Iowa coach Fran McCaffery got the sustained effort he was looking for. The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 30-8 lead and went on to throttle Michigan State 72-52 in Iowa City.
McCaffrey says the games started with a focus on defense and that has been their focus, and he says they were able to sustain the defensive intensity throughout the game. McCaffery says the defense outrebounded the Spartans, forced them into 17 turnovers and only gave up 11 assists, so Michigan State had to really work for everything they got.
McCaffery says the Hawkeyes did a good job of carrying out the game plan on defense as he says the Spartans run so many counters and sets and that makes it hard to prepare for them. He says they decided to not focus on what they were going to run, but on the person they would go to.
Matt Gatens led the Hawks with 19 points as they improve to 2-8 in the Big Ten.