Harty: Starting to look like Iowa might have peaked too early
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The problem with playing a meaningful basketball game in late February is the risk of losing.
Iowa took that risk on Wednesday against a Wisconsin team that is used to playing in key games in late February.
The surging Badgers withstood a raucous crowd inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena to defeat Iowa 67-59 in a game that ultimately will help determine the Big Ten regular-season champion.
Iowa entered the game with control of its own destiny, but that is no longer the case after losing to the Badgers for the sixth time in a row. The Hawkeyes, with records of 20-7 overall and 11-4 in the Big Ten, trail Indiana by one game in the conference standings with three games left to play.
Iowa also has lost three of its last four games.
And with each loss, the chance of Iowa playing in Des Moines in the NCAA Tournament seems less likely to happen.
It still is too early to say the season is unraveling like two years ago when Iowa lost its final seven games. But you have to wonder about the players’ confidence and whether Iowa peaked at the wrong time.
“We’re a confident bunch,” said senior center Adam Woodbury, who grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds in Wednesday’s game, including 10 offensive rebounds. “We’re going to stay confident and we’ll always be confident.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier with Iowa headed to Ohio State for a game on Sunday before returning home to play Indiana on Tuesday. Iowa will close the regular-season at Michigan on March 5.
The Hawkeyes barely will have 48 hours to prepare for the Indiana game and they’ll face Michigan on its senior day.
A season that just two weeks ago looked so promising now has fans wondering what has gone wrong.
This is the same Iowa team that crushed Marquette 89-61 on Marquette’s home floor in November.
It’s the same Iowa team that swept the regular-season series with Michigan State, winning both games by double figures.
And it’s the same Iowa team that had won all 13 of its home game before Wednesday’s setback.
“We’re the same team that beat Marquette, same team that beat Michigan State," Woodbury said. "Some days you don’t have it. We’ve gotta get better."
Woodbury was asked where he felt that Iowa had fallen short against the Badgers.
"We didn’t score enough points and we turned the ball over too much," Woodbury said. "You can’t do that against good teams. If you turn the ball over, unfortunately, you lose games. It was pretty evident tonight."
Several of Iowa’s 14 turnovers appeared to be unforced, more a case of the Hawkeyes being careless with the basketball than the Badgers being disruptive on defense.
"We were a little casual with the ball," said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
The fact that Iowa had more turnovers (14) than assists (9) was perhaps the most telling statistic from Wednesday’s game.
The Hawkeyes also didn’t make a basket in the final six minutes of the game.
Another sobering statistic is that Wisconsin had six different players make at least one 3-point basket, while Iowa only had two – Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok. Five of Wisconsin’s last seven baskets in the game were 3-pointers.
“If you look at it, earlier when we were really rolling, that’s how we were playing,” McCaffery said of multiple players making 3-pointers. “We were harder to guard.”
A lack of productivity from Iowa’s bench was a problem again on Wednesday as the Badgers had a 23-4 advantage in bench points. Iowa has been outscored off the bench in its last five games.
McCaffery tried to downplay the bench deficiencies, telling reporters that two of his reserves – freshman forward Ahmad Wagner and redshirt shooting guard Brady Ellingson – only played five minutes apiece.
“So I probably need to get Ahmad more minutes, Brady more minutes and give them a chance,” McCaffery said.
The arena wasn’t completely full, but was close to being packed for a game that didn’t tip off until 8:06 p.m. on a Wednesday.
The atmosphere was fitting for one of the most meaningful games in the history of the Iowa program. The fans were loud. They were engaged. And they were color coordinated with each section alternating between wearing black and gold.
Even the Iowa students did their part by showing up in large numbers for a change.
The first half ended with the Badgers clinging to a 35-34 lead and with each team having made four 3-point baskets.
Jok led all scorers in the first half with 17 points despite not scoring his first points until the 11:34 mark of the first half. He scored 12 of Iowa’s final 14 points in the first half.
Uthoff only played 10 minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls. He stayed in foul trouble in the second half and finished with just 11 points and five rebounds in 23 minutes of playing time.
Iowa scored the first seven points of the second half to take a six-point lead at 41-35. The Hawkeyes led by six points at three other times in the second half, but couldn’t expand on the lead.
Neither Uthoff nor Jok attended the post-game interview session despite being requested. It was later reported that Jok had left the arena not feeling well.
He wasn’t the only one.
It was disappointing that Uthoff didn’t honor the request to be interviewed because facing the glare of the media spotlight during tough times is part of being a leader.
But it’s also easy to understand why Uthoff reportedly bolted. Wednesday’s loss was horrible for Uthoff in so many ways. It not only cost Iowa first place in the Big Ten, it also came against Uthoff’s former team.
The Cedar Rapids native was redshirted as a true freshman at Wisconsin during the 2011-12 before transferring to Iowa. Uthoff also was being redshirted as a Hawkeye the last time that Iowa defeated Wisconsin on Jan. 19, 2013 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa hasn’t defeated Wisconsin since Uthoff has been eligible.
So it makes sense why he was in no mood to discuss Wednesday’s loss with the media.
Woodbury and senior guard Mike Gesell both deserve praise for attending the post-game interview session. Gesell showed up after shooting just 2-of-9 from the field.
The first question asked to him was whether he still is confident as a shooter.
“I got great looks tonight,” Gesell said. “I missed a couple layups, easy buckets that I usually make. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
The challenge now is to rebound and stay the course. The Big Ten regular-season title still is within reach, as are other goals for the season.
But the glow has definitely faded from Iowa’s image. The team is struggling at the worst possible time.
Wednesday’s game matched two teams headed in opposite directions with the Badgers now having won 10 of their last 11 games under interim head coach Greg Gard, who replaced Bo Ryan in mid-December after Ryan had abruptly retired.
Wisconsin’s season could’ve unraveled, but the players and coaches persevered through tough times. They trusted each other and they trusted their way of doing things. And now it’s paying off, making an 18th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament seem within reach.
Wisconsin (18-10, 10-5) also has secured a winning record in conference play for the 16th consecutive season. That ties the Big Ten record set by Purdue from 1972-88.
The Badgers expect to prevail in games like Wednesday because they have so often before, including last season when Wisconsin finished as the NCAA runner-up.
Iowa, on the other hand, hasn’t reached that level yet. The team still controls its own destiny and has a chance to be elite. But that already might have happened in January.