Iowa falls at Michigan State 63-61 as Payton Sandfort’s two potential game-winning shots bounce off rim
Iowa only shoots 3-for-17 from 3-point range
By Pat Harty
After seeing his second shot in the final seconds bounce off the rim, Payton Sandfort crouched in front of the Iowa bench and stared down at the floor almost in disbelief that he had just missed two wide-open attempts.
For the Iowa men’s basketball team, the difference between winning at one of college basketball’s most hostile environments was that close as Michigan State hung on for a 63-61 victory on Thursday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan.
Michigan State had a chance to make it a two-possession game, but guard A.J. Hoggard missed the front end of 1-and-1 and then Iowa called a timeout with eight seconds remaining to draw up a play.
The play worked as designed as Sandfort had two open looks at the basket, but each attempt from 3-point range bounced off the rim.
Senior guard Connor McCaffery also missed a desperation shot right before the buzzer.
“That’s just the way basketball works,” said Iowa senior forward Filip Rebraca, who finished with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. “Sometimes, they go in, sometimes they bounce off.
“We put Payton in a very good position. He got an open shot, and it happens. People miss, even really good shooters like him. So, that’s just unfortunate, but we trust him that he’s going to continue to knock them down when he’s open in the future.”
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery was pleased with his team’s execution on the final offensive possession.
“I thought out execution on the last play was great,” Fran McCaffery said on the Learfield post-game radio show. “We get a second-shot opportunity another great look at it. You can’t ask for anymore than that.”
Iowa fell below .500 in the Big Ten with the loss at 4-5 and has now lost back-to-back games, with each loss coming on the road.
The good news is that Iowa now returns home to play three consecutive games, beginning with Sunday’s contest against a second-place Rutgers, which Iowa defeated 76-65 in the first matchup this season in New Jersey.
Iowa will then have a quick turnaround as it will face a vastly improved Northwestern teanm on Tuesday.
The game against Northwestern was originally scheduled to be played on Jan. 18 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but was postponed due to Covid-19 health issues within the Northwestern program.
“It’s a grueling schedule, we all know that. It’s the Big Ten,” Rebraca said on the Leafrfield post-game radio show. “So, we’ve just got to be prepared. Take care of our bodies, eat well, sleep well, hydrate and just rinse and repeat.
“We’ve just got to take care of ourselves and bring out own energy and then have the crowd bring energy as well.”
Iowa bolted to a 10-0 lead as Michigan State missed its first nine shots from the field.
The Spartans trailed for nearly 15 minutes of the first half and didn’t have a lead until Malik Hall broke free for a dunk in transition, giving his team a 24-23 lead with just under five minutes left in the half.
Michigan State would go on to lead 30-29 at halftime despite only making 12-of-31 field-goal attempts in the first half, including just 2-of-7 from 3-point range.
Iowa made just 2-of-9 shots from 3-point range in the first half as Kris Murray missed all three of his attempts from behind the arc.
Murray and Filip Rebraca both led Iowa with eight points in the first half as they both shot 4-for-8 from the field.
Iowa only had four bench points in the first half, while the Spartans had nine, including seven from Hall, who had missed the previous three games because of a foot injury.
Murray was held to just 11 points and didn’t attempt a shot in the final six minutes of the second half.
Junior point guard Ahron Ulis led Iowa with a career-high 17 points, but he also had six of his team’s 13 turnovers.
“I thought his defense was spectacular and I thought his aggressiveness was effective, but he’s got to take better care of the ball, especially coming down the stretch,” Fran McCaffery said.
Fran McCaffery also wasn’t pleased with Michigan State having 12 offensive rebounds.
Iowa also made just 6-of-13 free throw attempts and finished just 3-of-17 from 3-point range as Murray missed all five of his attempts from behind the arc.
And yet even with those struggles, Iowa still had a chance to win at the end, and had one of its best shooters wide open.
It just wasn’t meant to be.
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