Centenary Centenary/Iowa Iowa Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

"I was thoroughly embarrassed by the way they played," Iowa coach Steve Alford said after the Hawkeyes' 72-52 victory Tuesday night. "They disrespected Centenary and disrespected our coaches."

Dean Oliver led the Hawkeyes (No. 21 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) with 16 points.

Luke Recker, who has led Iowa in scoring in six of eight games, missed the game because of tendinitis in his right knee.

"I think you saw how important losing Luke Recker is," Alford said. "It's obvious who has bailed us out this year."

Recker was dressed in street clothes and watched the game from the end of the bench but said he would be ready to play Saturday at Kansas State.

"It's fine. I'll be fine for this weekend. I'm going to play Saturday," he said.

Centenary coach Kevin Johnson, whose team has lost eight straight, all on the road, said he couldn't have asked more from his team.

"I'm proud of our kids," Johnson said. "We don't have Big Ten talent, but we play hard. I'm proud of the way the kids performed, playing a Top 20 team even without Luke Recker."

Recker was replaced by Ryan Hogan, who scored a career-high 15 points in his first start of the season. Duez Henderson added a season-best 13 points, and Reggie Evans had 11 points and 10 rebounds for his ninth straight double-double as Iowa won its ninth straight without a loss.

Ronnie McCollum led Centenary (2-8) with 22 points, although he was just 8-of-26 from the floor, while Kevin Atamah finished with 12.

The Hawkeyes led just 33-26 when Henderson, who had a total of two points during the past three games, went on a tear. He scored 10 of Iowa's next 11 points as the Hawkeyes grabbed a 44-28 lead with 13:04 to play.

A basket by Kresimir Tomorad started a 7-0 run for the Gents as they climbed back to 44-35 at the 11:20 mark, but Glen Worley hit a free throw, Hogan buried a 3-pointer and Worley canned two more free throws with 9:48 left as the Hawkeyes opened a 50-35 lead and were never threatened.

McCollum, one of the nation's leading scorers with a 24.3 point average, scored six of the Gents' eight field goals en route to 17 first-half points as Centenary used a 14-2 run to open a 14-8 lead 8:52 before halftime.

The Hawkeyes went 9:28 without a field goal before a dunk by Evans ignited an 11-4 Iowa spurt. The run was capped by Oliver's 3-pointer from the left corner that gave the Hawkeyes a 19-18 edge.

McCollum final field goal of the first half gave the Gents a 24-23 lead at the 2:23 mark, but Hogan answered with a basket and then made two free throws with 5.9 seconds left to give Iowa a 27-24 halftime lead.

ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

Centenary Clubhouse

Iowa Clubhouse