By Pat Harty

By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa  – The easy thing to do right now is give up on the Iowa men’s basketball team because it is struggling and because of its history of unraveling down the stretch under Fran McCaffery.

Rutgers handed Iowa its third loss in the last four games and the Hawkeyes are two fluke wins over Northwestern and Rutgers from being 8-10 in the Big Ten instead of their current record of 10-8 and 21-8 overall.

But a win is still a win no matter how it occurs and Iowa still is on course to make the NCAA Tournament after having failed to do so in each of the past two seasons.

The course isn’t as smooth and safe as it used to be after back-to-back losses to Rutgers and Ohio State, but the course that leads to the Big Dance still is drivable heading into Thursday’s game at Wisconsin.

However, should Iowa lose to the Badgers and then lose at Nebraska in the regular-season finale next Sunday, then the season would be showing signs of collapse.

Iowa hasn’t played what could be considered a solid all-around game since defeating Michigan 74-59 on Feb. 1 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

So it’s been over a month, and that is reason for concern.

Iowa is 4-3 since the Michigan game, including the two miracle finishes against Northwestern and Rutgers.

It, obviously, didn’t help that Fran McCaffery was suspended for the Rutgers game, but you’d like to think that a team with Iowa’s experience could handle the absence of its head coach for one game.

But that wasn’t the case against Rutgers as Iowa struggled on both ends of the floor.

The emotion from Nicholas Baer’s senior day ceremony didn’t carry to the game as Iowa came out flat and never established a rhythm on offense.

Why the players would be emotionally flat on Senior Day is anybody’s guess.

But they have to figure things out in a hurry because a season that once showed signs of being special is now headed in the wrong direction at the worst time.

One of Iowa’s biggest strengths is that it has a number players who can score 20 points or more on a given night.

But those same players are also inconsistent and unreliable on offense.

Iowa relies heavily on perimeter shooting and that can be risky because even good shooters have bad stretches.

And right now, Iowa has several players having bad shooting stretches, including junior guard Isaiah Moss, who only took three shots against Rutgers and missed all three.

The Chicago native has combined to make just 1-of-15 field-goal attempts in the last three games after having combined to make 17 field-goal attempts in the three games before that.

Moss has had 12 games this season where he has made at least four field-goal attempts, but also 11 games where he has made one or less.

“There’s times that I think there’s guys that should be taking shots and they shouldn’t be shy — like Isaiah,” said Iowa junior point guard Jordan Bohannon. “I think he was a little hesitant to take some shots (Saturday). And we don’t want him to be, as a team.

“We want him to be confident in his shot. And the same for everybody on the team. That’s when we’re best — when everyone’s aggressive on the team, when everyone’s confident in their game. And when that’s not happening, it’s going to be a rough night for us.”

Bohannon has proven to be one of the most clutch shooters in college basketball and currently ranks second in the nation in most points scored in the final 2 minutes of regulation and in the final 2 minutes of overtime.

He also ranks second at Iowa in all-time three pointers made with 252 and only needs 11 more to break Jeff Horner’s school record, and has more than a season left to do it.

But Bohannon also has made two or fewer 3-point baskets in 13 games this season.

So even he is susceptible to cold stretches.

But it’s not just Iowa’s backcourt players who struggle with consistency.

Sophomore center Luka Garza has scored in double figures in 16 games this season, but has scored seven or fewer points in five of the last seven games.

Freshman forward Joe Wieskamp has scored in double figures in 17 games, but has been held to single digits in four of the last five games and IN six of the last 10 games.

The list of inconsistencies, which include 30.8 percent shooting from 3-point range over the last five gams, goes on and on and is starting to ruin Iowa’s once-promising season.

Opponents are extending their defenses to contain Iowa's 3-point shooters, and right now, Bohannon and his cohorts don't have an answer for that.

Iowa doesn't have the kind of guards who can create their own shot, besides Moss to a point, and Iowa's inside game basically comes down to Tyler Cook trying to score at the rim, with help from Garza at times.

Iowa will be without Fran McCaffery against Wisconsin as he serves the second of his two-game suspension for berating an official after the loss at Ohio State last week.

And judging from how the players responded to McCaffery’s absence against Rutgers that could be a problem against Wisconsin, especially since it is hard enough to win at the Kohl Center in Madison with your head coach leading the way.

“There is something about our group is we’re always going to focus in on what need to do despite all of the outside noise,” Nicholas Baer said after the Rutgers loss. “So I think we’ll go back to work and look at film and see where we broke down and be ready for Wisconsin.”

Baer also brought up the fact that Iowa still has plenty of basketball left to play.

And he’s right.

This season still hasn’t defined itself with two conference games and two postseason tournaments still left to be played.

Bohannon and his cohorts can get hot as shooters as quickly as they get cold.

They just need to hurry because time is running out.

They also need to pick it up on defense, even when their shots aren’t falling.

In the last two game against Rutgers and Ohio State, Iowa has allowed 176 points and 23 3-point baskets.

Giving up that many points puts too much pressure on your offense to keep up.

Iowa often struggled on defense last season when its shots weren’t falling, and the same thing is happening this season.

So often it seems that Iowa’s performance on defense depends on whether the players are making shots on offense.

And right now the players are struggling to make shots and the defense is suffering because of it.

I’m not ready to give up on this Iowa team because it could get hot from 3-point range at any time and be a tough out in postseason.

But I am concerned that Iowa is in the midst of yet another late-season collapse that can’t be avoided.

We'll have our answer in a couple weeks.