Late game struggles strike Hawkeyes again in 69-67 loss to Maryland
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IOWA- A battle of two teams right in the middle of the Big Ten conference standings took place Wednesday night.
The Hawkeyes led most of this game, 33 minutes and 36 seconds to be exact, but it wasn’t enough. Another loss has been added to the column as they drop down in the conference standings.
Here is what happened.
1st half: The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in scoring at over 86 points a game, but came out very slow as both teams combined for just 15 points in the first EIGHT minutes of play.
The two Hawkeyes that showed up on the offensive end in the first half were the usual suspects, Tony Perkins (9) and Owen Freeman (10).
Good news for the Hawkeyes was at the other end of the floor. They held the Terrapins leading scorer Jahmyr Young (20.7 ppg) to just five points in the first half on just 1/6 shooting.
After Maryland hit a three to start the game, Iowa led for the entire rest of the half.
Another positive for Iowa, after being outrebounded by 26 Saturday against Purdue, they won the rebound battle 19-13 in the first half tonight.
Maryland came into this game 3-5 in the Big Ten, their most recent game a one point loss at home to Michigan State.
2nd half: The second half did not get off to a much better start. In the first five minutes of the half, the teams combined for five fouls and four turnovers.
During that time they made just six shots combined, the Hawkeyes made just three of their first eleven attempts to start the second half.
As the half continued Maryland cleaned things up a bit, but the Hawkeyes continued to struggle. At about the 12-minute mark, the Terrapins took a 46-45 lead, their first since it was 3-0.
They also found themselves in the bonus with over eleven minutes still to play in the second half. Officiating has not been kind to the Hawkeyes at all the last couple of games.
Against Purdue, Zach Edey shot just one less free throw than the entire Hawkeye team by himself. Tonight, the Hawkeye’s Owen Freeman couldn’t seem to by a call, while the whistle was very short on the other end.
The Hawkeyes responded to adversity tonight as they gave themselves a 63-57 lead with just over three minutes to play. Unfortunately for them, it was at that point that Owen Freeman fouled out of the game, he finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Jahmyr Young got his revenge in the second half scoring 17 of his 22 total points, with many of them coming down the stretch.
Late in the second half, Young led on a 7-0 run and took the lead from the Hawkeyes with one minute to play. After a couple back and forth buckets, the Terrapins found themselves with the ball in a 67-67 tied game with just 20 seconds left.
Young got a switch onto Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, drove left and made the game winning layup with just 1.5 seconds left to play. A heartbreaking loss for the Hawkeyes as Maryland only led for 3:05 this game.
Now they travel to Ann Arbor for a matchup against Michigan Saturday afternoon. Postgame words from Coach McCaffery and players here: