Jarryd Cole Sparks Iowa Hawkeye Win over North Carolina Central

Shooting 3-of-20 from behind the arch might doom most basketball teams, but not Todd Lickliter's Iowa Hawkeyes.

Iowa defeated the North Carolina Central Eagles on Saturday in Carver Hawkeye Arena, en route to just their second win of the season. 

After a slow start, the Hawkeyes overcame bad three-point shooting with a balanced attack and the dominant inside play of junior forward Jarryd Cole.

Cole scored a career-high 24 points, missing only three of his 13 field-goal attempts. He came into Saturday's match averaging just over seven points a game.

Cole also led Iowa in rebounds with 10, demonstrating that he has fully recovered from the knee injury that forced him to miss most of his freshman season.

"Settling for threes isn't always good," the 6-foot-7 forward told reporters after the game.

Thankfully, Cole wasn't the only Hawkeye to step it up against the Eagles. 

The atrocious three-point shooting aside, the team spread the scoring around and Iowa's freshmen continued to show there is hope for the future. Freshman point guard Cully Payne scored 11 points, and freshman center Brennan Cougill scored nine points, grabbing nine rebounds in his effort.

Matt Gatens seemed to break out of a shooting slump, adding 16 points. He came into the season for Iowa as last year's leading scorer, but has been a little off so far this year.

Sophomore guard Anthony Tucker's shooting continues to struggle, though. Tucker led the team in assists for the game, but missed on all four of his field-goal attempts.

North Carolina Central's Vincent Davis led the Eagles in scoring with 18 points.

This was an important win for the Hawkeyes, who are off to one of the worst starts in school history. The victory improved Iowa's record to 2-4 on the season.

Iowa now turns their attention to Tuesday's game against Virginia Tech, which is 4-1 on the year.

The Virginia Tech game is part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and will be televised at 8:35 p.m. on ESPN2. In an effort to increase attendance, the game is FREE for all University of Iowa students.

This article is also featured on IowaHawkeyes.Net , a nerd's blog dedicated to all that is Hawkeye.