Iowa vs Michigan State Recap: 72-52 W

That game was what every Hawkeye fan needed. Sure, Michigan State has major problems right now, and Iowa didn't go and knock off the best team in the Big 10. But, keep in mind that this Michigan State team still has a lot of talent on it, and Iowa outplayed them in pretty much ever aspect of that basketball game last night. So, it's still a great win for the Hawkeyes, even if we are still alone in last place (damn you Indiana).

Bullet Points!

•  WOOOOOOO!!!!!
• I've been very repetitive lately, saying that Iowa has yet to get a good game out of their four best offensive players, or even three out of the four. Well, Gatens was feeling it last night, Cartwright put together another great game, and May had some big plays that got Carver on its collective feet. Basabe struggled, but Cole more than made up for his troubles last night. Overall, 4 Iowa starters were in double digit points. 
• Iowa's starters scored 59 points, going 24-40 from the field, 2-5 from three point range (62.5% effective FG%), and 9-11 from the free throw line (81.82%).
• Michigan State's starters scored 34 points on 12-41 shooting, including 4-17 from the three point line (34.15% effective FG%), and 6-6 from the free throw line (thanks to Kalin Lucas). I'm not surprised there was this much disparity between the teams in shooting, I'm just pleasantly surprised that it wasn't Iowa, who couldn't buy a basket all game.
• For the entire game, Iowa made 62.7% of their two point field goal attempts (only the second time they've been over 60% in Big 10 play this year), but only 33.3% of their three point attempts. Considering that 75% of the Hawkeyes points came from inside the three point line, they still finished with a great effective FG% of 60.58% (their second highest shooting in Big 10 play this year).
• Over the entire 40 minutes of this game, Michigan State made 39.4% of their two point shots taken, and an even worse 22.2% of their three pointers attempted. These two averages combined for a 37.5% effective FG%, which is easily the lowest by any Big 10 opponent against Iowa this season. Actually, it is only the third time Iowa has held a conference opponent to less than 50% this year. 
• Bryce Cartwright has put together back to back great games. This really has to make the Iowa fanbase excited to see how much he can improve next year. He's no Darius Morris, but he did his best impression last night, as he grabbed his first Career double-double as a member of the Iowa team (and in his collegiate career). He scored 12 points on 6-12 shooting (50% effective FG%), which is a very efficient shooting night for Cartwright. He also had another game where he went insane dishing out assists. He tallied 10 assists in 37 minutes of play, good for his second best assist per minute rate of the season, at 0.27 (he had 0.30 assists per minute vs Michigan last Sunday). Cartwright did have four turnovers, but still came up with a 2.5 to 1 assist to turnover ratio last night. Pretty good.
• Staying on Cartwright and his assists, the man has been impressive. In an earlier post, I wrote he wasn't improving as the year had gone on. Well, he hasn't scoring wise, but he is getting better and better at finding his teammates over the course of the season. If you look at his assist rate, he is ranked number 21 in the country and number 3 in the Big 10, with a 36.9% assist rate. In Big 10 play he is averaging 0.20 assists per minute compared to the 0.16 assists per minute he averaged in non-conference play. What about if you check out month to month? Yep. He's getting better. Have a look:

•  Gatens had a great game. He had 14 points on 6-11 shooting, including 2-3 from three point range (good for a 63.6% effective FG%). He also added 5 more points from the charity srtipe, bringing his total on the night to a team high, 19 points. Gatens still struggled to shoot a better percentage from two point range (50%) than he did from three point range (66.7%), but that's the player he is, and he is still Iowa's best shooter. He also had 4 steals and a dunk! Fastbreak points bitches!
• Welcome back Eric May! Please feel free to stay a while too. May was very efficient, scoring 11 points on 4-5 shooting (0 three point attempts) and 3-4 from the free throw line. Even better, he was attacking the basket when he shot, and he was getting out in transition when Michigan State turned the ball over. May had one dunk foiled when was run down from behind by a Michigan State player, but a couple minutes later he was redeemed. May caught an outlet pass, outrunning another Spartan player, flushing the ball down with one hand. That dunk literally got everybody in Carver (and even fans on Twitter) out of their seat. 
• I love when Eric May dunks. Eric May dunks bring us all together. I think Eric May's dunks could bring peace to the Middle East. Let's get on that Eric.
• Jarryd Cole also decided to come to play last night, as he scored 13 points (6-6 shooting too!) and grabbed 9 rebounds (all defensive). As if this game wasn't already amazing enough, Iowa almost had two players grab double-double's against Sparty. Cole grabbed 31% of all defensive rebounds available while on the court, which is about 12% better than his season average. However, his outstanding defensive rebounding was still second on the team.That's how good things were for Iowa last night.
• Cole's defensive rebounding rate was second best on the team to who else? Devon Archie of course. All the man does is crash the boards. He pulled down 12.4% of all offensive and 35.7% of all defensive rebounds while on the court. Good to see him get some playing time. Too bad it meant that Basabe and Cole were in foul trouble.
• Brommer was apparently sick as a dog, and throwing up at halftime. For being sick, 6 points and 2 offensive rebounds in 14 minutes of play is still pretty damn good. He also, only picked up 1 foul in those 14 minutes. Progress!
• Looking at rebounds, Iowa won the overall battle ever so slightly, 50.79% to 49.21%. However, Michigan State gave the Hawkeyes trouble on the offensive boards, pulling down 40% of their missed shots. Iowa, on the other hand only grabbed 34.78% of their missed shots. On the defensive boards, Michigan State also came away with more, beating Iowa 65.22% to 60%. This isn't real disappointing though, because Michigan State has some legit rebounders. So, this was expected.
• Iowa finished 30.65% (!) of their possessions with an assisted field goal (the only other time they were over 30% in this category this year, was against the mighty SIU Edwardsville Cougars), while also ending 19.4% of their possessions with a turnover. That's good for an assist to turnover ratio of 1.58 to 1. 
• Michigan State ended 17.74% of their possessions with an assisted field goal, and ended 27.4% of their possessions with a turnover. The Spartans finished with a 0.65 to 1 assist to turnover ratio.
• Overall, Iowa averaged 1.16 points per possession. Michigan State, meanwhile, averaged 0.84 points per possession. That is the lowest defensive points per possession allowed by Iowa in Big 10 play this year, and only the second time they have held a conference opponent under 1 (Indiana averaged 0.99 points per possession).
• WOOOOOOOOO!!!