By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – There is no defense for how the Iowa men’s basketball team is playing defense.

Fran McCaffery didn’t even try to defend his team's defense after Saturday’s 98-84 loss at Nebraska because it was indefensible and embarrassing.

“I’m disappointed with our defensive performance,” McCaffery said on his post-game radio show. “Anytime you give up 98, obviously, you’re not going to be happy about it. And we’ve just got to get it corrected.”

That wasn’t Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels that nearly laid a hundred on the Hawkeyes on Saturday, but rather Tim Miles’ Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Nebraska is certainly no slouch this season, thanks largely to the addition of transfers James Palmer Jr., and Isaac Copeland, both of whom combined for 51 points in Saturday’s game.

But under no circumstance should Nebraska score 98 points against Iowa.

Lots of things have contributed to Iowa’s disappointing season, but a lack of defense has inflicted the most damage by far.

Iowa is 2-8 in the Big Ten and 11-12 overall heading into Tuesday's game agaisnt Minnesota at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Zone defense, man-to-man, help defense, transition defense; you name it and Iowa has performed woefully at it for long stretches this season.

Nebraska reached its per-game scoring average with nearly 13 minutes left in Saturday’s game and didn’t let it up.

Opponents have shredded Iowa with penetration and from long-distance, in half-court sets and with easy baskets in transition.

You keep waiting for the players to show a pulse on defense, but the same breakdowns keep occurring, with Saturday’s debacle in Lincoln, Neb., probably the low point from a defensive standpoint.

Nebraska shot almost 60 percent from the field, which is hard to do with no defenders in open gym.

Iowa has allowed at least 90 points in four Big Ten games this season and 87 in another. Its record is 1-4 in those games, the lone victory coming in overtime at Illinois on Jan. 11 by a score of 104-97.

There isn’t enough evidence to say, or even to suggest that they players aren’t trying on defense. They just aren’t very good, and they play an up tempo style under McCaffery that leads to more shots for the opponent.

There have been times when some of the the players react by hanging their head or pleading for a foul after committing a turnover, and that brief moment leads to an easy basket for the opponent.   

It has been suggested that Iowa should play at a slower pace to help the defense. That would make sense if Iowa had better guards to handle the ball for longer offensive possessions.

But Iowa is suspect in the backcourt at best.

Sophomore point guard Jordan Bohannon is arguably the best 3-point shooter in the Big Ten, and one of the best nationally as he showed Saturday by making six 3-point baskets against Nebraska.

But Bohannon struggles as a defender, caused mostly by a lack of quickness compared to most other point guards.

He isn’t alone, though.

Every player on the Iowa team struggles as a defender, some more than others.

Sophomore forward Tyler Cook is an offensive force near the basket as he showed again on Saturday by matching Bohannon with 24 points against Nebraska.

But the 6-foot-9 Cook, just like the 6-0 Bohannon, leaves much to be desired as a defender.

Junior forward Nicholas Baer is probably Iowa's best defender, or at least its most active and versatile defender. Freshman forward Jack Nunge also uses his 6-11 frame and long reach to bother opposing offenses.

But there still isn't a top-notch defender on the team.

That could be blamed partly on recruiting where McCaffery has missed on some players who excel on defense, especially perimeter players, and on player development.

Iowa’s problems on defense have caused some fans to question whether McCaffery stresses defense enough in practice and whether he uses the right coaching techniques.

McCaffery was known for his fast-paced offense when he replaced Todd Lickliter as the Iowa coach in 2010 and fans were ready to embrace that frenetic style after three seasons in which Iowa had played at a mind-numbingly slow pace under Lickliter.

There wasn’t much said about McCaffery’s defense when he came to Iowa and it clearly has taken a backseat to his offense since he arrived.

But there have been times when Iowa has more than held its own on defense under McCaffery.

His 2015-16 squad allowed only two Big Ten opponents to score at least 80 points in a game and held eight Big Ten opponents to fewer than 70 points.

That squad was led by 7-1 senior center Adam Woodbury, 6-9 senior forward Jarrod Uthoff and senior guards Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons. All four of them were better defenders than probably every player on the current Iowa team.

It is hard to imagine that McCaffery just ignores defense because a coach doesn’t make it as far as he has without caring about both ends of the floor.

Some coaches are more defensive-minded than others and vice versa, but it’s silly to think that any head coach would just dismiss what happens on one end of the court.

What can't be debated, though, is that Iowa has serious issues on defense from an execution standpoint. The players just don't seem connected or show much awareness on defense.

How much of that is their fault is hard to say. The players and coaches are both accountable.  

McCaffery has eight games left to fix the problems on defense and to salvage something out of a season that began with so much promise.

Tuesday's game against Minnesota, which tips off at 8 p.m., will match two teams that have failed to meet expectations. The Gophers have been hurt by injuries, by center Reggie Lynch’s suspension and by performing poorly.

But they also haven’t faced Iowa’s defense yet.