Cedar Rapids & Des Moines Preps Shine as Iowa Rolls Northwestern
There was a star in each half today for the Iowa men's basketball team that moved to 11-0 on the season inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Each twenty-minute stanza featured an Iowa prep lighting up the scoreboard.
In the first half, it was Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad Jarrod Uthoff who went off. Uthoff, after being held to nine points Thursday night against Maryland, scored 19 in the first half as Iowa built a 16-point halftime lead (42-26). Jarrod would end the game with 23 points and also joined Greg Stokes and Acie Earl as the ONLY players in Iowa history with more than 1,000 points and 150 blocks in their career. What's even more amazing is how quickly he's accomplished it. Today also was the 11th time this season Uthoff has scored at least 20 in a game.
The second half belonged to West Des Moines Valley grad, Peter Jok. Jok, a junior, who starts alongside four seniors in the Iowa lineup each night, had an unbelievable second half. Peter scored 22 of his game-high 26 after the break, including 14 consecutive Iowa points during one stretch.
The final was Iowa-85 Northwestern-71 in a game that wasn't that close the final 10 minutes. Most of Iowa's starters were pulled beginning around the 8-minute mark.
Iowa is 17-4 overall and 8-1 in the Big Ten, good for a first-place tie with the Indiana Hoosiers. They'll meet in Bloomington February 11 and in Iowa City on March 1.
Up next for Iowa is a 6 o'clock game Wednesday night at home against Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 11-11 on the season, but just 2-7 in conference play. It will be televised by ESPNU.