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 Scott DochtermanI'm originally from Burlington, and I'm a 1997 Western Illinois University graduate. I've worked in Burlington, Muscatine, Fort Dodge and [...] |
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Iowa players ticked about shooting performance
Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery discusses strategy with his players during Wednesday night's 75-63 loss to Wichita State at the Cancun Challenge.
CANCUN, Mexico — There’s nothing redeeming about shooting 16 percent from the floor.
Iowa found that out Wednesday night in a 75-63 loss to Wichita State in the Cancun Challenge championship game. The Hawkeyes hit just 4-of-24 shots from the field in the second half. Iowa’s looks were decent, but the shots didn’t fall.
“We were missing too many easy buckets,” said Iowa’s Devyn Marble, who shot 4-of-12 for 11 points. “Even when we were getting stops at the other end, you’ve got to score to get back into the game, and we weren’t doing that.”
Iowa (5-1) started strong from the perimeter, connecting on seven of its first eight 3-point attempts. Josh Oglesby drained four in the first half alone.
But from the end of the first half through the first five minutes of the second half, Iowa got smacked with a 16-2 run. Three of Wichita State’s baskets were on 3-pointers and another was on a traditional three-point play. Iowa went from leading 35-33 at halftime to trailing 46-37.
“We got a little bit rattled because they took the lead and they were getting blocked shots, they were getting steals, they were getting easy buckets,” said Iowa’s Aaron White, who scored a team-high 14 points and hit 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. “Once they took the lead, we started taking a little poor shot selection, not getting to the free-throw line as much as in the first half.
“We’ve got to learn from that. When things start going as coach says sideways, you’ve got to run your sets, you’ve got to get to the free-throw line. You’ve got to drive and kick and we’ve got to get some good ones. That tires them out on defense, and you end up getting a good shot.”
Perhaps the most distressing statistic came from Iowa’s inability to score within the 3-point arc. The Hawkeyes knocked down just four two-point field goals, including an incredible 22-minute stretch overlapping both halves.
“I thought we got pretty good looks,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “We just didn’t convert. We got to the free-throw line a bunch; that kept us in it. We missed some bunnies; that was unfortunate. But I thought we battled.”
With all due respect there was a reason Iowa shot badly and it came in the form of athletic Witchita State defenders. At least 8 blocked shots and a lock down defensive performance that extended to the 3-point line. Their coach was fuming at his players as they left the court at halftime and their defensive effort in the 2nd half must have been the result of his halftime scalding. Sometimes freshmen play like freshmen and last night they did. But don’t discount the job their point did on all our guards and the step slow all our players were on defense. We won’t play a team this good defensively maybe the rest of the year. Good learning experience for our team and hopefully we learn from it
Bad shooting streaks/games affect every team out there. However, what’s more distressing is about 5 “and 1′s” that they gave up, mostly in the second half. Either foul them enough they can’t make the shot or just let them shoot. That’s 5 extra points to make up in a 6-9 point deficit much of the second half = it’s a killer.
One thing’s for sure – it’s definitely fun to tune and watch these guys. They’re going to be special at some point in the future….
lonhawk and Mike;
Careful…you are showing you do have a positive side.
Tom C:
SSSSSHSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
(I cheer those that are doing whatever’s necessary to win – even if that means doing it in different ways with different players from game to game – rather than doing things only one way, win or lose. I’m REALLY looking forward to Iowa basketball for the first time in years – and I believe that many other Iowa fans are too!)