Iowa survives lowly Bryant 72-67

Luke Meredith

IOWA CITY, Ia — Tyler Cook scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and 24th-ranked Iowa held off lowly Bryant 72-67 on Saturday night in its final tuneup before Big Ten play resumes next week.

Jordan Bohannon had 17 points for the Hawkeyes (11-2), who swept their non-conference opponents for the first time since 1986-87.

Iowa guard Joe Wieskamp (10) attempts a basket during a NCAA men's basketball game on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

Iowa hardly looked ready for conference play to pick back up though.

The pesky Bulldogs (3-8) had the Hawkeyes even at 66-all with 3:08 left. Cook gave Iowa the lead back with a layup, and the Hawkeyes forced a subsequent shot-clock violation. Bryant's Anthony Grant then missed an open look at a potential game-tying 3 with 24 seconds left, and Bohannon sealed it at the free throw line.

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Bryant showed it was ready to give the Hawkeyes a game from the get-go, as Adam Grant scored 12 of the Bulldogs' first 13 points — and buried a 3 at the buzzer — to help keep them within 43-34 at the break.

The Bulldogs then opened the second half on a 10-2 run to get within a point of Iowa's lead, and Grant's 3 with 5:37 left cut the lead to 64-62. Joe Kasperzyk then tied it up on a layup.

Grant had 20 of his 23 points in the opening 20 minutes for Bryant. The Bulldogs hit 10 3s after shooting just 27.8 percent entering play.