[Herky] Shooting stars spark Hawks to rarefied air

[Sue Bailey]

Shooting stars spark Hawks to rarefied air

IOWA CITY - When a basketball team can shoot, it becomes both stylish 
and savage at the same time.

Here was Iowa from the 14:56 to the 13:26 marks of Sunday's second half 
here: Brady Ellingson for 3: Good. Nicholas Baer for 3: Good. Dom Uhl 
for 3: Good.

A 47-41 Hawkeyes lead was 56-41. The explosion left the Purdue 
Boilermakers in the dust, and Iowa's two point halftime deficit quickly 
became a distant memory.

The Hawkeyes continued their swath of devastation through the Big Ten 
with an 83-71 win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Those three players areall substitutes, by the way.

They were among the six Hawkeyes who made threes as Iowa upped its 
conference record to 7-0.

For any dissertation you can give about why Iowa will be elevated into 
the nation's Top Five today, 3-point shooting has to be in the opening 
remarks.

Last season, when the Hawkeyes went 12-6 in the Big Ten, they were just 
34.4 percent from 3-point land, and made 5.4 threes per game in Big Ten 
play.

This season they're averaging 8.9 threes in league games after going 
11-for-20 from that distance Sunday.

They shoot 41.0 percent overall (10th-best in the nation) and lead the 
Big Ten in league games at 43.7 percent. Only four previous Iowa teams 
have made 40 percent of their 3-pointers over afull season, and each 
played when the 3-point line was 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket, not 
the current 20-9. Why is this year's team so good from so deep?

►HLAS, PAGE 2B

Adam Woodbury (34), Andrew Fleming (2) and Ahmad Wagner (0) celebrate as 
the Iowa bench reacts to a 3-pointer by Iowa guard Brady Ellingson (not 
pictured) during the second half against Purdue on Sunday at 
Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Ellingson came off the bench to hit a 
pair of 3-pointers for Iowa.

Cliff Jette/The Gazette


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'We're better at spacing on the floor,' Iowa senior Jarrod Uthoff said. 
'We have four people who can shoot threes, maybe five at any given time, 
so that enables us to space the floor a lot better.' Oh, there's also 
Uthoff himself. He canned 4 of his 5 3-pointers Sunday in a typical 
22-point effort. Over the seven conference games, he's 17-of-33 from 
behind the arc. That's 51.5 percent, great for anyone, ridiculous for a 
6-foot-9 player.

'They're proficient shooting 3-pointers against people of size, and that 
brings us out,' Purdue Coach Matt Painter said. 'That's what really 
gives us a problem, when (we) have two 7-footers.

'Iowa does a good job of getting threes, but also getting drives and 
getting the ball to the rim. They have a well balanced attack.' Defenses 
can't key on Uthoff and Peter Jok without leaving themselves subject to 
burn marks. Uhl has made 10 of his 15 3-point tries in Big Ten games. 
Baer has made 43.9 percent of his threes this season. Uhl is 6-foot-9 
and Baer 6-7.

Ellingson went the first six Big Ten games without making a 3-pointer. 
He played sparingly the last two games and didn't take a shot. So he 
comes in Sunday, plays 11 minutes, and pops in a pair of 3-pointers.

'I always have confidence in my shot,' Ellingson said. That may be the 
team's mantra.

Maybe the shot of this game that best defines this team, however, was a 
2-point jumper. With 5:10 left, Iowa ahead 68-56 and Jok driving 1-on-1 
against ace Purdue defender Rapheal Davis in transition, Jok pulled up 
and took a long 2-pointer with no one under the basket to rebound. Had 
he missed, it would probably have been the equivalent of a turnover. But 
he didn't miss.

'You never know who's going to get hot,' said Jok, who has made 43.9 
percent of his threes in Big Ten games. 'Anybody can go off at any 
second.' Anybody and almost everybody. Jok. Bang! Uhl, Baer, Ellingson. 
Bang, bang, bang! Uthoff. Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Iowa's first Top Five appearance since the 1988-89 season comes today. 
The Hawkeyes are going in with, well, a bang.

•Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas at thegazette.com 
<mailto:mike.hlas at thegazette.com>

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