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NCAA Tournament Recap (Iowa-Arkansas)
Posted: Sat March 13, 1999 at 10:28 p.m. EST DENVER (Ticker) -- Kent McCausland hit five 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 17 points as fifth-seeded Iowa extended coach Tom Davis' season at least one more game with an 82-72 victory over Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in the West Region. Dean Oliver also had 17 points for Iowa (20-9), which won a second-round game for the first time since 1988 and snapped a six-game losing streak in the second round. Davis, who agreed before the season to step down, is 11-0 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. "This has been fun this year," said Hawkeyes coach Tom Davis. "Now, it's been hard some ways. We're doing the best we can and I feel I've been doing that for the last 13 years here at Iowa. I just want to keep this team focused and have as much fun here as we can here and not worry about the bigger question." Iowa's hot 3-point shooting carried over from its first-round win over UAB, when it made 12-of-23. The Hawkeyes were 8-of-18 from beyond the arc, with McCausland going 5-of-9. Chris Walker scored 22 points and Kareem Reid added 18 and 11 assists for Arkansas (23-11), which went 12-of-37 from 3-point range. The Razorbacks suffered their second straight second-round loss in the West Region, also losing to eventual NCAA Tournament finalist Utah last year. "They played a tremendous second half," said Razorbacks coach Nolan Richardson. "They made shots and contained the boards. That was the big difference in the game." The Hawkeyes will play top-seeded Connecticut in the West Region semifinal at Phoenix on Thursday. Arkansas seemed to be in control of the game after a 3-pointer by Walker made it 66-59 with 7:20 to play. McCausland responded with 3-pointers in a 59-second span to make it a one-point game. "No one told me to start shooting, but I wasn't going out my senior year without throwing up some shots," said McCausland. "Once you knock down one, you feel like you can make the rest." J.R. Koch tied the game by making 1-of-2 from the line, and Ryan Luehrsman drilled a 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes a 69-66 lead with 5:26 to go. Jess Settles capped the 12-0 run with a dunk off a great behind-the-back pass from Oliver, extending the lead to five with 4:31 to play. Long-range shots by Pat Bradley and Reid around two free throws by Settles pulled Arkansas within 73-72 at the 2:27 mark. But Koch had a tip-in of a miss by Oliver, and after T.J. Cleveland missed a 3-pointer, Koch sank two foul shots to push the lead to five. Settles added two more before a three-point play by Oliver completed the scoring. "It was helter-skelter out there in the second half," said Settles. "We were just trying to get Kent some looks. Neither team was able to establish their offense the way they wanted to. We may have done a better job of it right at the end." The Hawkeyes made 7-of-11 3-pointers in the second half and also amassed a 47-32 rebounding advantage Koch and Joey Range had 12 points apiece for Iowa, which shot 44 percent (26-of-59) from the field and overcame 24 turnovers. Iowa raced to a 19-10 lead in the first 10-plus minutes but the Razorbacks recovered, taking a 28-26 lead on a 3-pointer by Cleveland and opening a 41-34 advantage at intermission. Reid and Bradley made just 3-of-15 shots from beyond the arc as Arkansas shot 39 percent (26-of-66) and were outscored 22-8 at the line. The Razorbacks committed 20 turnovers and their reserves were outscored 26-17 by Iowa's bench.© 2000 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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