Golly, Gee.
Iowa leads the nation in silos–and rebound margin. Before Sunday, the Hawkeyes were outrebounding their opponents by 12.9 per game.
Before Sunday, only one team all year–Cal, 35-34–had taken more balls off the glass in a game than the Hawkeyes.
So who bops the big yellow bird in the beak? “Itsy-bitsy” Illinois.
The way Illini junior forward Jarrod Gee saw it, Iowa had built most of its statistical superiority by embarrassing Mr. Gee himself.
His low point: Jan. 29 in Iowa City.
Gee, who stands 6 feet 8 inches, was credited with one lonely rebound that night. Which made Gee feel about 3-8 after the Illini’s 82-65 defeat.
Sunday, Gee showed the season’s first sellout Assembly Hall crowd and a national TV audience what he has been working on lately. Gee’s totals: 11 rebounds, six points and four blocks in the Illini’s 66-51 rout of the 25th-ranked Hawkeyes.
“I was tired of being inconsistent,” said Gee, who was averaging only 3.5 rebounds per game this season. “I was tired of not being the player I think I should be. I just want to thank coach (Lon Kruger) for keeping me in the lineup.”
Gee said he didn’t eat much before Sunday’s rematch with the Hawkeyes. “Some pancakes, a little French toast. I wasn’t very hungry.”
On the court, though, his basketball appetite was obvious. “I was down on myself,” said Gee. “(This game), though, feels pretty good. I have a tendency to block out but not go after the ball. Sometimes I just wave at it. (Sunday) I was just more aggressive all-around.”
So was Chris Gandy, who like Gee tied a career high with four blocks. Gandy’s 14 points gave him his second double double of the season. The Illini had a season-high nine blocks as a team.
“We have this thing,” said Gandy, “where we’re supposed to contest every shot. They (Iowa) were throwing up some shots that were kind of lazy. Gee and I just went up and got them.”
Back on track: Illinois’ third straight victory improved its record to 17-6, its best record at this point in a season since 1991, when the Illini went 21-10 and tied for third in the Big Ten.
Psychic Tom: After his team’s 15-point rout of Illinois nine days ago, Iowa coach Tom Davis feared Sunday’s outcome.
“The score doesn’t reflect the evenness of these two ballclubs,” Davis had said. “They could turn that around on us in Champaign.”
Kruger said revenge, though, wasn’t that big of a factor.
“I don’t know that that loss affected us a lot,” said Kruger, “except that Iowa really got our guys’ attention as far as showing us how good they are.”
And the better the team, apparently, the more the Illini like it. Illinois’ record this season against ranked teams: 4-1.
