Iowa 83, North Carolina-Greensboro 58
No surprises tonight as Iowa won the championship game of the Hawkeye Challenge and improved its record to 6-1. Things were more or less the same as they have been all season - Pierre Pierce fused spectacular drive-and-finishes with a few forced shots, Carlton Reed hit some threes off the bench, Erek Hansen was a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end, Jeff Horner kept his teammates involved with excellent passes, Greg Brunner was solid inside, both on the glass and on offense, and Adam Haluska found ways to score.

Some numbers stand out as less than perfect - UNC-Greensboro grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and forced 21 Iowa turnovers, often by deflecting lazy passes. Some of that can be attributed to fatigue, as Iowa played for the second consecutive night and for the 7th time in 16 days.

Iowa was impressive shooting the three, finishing 11-19. Horner hit 4-6, Haluska was 3-5, Reed shot 2-2, and Mike Henderson hit the only one he attempted.

Doug Thomas didn't get a chance for another of his signature dunks, but he did grab 10 rebounds in only 17 minutes. Iowa's leading rebounder for the tournament also had 7 rebounds on Friday night. For the season he has 41 rebounds in 111 minutes, or an excellent 14.8 reb/40 min.

Horner, Pierce, and Brunner were all named to the all-tournament team, with Horner and Pierce earning co-MVP honors. In the two games:
- Brunner: 26 pts, 15 reb, 5 blk
- Horner: 23 pts, 18 ast, 5 stl
- Pierce: 36 pts, 11 reb, 8 ast, 6 stl

Random Stuff - Pierce does indeed wear socks with the NBA logo, just in case you were curious. Don't know why it took me so long to notice. Pierce changed into some black and bright yellow shoes at half time. Pierce appeared to re-injure his left ankle - he fell to the floor after driving to the basket and held his ankle for a while. He made it back into the game a minute and a half later and didn't look any slower. Iowa wore its "special" gold home uniforms tonight. They also wore them in the season opener against Western Illinois.

Posting will likely be light over the next couple weeks with finals on the horizon. Thanks for dropping by.

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