After Iowa blew a 21-point lead, Joe Toussaint saved the day, hitting a 10-foot jumper with 8.4 seconds left to give the Hawkeyes a 75-74 victory over host Virginia on Monday night in Charlottesville in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Iowa (7-0) kept its composure after Virginia hit a trio of 3-pointers, including two by Taine Murray in the final 2:15, to grab the lead. But after Murray missed a free throw with 27 seconds left, Toussaint got the lead back for Iowa. In the closing seconds, Patrick McCaffrey blocked a shot in the lane by Kadin Shedrick to preserve the win.
After dominating six small-conference teams, Iowa showed its Division I-leading offense was legitimate as it made 53.6 percent of its shots, including 10 of 21 from the arc, while committing just four turnovers.
Jordan Bohannon had 20 points and the nation’s leading scorer, Keegan Murray, added 18 for Iowa.
Virginia (5-3) was led by Jayden Gardner, who scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kihei Clark added 15 points and five assists, hitting a key 3-pointer with 45 seconds left that put the Cavaliers up 74-73. Taine Murray finished with 14 points, hitting 4 of 6 3-point tries.
On Iowa’s first possession, Bohannon drained a 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes a lead they would not relinquish until the final minutes. Iowa made five of its first six shots on its way to a 14-6 advantage.
Later in the half, Iowa went on a 15-point run fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from Bohannon and two inside buckets by Filip Rebraca. When Keegan Murray threw down a putback slam-dunk to culminate the run, Iowa had its biggest lead of the night, 40-19.
But Clark hit a 3-pointer to halt the run and Virginia later scored the final six points of the half to whittle the deficit to 14. Consecutive 3-pointers by Gardner early in the second half helped the Cavaliers cut the lead to single digits.
–Field Level Media
