Iowa makes another quick exit from Big Ten Tournament
By Tyler Devine
Allhawkeyes.com
INDIANAPOLIS – For the third consecutive season, the Iowa men’s basketball team was sent packing after one day in the Big Ten Tournament.
Iowa had an opportunity to take the lead against No. 12 seed Illinois, or forge a tie, after a jump ball gave it possession with 4.8 seconds left to play.
However, the play never materialized as Iowa didn’t even attempt a shot.
Mike Gesell’s inbound pass to Dom Uhl sailed high, causing Uhl to tip the ball out of bounds. That gave Illinois possession with 2.6 seconds remaining, and ultimately the victory by a score of 68-66.
Iowa has lost six of its last eight games heading into NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday, but the players still are optimistic about ending the season on a high note.
Senior forward Jarrod Uthoff is wiping the slate clean and doesn’t care if people start doubting the Hawkeyes, who were seeded fifth in the Big Ten Tournament.
“It all starts in the NCAA Tournament,” Uthoff said. “The whole goal is to get to the tournament and once you get to the tournament all bets are off. So I don’t care what they have to say.”
Sloppy play, including 18 turnovers, and a lack of scoring by anyone except Uthoff or Peter Jok, plagued the Hawkeyes from the beginning. Illinois had its way with Iowa on offense, shooting 44 percent from three-point range and 45 percent overall.
“We’re not dialed in on defense as a team like we were at the beginning of the season,” Jok said. “We definitely need to pick that back up once we start the NCAA Tournament.”
The Illini jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead, but Iowa fought back to make it 13-11 before a four-minute scoring drought allowed Illinois to push the lead to 24-13 at the under eight minute media timeout.
“We didn’t get off to good starts in any of these three games, and I don’t think in a tournament situation that’s a good thing,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. “Get Down to 11-4, you know, they were playing with confidence. They were shooting the ball. They were moving the ball.
"Offense didn’t really flow very well in the first half. It was pretty much Pete and Jarrod making shots. It was a little better in the second half except for that one stretch when we coughed it up a few times.”
Uthoff and Jok combined for 50 of Iowa’s 66 points.
Jok fouled out with 4:02 left to play after he and Illinois guard Kendrick Nunn were involved in a short altercation and subsequently charged with a double technical foul.
Jok, who tied a career-high and led all scorers with 29 points on 10-for-16 shooting, was the spark that ignited a comeback late in the first half.
He scored his first points with 7:08 to play in the first half and went on to score 15 of Iowa’s next 18 points.
“The interesting thing is, he got off to a slow start, missed a three early, wasn’t really himself,” McCaffery said. “I took him out. I left him out for a few minutes. He got a little bit of rest, came back in and caught fire. He was the difference in the game for us because we were struggling offensively everywhere else.
"And we just kept going with him. He was making everything. In the second half, he put it on the deck a little bit, got to the free throw line. That changes everything for the team, opens things for Jarrod, opens things for everybody else.”
Iowa led 35-32 after a Uthoff bucket with 1:54 to play in the first half. But Illinois answered with a 5-0 scoring run and went into halftime leading, 37-35.
The Illini came out firing in the second half, scoring five quick points before Jok fired back with eight of Iowa’s next 10 points.
“I thought we started flat in both halves,” Uthoff said. “I think that’s what killed us. Illinois came out with energy and came out ready to fight.”
Uthoff made a 3-point basket with 13:27 left to play in the second half, cutting the Illinois lead to 55-50.
But then Iowa was held scoreless for the next 5:26 and committed several turnovers, which helped Illinois build an 11-point lead.
Jok made a jumper at the 8:01 mark, but that was quickly answered by Illinois’ Alex Austin, who made a basket to widen the lead back to 11 points at 63-52.
Iowa kept Illinois from scoring on its next four possessions, but the Hawkeyes couldn’t take advantage of any of them.
Illinois was leading 66-55 when Iowa reeled off 11 consecutive points to even the score with 1:40 remaining.
Reserve forward Nicholas Baer sparked the comeback by scoring all eight of his points in the final 4 minutes of the second half.
Baer and Uthoff both made traditional 3-point plays to ignite the comeback.
However, Baer’s final free throw, which came with 1:40 remaining, were the final points that Iowa scored.
Illinois’ Malcolm Hill, who finished with just six points, scored arguably the two most important points in the game. With 1:14 left to play, Hill drove into the lane and hit a step-back 15-foot jumper that proved to be the game winner.
One of the few bright spots for Iowa besides Jok and Uthoff’s offensive productivity was Gesell breaking the single-season assists record at Iowa, which was previously held by Andre Woolridge. Gesell finished with a game-high eight assists, but he also had three of Iowa’s 18 turnovers.
Illinois is the first 12-seed to advance in the Big Ten Tournament. The Illini defeated Minnesota 85-52 in the first round on Wednesday. Teams seeded 12th had an 0-4 record entering this year’s tournament.