Iowa broke open a game tied at 35 with about four and a half minutes to play and held on to a 45-42 win over North Carolina State in the A-C-C/Big Ten Challenge Wednesday. It was a hard-fought game and Iowa coach Steve Alford says he was pleased with his team’s toughness.
Alford says he told the team a ranked team came into their building and they shot 29-percent , had nine more turnovers than assists and still won the basketball game. Alford says that wouldn’t have happened last year. He says the team has grown defensively and on the defensive side it was “a very special night.”
Alford says he used the zone defense more than he expected, but it worked. He says they got one ten second violation and were able to force them to use the burn off the shot clock before getting a good shot.
Adam Haluska led Iowa with 18 points. Haluska says it was an ugly game that they gritted out and fought and got the win. Jeff Horner was the only other Hawkeye in double figures with 11 points.
Iowa moves to 5-1 on the season and will host Fairfield in their own tournament Friday.