Iowa Basketball: 3 takeaways from impressive win over #16 North Carolina

Transition defense was a clear weak spot

One of North Carolina’s strengths over the past few years has been its tempo. It seems like the Tar Heels would go down the floor at warp speed, with their freshman duo backcourt. The combination of R.J. Davis and Caleb Love would combine for eight field goals and 23 points. Six of those makes came on transition points.

Immediately after defensive rebounds, North Carolina would sprint down the floor and make a lightly contested shot near the rim quite often. Even though Iowa only turned the ball over 11 times, North Carolina would make sure to get points off of turnovers.

Another weak spot was rebounding as the Hawkeyes were-10 in that department. North Carolina is the more athletic team and showed how Iowa can be out of place at times. Off of a rebound and transition, North Carolina looked stonewalled. However, Iowa was so focused on defending the transition, they were so out of sync with their base defense. This forced a massive crowd around the player with the ball and let someone else open.

This would result in an RJ Davis three-pointer, taking advantage of Iowa being out of place. Iowa has an elite scorer and a plethora of guards that rip the nets from beyond the arc. Defense is still a question and it wasn’t answered today after giving up near 48 percent shooting from the field.

The Hawkeyes have a game with quite possibly, the best offense in College Basketball with Gonzaga. Especially transition defense will need to be fixed, leading up to that affair.

North Carolina will be back home after their contest with Elon getting cancelled. Their next game is against #22 Ohio State back home on December, 19th. For Iowa, they get a rivalry affair with Iowa State on Friday.