Iowa’s up-and-down season could end under vastly different circumstances
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – A person whose glass is half full looks at the Iowa men’s basketball team and sees a tremendous opportunity to improve its postseason chances.
A person whose glass is half empty sees mostly trouble ahead with road games at Maryland and Wisconsin still left to be played and considers Iowa to be a longshot for any postseason, even the National Invitation Tournament.
The outcome of Saturday’s game at Maryland will add fuel to one of those perceptions.
A victory would be Iowa’s third against a ranked opponent this season, along with victories over Iowa State and Purdue, and would lift the Hawkeyes back to .500 in the Big Ten at 8-8 and 16-13 overall with two games remaining.
A loss would drop Iowa’s record to 1-8 on the road, would be Iowa’s fourth loss in its last five games and its 14th loss overall despite having only played six ranked opponents.
“I think you always think about it,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said Friday when asked about the postseason on a teleconference with reporters. “But the great thing about this league is there’s always opportunities.”
McCaffery then referred to Iowa’s finals three games, which in addition to the two road games, includes the regular-season finale against Penn State on March 5 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa also could help its cause in the Big Ten Tournament where a championship earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.
That is putting the cart way in front of the horse, especially considering where Iowa sits today, but stranger things have happened in sports than a middle-of-the-pack team winning its conference tournament.
“What they are, are opportunities to position yourself better to play in the postseason,” said McCaffery, who has led Iowa to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past three seasons and to the NIT in the two seasons before that. “You win them, it changes things. If you lose them, it changes things.
“So we’ve just got to focus on the next game and then if you win, it improves your chances. You still have the conference tournament, which if you win it, you’re in automatically. If you a win a few games, and a few games in the tournament, that changes things.”
That’s a roundabout way of saying that Iowa’s situation is fluid at this point.
The odds of Iowa making the NCAA Tournament are slim at best right now, but there is certainly an opportunity to do so.
Besides winning the Big Ten Tournament, it probably would take winning the final three regular-season games and at least two games in the conference tournament for Iowa to gain serious NCAA consideration.
A spot in the NIT seems more realistic for Iowa, but there still is work to be done in that regard. It isn’t as easy for teams from major conferences to make the NIT anymore. It takes more than just promising a strong turnout for a home game.
It takes victories, and Iowa needs more of them.
A victory at No. 24 Maryland would be Iowa’s first against a ranked opponent on the road this season. It also would avenge an 84-76 loss to the Terrapins on Jan. 19 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Maryland is led by one of the Big Ten’s top guards in junior Melo Trimble. He led five Maryland players in double figures with 20 points in the first game against Iowa, and also had five rebounds and five assists.
Trimble plays more off the ball this season compared to a year ago with the addition of freshman point guard Anthony Cowan. But either way, Trimble is dangerous on offense.
“The move him off the ball and then they move him on the ball,” McCaffery said of Trimble. “So sometimes he has it at the top, and sometimes, he’s on the wing. And, obviously, in transition it doesn’t matter and that can be problematic.”
Trimble’s supporting cast has changed considerably from last season with four new starters. But the results have been similar with the Terrapins competing for the regular-season title from start to finish.
“He’s just so quick and so crafty,” McCaffery said of Trimble. “He’s a handful whether he’s on the ball, whether he’s off the ball. But the fact that he is both on and off the ball does present some challenges because sometimes you’re dealing with picking action to get him open and then sometimes you’re dealing with picking action when he has the ball. That’s two different things.”
Iowa will counter with its own star guard in senior Peter Jok, who set a school-record by making 22 free throws in the 96-90 overtime victory against Indiana on Tuesday.
Jok is the only senior who plays a prominent role for the Hawkeyes, so each of the remaining games will impact how his career ends.
He could leave with a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, or with his first trip to the NIT or with a losing record and no postseason as a senior.
So much still has to be decided in a short time.
Iowa vs. Maryland
When: 5 p.m., Saturday
Where: XFINITY Center, College Park, Md.
TV: ESPN2
Records: Iowa is 15-13 overall and 7-8 in the Big Ten; Maryland is 22-5 and 10-5.
Series: Saturday’s game will be the seventh all-time meeting between Iowa and Maryland. The Terrapins own a 4-2 advantage in the series. The Terrapins have won two straight in the series. The first three meetings between Iowa and Maryland were played on neutral floors: Honolulu (1984), Baltimore (1999), and New York City (2013).