Iowa rallies past Michigan 86-83 in OT (Jan 01, 2017)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Jordan Bohannon and the rest of Iowa's freshmen are learning how to win.
It certainly helps that the Hawkeyes have a steady senior in Peter Jok to show them how it's done.
Jok scored 25 points, including a decisive 3 with 1:16 left in overtime, and Iowa rallied to beat Michigan 86-83 on Sunday for its fifth straight win over the Wolverines.
Bohannon added 17 points and six assists without a turnover for the Hawkeyes (9-6, 1-1 Big Ten), who overcame a monster game by Michigan's D.J. Wilson for their sixth win in seven games.
''He's just a special player,'' Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Bohannon. ''There's no panic in him.''
Derrick Walton Jr.'s breakaway layup with 21 seconds to go pulled Michigan (10-4, 0-1) within 84-83. But Jok hit two free throws after a hard foul, and Wilson clanked a 3 off the backboard - which wasn't what the Wolverines drew up in the huddle - that would've likely forced a second overtime.
''I thought we did a good job of making them take contested shots those last 20 seconds,'' said Iowa's Nicholas Baer.
Wilson set a career high with 28 points, and he added 14 rebounds and six assists. Duncan Robinson scored 15 off the bench for the Wolverines, who were just 12 of 35 from 3-point range.
''They shot the ball so efficiently,'' Michigan coach John Beilein said. ''Jok and Bohannon, you just can't let them shoot.''
Tyler Cook had 11 points with eight assists in his first start since November for Iowa, which went 11 of 19 from 3-point range.
BIG PICTURE
Michigan: Losing to a team that likely won't come anywhere near the NCAA Tournament isn't the way Michigan wanted to start Big Ten play. The Wolverines blew a small cushion late in the second half, giving a young Iowa team boosted by a surprisingly robust crowd an extra five minutes to steal a win. Zak Irvin had 12 points, six rebounds and six assists, but he was just 5 of 15 from the field. ''When they got good looks, they cashed in on them,'' Beilein said of Iowa.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes made mistakes - with four freshman starters, that's inevitable - but responded nicely following a blowout loss at Purdue. Bohannon's strong outing was encouraging, given how badly Iowa needs strong point-guard play in the weeks ahead, and Cook gave the Hawkeyes a major boost by playing 31 minutes.
THE NUMBERS
Wilson played a game-high 44 minutes and committed just one turnover. ''The kid's a good player. He's incredibly versatile to be that big,'' McCaffery said. ... The outcome was truly in doubt until the final buzzer, with eight ties and 11 lead changes. ... Only one player, Michigan's Moritz Wagner, reached four fouls. Wagner scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. ... The Wolverines got just five chances from the line, hitting three free throws.
HE SAID IT
''You're going to enjoy watching him for the next four years,'' Beilein said about Bohannon, the third kid from his family to play Division I basketball. ''I don't where he was in the recruiting world or where he was recruited. That kid is playing as good as any freshman point guard in the country.''
HE SAID IT, PART TWO
''If I didn't think he could do it, we wouldn't have offered him a scholarship,'' McCaffery said of Bohannon.
UP NEXT
Michigan: Hosts Penn State in its first league game at home.
Iowa: Travels to Nebraska on Thursday.
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