Brandon Kakert

The Iowa Hawkeyes took the court in Piscataway, NJ tonight against Rutgers. True freshman guard, Joe Wieskamp, would play the hero on this night. This role is often filled by Jordan Bohannon, but Wieskamp hit an improbable three at the buzzer to give Iowa the win over Rutgers. It was just moments prior when Rutgers guard, Gio Baker, sunk a go-ahead three of his own with only three seconds left in the game. Baker’s shot bounced off the rim a few times before falling.

Joe Called Game

This was quickly forgotten as Wieskamp got a lucky bounce of his own off the side of the backboard for the game-winner. This came after a full-court pass from Connor McCaffrey which was tipped by a Rutgers player right into his hands.

Wieskamp, although he is only a true freshman, may very well be Iowa’s best player. His abilities speak for themselves, especially of late. His overall confidence has been there, and in return the results have been there. Look at the upset win against Michigan, for example. A game in which he scored 16 and looked fearless against last year’s runner-up in the NCAA Tourney.

Iowa is now 20-5 overall (9-5 conference), and a win on Tuesday night against Maryland will move them into 4th place in the Big Ten. This marks only the sixth time in school history the Hawkeyes have reached 20 wins within their first 25 games:

The month of February could not have gone any better for the Hawkeyes up to this point. They are 4-0 with convincing wins coming against Michigan,  Indiana on the road, and Northwestern and Rutgers both at the buzzer. I like to think that this team will hang around until the end no matter what. They have a couple of guys who are not afraid to take that last shot and close out the game. The Hawks have shown that as well. Things are looking great, but Iowa is still only in mid-February. All that these Hawkeyes can do is continue to take things one game at a time and continue to play good basketball.