Marble Scores 26 To Help Iowa Beat Michigan

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Roy Devyn Marble's hot shooting at the start sparked his teammates. It even helped his defense.

Marble scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half and No. 17 Iowa beat No. 10 Michigan 85-67 on Saturday. Marble even drew the defensive assignment on Nik Stauskas for much of the game, holding the Wolverines' leading scorer to 10 points.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery called it his team's best performance of the season.

The Hawkeyes (18-6, 7-4 Big Ten) have beaten two AP Top 10 teams in the regular season for the first time since 1990-91. Iowa avoided a third straight loss at home and split the season series with Michigan.

Caris LeVert scored 22 points for the Wolverines (17-6, 9-2), who have lost two of three after starting 8-0 in the Big Ten.

Iowa's Aaron White had 11 points and eight rebounds. Mike Gesell had 10 points and matched a career high with eight assists -- five on Marble's baskets.

Marble was 6 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half -- more 3s than the Hawkeyes made as a team the last five games.

Iowa, which ranks next to last in the Big Ten in 3-point field goals, finished 10 of 17 from behind the arc.

In the season's first matchup of these teams, Stauskas tied a career high with 26 points. McCaffery said Iowa was locked into collectively stopping Stauskas, who was held to 3-of-6 shooting on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes led by as many as 16 points in the first half as Marble connected on three 3-pointers for Iowa's first nine points.

Later in the half, Marble's sharp crossover led to a quick layup. Marble knocked down another 3-pointer on the next possession, turning to salute the sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Marble hit two more 3-pointers at the end of the half -- one just before the buzzer -- to give Iowa a 43-29 lead.

Michigan never got closer in the second half.

Marble's 22-point first half ended a stretch of bad starts for the Hawkeyes' leading scorer. He scored five points or less in the first half in five of Iowa's last six games, including two scoreless halves.

Marble finished 8 of 17 from the field and made all four of his free throws. He moved into 10th place on Iowa's all-time scoring list with 1,529 points.

The Hawkeyes are 6-0 in games following a loss this season.

Freshman Zak Irvin scored 19 points for Michigan, going 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

The Wolverines, who fell a half-game behind Michigan State in the Big Ten standings, next play at Ohio State with home games against Wisconsin and Michigan State to follow.

Iowa dominated in the post with 34 points in the paint and seven blocked shots. The Hawkeyes grabbed 38 rebounds to Michigan's 29.

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