 14 points, his highest point total since 14 against Rutgers on Jan. 22.
Tonight was the fourth time in five games, and 12th time this season, that Iowa played a game against a ranked opponent.
Iowa is ranked 25th in both the AP and Coaches polls this week.
Iowa will begin postseason play as the No. 5 seed at the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis. The Hawkeyes will begin play on Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CT) against Minnesota/Northwestern.
No quit in this @IowaHoops team. pic.twitter.com/4SURfEB80R
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) March 9, 2020
