Illinois spoils Iowa’s special occasion on Saturday
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Nobody wanted Iowa to defeat Illinois on Saturday more than Mike Henry did.
The former Iowa basketball player attended high school in Illinois and has lived there for most of his adult life.
A victory would have been the perfect ending to a day that Henry will cherish forever.
Sadly, for Henry it didn’t happen as Illinois shot 55.2 percent from the field in the second half and escaped from Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a much-needed 70-66 victory to complete a season sweep.
But even in defeat, Henry had reason to smile, thanks to the near-sellout crowd that packed into the arena on an unseasonably warm February day when being outside was hard to resist. Iowa fans had met the challenge by turning Carver-Hawkeye Arena into a sea of white as a way to honor Henry’s former college teammate and close friend, Kenny Arnold.
“Just to see the arena like that is unbelievable, a dream come true,” said Henry, who helped to organize the the tribute to Arnold. “It’s still sinking in.”
Henry’s goal was to have at least 10,000 fans wear the Kenny Arnold No. 30 T-shirt to Saturday’s game. The official attendance was listed at 15,400, so it appears to be mission accomplished, considering that a majority of the fans wore Arnold’s shirt.
The money raised from selling the shirts will go directly to Arnold, who has battled with health issues since having surgery in 1985 to remove a brain tumor.
“The preparation we put into this is unbelievable,” Henry said.
So win or lose, Saturday’s game would be reason to celebrate.
But the celebration would have been so much better if Iowa had done its part on the court instead of unraveling down the stretch in a sloppy and choppy game that had 11 lead changes, a combined 32 turnovers and just 11 fast-break points.
Iowa had 11 turnovers in the first half and struggled to find a rhythm or a flow on offense.
The usually reliable Jordan Bohannon also missed two huge free throws with Iowa trailing 62-61 with 2 minutes, 18 seconds remaining.
And senior Peter Jok committed a costly turnover in the decisive final minutes.
Sometimes, you can want something so bad that the pressure comes back to haunt you. The Iowa players were under a tremendous amount of pressure on Saturday, not only to win for Arnold, but to keep their slim postseason hopes alive.
Iowa has lost three games in a row and is 14-13 overall and 6-8 in the Big Ten.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery wasn’t sure how to answer when asked if the emotion from Saturday’s game might have caused his players to press a little bit.
“I don’t know,” McCaffery said. “I thought we did make some uncharacteristic mistakes at times. Yet, we made some really good plays at times.
“So I don’t know.”
In other words, Iowa was inconsistent on Saturday, and has been that way for the entire season as evidenced by its near .500 record.
Former Iowa star point guard Ronnie Lester was part of the near-sellout crowd on Saturday. Lester was in town on behalf of Arnold, his former backcourt partner in college.
They both helped Iowa reach the NCAA Final Four in 1980, but the Hawkeyes haven’t been back since then.
The current Iowa team has shown flashes of brilliance, while also performing woefully at times.
“I think losing close games like this always leaves a bitter taste in your mouth,” Lester said in between signing autographs. “But they’ll learn from the experience of losing a close game like this and they’ll be better next year for it.”
Fans probably don’t want to hear that Iowa is young in mid-February, but it’s true. All but 16 of Iowa’s 66 points in Saturday’s game were scored by either freshmen or sophomores.
“They’re young, they play hard and compete,” Lester said. “They need a little more size, I think. But I think they’ll be better next year. And two years from now they should be really good.”
That speaks well about the future, but for Jok, the future is now.
He only has four regular-season games left as a Hawkeye, beginning with Tuesday’s matchup against Indiana at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Jok was hard on himself after Saturday’s loss, saying that he failed to be a leader when it mattered the most.
“I was really mad at myself,” Jok said. “Down the stretch, I didn’t step up as a leader.”
Jok has played in three NCAA Tournaments and made lots of key baskets for the Hawkeyes. But even he acknowledged that Saturday’s circumstances might have caused the Iowa players to feel too much pressure.
“It’s funny you say that,” Jok said. “Coach mentioned that. He said we were playing not to lose. We over-thought stuff and we over-did stuff. So everybody was playing too fast and not playing at their own pace.
“Down the stretch, I thought we tried to move too fast as a group.”
Jok and cohorts maybe tried too hard at times, because they wanted to please the fans who created a special atmosphere on Saturday, and because they wanted to honor Arnold with a victory.
“I love it,” Jok said of the fan support. “By far, that was the best fans that I’ve seen. They were really into the game. They got me energized and they got the team energized, too.
“It was just sad that we couldn’t come up with the win because we had the support from everybody. I appreciate it. I want to thank everybody who came out (today).”
Mike Henry and Kenny Arnold also say thank you.