UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Reggie Evans probably should have just
parked himself at the foul line.
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Tue, May
2
The Hawkeyes are getting it done, baby! Steve Alford has turned into a great
tournament coach, leading Iowa to four straight wins in the Big Ten Tournament and
coaching the Hawkeyes to victory over Creighton in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament without Luke Recker.
Dean Oliver and Reggie Evans were giving them a dynamite one-two punch inside and
out. But they won this game, like Maryland, at the free-throw line. They hit 30 of 35
from the line versus 9 of 12 for the Blue Jays.
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Evans made 12 of 13 free throws in the last 10 minutes – when
the teams combined for just three field goals – to lead Iowa to a
69-56 victory over Creighton in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament on Thursday.
"I felt real good hitting all my free throws like that," said Evans, who scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half and had seven straight in a key span. "I felt very confident at the line."
Evans, a transfer from Coffeyville Community College in Kansas,
was 13-of-15 overall from the line in his first NCAA Tournament game.
"Sometimes we forget that Reggie is a junior college transfer.
This is brand new to him," Iowa coach Steve Alford said. "I
thought he was uptight, but he came up big-time in the last 10
minutes."
Duez Henderson added 16 points and Dean Oliver 15 for
seventh-seeded Iowa (23-11), which went scoreless the first 5:32 of
the second half. Creighton started the half on a 12-0 run, before
the Hawkeyes recovered to pull out their fifth straight victory.
"We had to get back to doing what we needed to do, and that was
play defense," Oliver said. "We've been down before. We had
experience. We had to keep fighting."
|  | | Iowa's Jared Reiner makes sure Ben Walker's drive to the hoop ends in disappointment. |
Iowa will play Kentucky, which beat Holy Cross 72-68, in the
second round Saturday. The Hawkeyes last played the Wildcats in
1997, when they lost 75-69 in the second round of the NCAA
Tournament.
Ben Walker and Livan Pyfrom each scored 11 points to lead
10th-seeded Creighton (24-8), which made only one field goal in the
last 10:44.
"There were a couple of critical possessions, and the game kind
of changed," Creighton coach Dana Altman said. "We had
opportunities, but we rushed our offensive opportunities in the
second half."
The Bluejays shot just 5-of-28 from 3-point range.
"We're a team that depends on outside shooting, and we didn't
knock the shots down," Altman said.
With the game tied 49-49 with 7:54 left, Evans scored seven
straight points and the Hawkeyes took a 56-49 lead with 3:14
remaining.
The game turned into a free-throw clinic from that point, with
Iowa outshooting Creighton 13-5 to seal the victory.
"We were just not listening early on," Oliver said. "We were
taking bad shots and doing things we shouldn't have been doing. But
we chipped away and were able to get back into the game."
Walker's layup with 52 seconds left was the Bluejays' first
field goal since his layup with 10:44 left. He broke his right ring
finger while going for a rebound midway through the second half.
Walker had the finger wrapped, and continued to play.
"I think I smacked the ball and the bone just came right through," said Walker, a senior. "But I knew I was going back out there, even if they had to amputate it."
Iowa, which trailed 21-13 midway through the first half, used a
19-9 run to go into halftime with the lead. Oliver made two free
throws with 43 seconds remaining to give the Hawkeyes a 32-30
halftime lead.
Iowa, the Big Ten tournament champions, again played without leading scorer Luke Recker, who has been sidelined since breaking his right kneecap on Jan. 27. Shooting guard Brody Boyd bruised his right kneecap against Creighton, but is listed as day-to-day afrer X-rays were negative. Alford said he expects Boyd to play against Kentucky.
The Hawkeyes have advanced to the second round of the NCAA
Tournament in each of their past 10 appearances. They last lost a
first-round game in 1986.
Creighton outrebounded Iowa 28-15, led by Walker's nine. But the
Bluejays, who received their first at-large berth since 1975,
failed to break the school record for single-season victories.
"Defensively, we just let down overall," Walker said. "I
think we're a good team, but we didn't play our best game. We just
didn't fight as hard as I thought we could."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
Creighton Clubhouse
Iowa Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Creighton was a formidable opponent, but Steve Alford's Hawkeyes were too much in the end.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dean Oliver and the Hawkeyes have grown accustom to winning without Luke Recker.
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RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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