PALM DESERT, Calif. — For the first time this season, we saw Iowa basketball truly get tested.

The Hawkeye men breezed through their first five games, winning by an average of 27.6 points. But Ole Miss put Iowa in a position on Nov. 26 that it hadn’t been in yet this season.

That Iowa led for roughly 31 minutes against Ole Miss is not emblematic of how tightly contested this game was. The Rebels pushed the Hawkeyes. The two teams threw metaphorical punches and counterpunches. In a game that was tied at halftime, Iowa needed to make plays in crunch time to come away victorious.

And the Hawkeyes did just that.

The moment did not look too big for Iowa, which defeated Ole Miss 74-69 in the first round of the Acrisure Classic. There is winning experience in the Iowa program, whether tha

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