 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 falters late yet again, loses at Minnesota
Minnesota's Andre Hollins (1) drives to the basket against Iowa's Anthony Clemmons (5). (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT)
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Iowa freshman Mike Gesell dropped to his knees after his last-second 3-point attempt hit the front of the rim and bounced away at the buzzer.
“I actually thought it was in,” Gesell said after his Hawkeyes slumped to 3-6 in Big Ten play after a painful 62-59 loss at No. 23 Minnesota on Sunday.
Iowa sophomore Aaron White pulled his jersey over his mouth and shouted as he stood in line to congratulate the Gophers. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery admits he was “pretty upset” after the game. Iowa players Zach McCabe and Eric May mixed anguish with anger in their postgame comments.
It was yet another near-miss for the Hawkeyes with a strikingly similar tone to many other Big Ten defeats. Iowa trailed Minnesota by 12 early in the first half, only to rally and take leads throughout much of the second half before falling at the end. That’s just like a road loss at Purdue.
Iowa (14-8, 3-6 Big Ten) led by four points with 2:10 left to play, just as the Hawkeyes did against Michigan State four weeks ago. And, just like that night at home, Iowa on Sunday squandered away late possessions with turnovers and lost by three points.
“We obviously blew an opportunity today,” McCaffery said. “We had opportunities at the line, we had opportunities on the break. We didn’t execute again. We kept fighting; that’s the good thing. When you miss free throws and don’t execute, it’s hard.”
The Hawkeyes sank 10 of 17 free-throw attempts and shot just 36.2 percent from the floor. Leading scorer Devyn Marble was scoreless, ineffective and played just 17 minutes. But the Hawkeyes had every opportunity to win, and yet they clutched their fourth Big Ten loss by four points or less.
Iowa trailed 14-2 in the game’s first five minutes, then clawed back to take its first lead at 32-30 with 17:38 left in the game. The teams battled early in the second half, trading leads three different times. Iowa then took command and led by four points with 2:10 left in the game when May drove to the basket for a layup and was fouled by Joe Coleman. May completed the three-point play and Iowa led 59-55.
The Gophers (17-5, 5-4 Big Ten) then finished on a 7-0 run. Coleman rallied to cut to the lead to two points on a basket with 1:45 left. After Gesell missed a shot, Coleman passed backward toward Andre Hollins, and the ball went over the half-court line, resulting in a back-court violation with 1:04 left in the game. Iowa had the ball and a two-point lead. Then the game slipped away.
With 36.6 seconds left, Marble passed toward Gesell, but the ball sailed out of bounds. Minnesota took advantage of Marble’s mistake when Austin Hollins drilled a 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds left against Iowa’s zone. The Gophers took their first lead in more than 13 minutes, and Iowa called timeout.
“The disappointing thing from our side is we have got to get up in his face,” McCaffery said. “He’s their best 3-point shooter, and he shoots a 3. That’s disappointing. If he makes a drive, it’s a tie game. You can’t give up a 3 there.”
Iowa stormed the length of the court and Gesell lined up left of the basket. Austin Hollins then stripped Gesell, and the ball went out of bounds as Gesell tried to corral it. Minnesota was awarded possession, and Andre Hollins sank two free throws to provide the final margin before Gesell’s final 3-point attempt.
Chalk up another defeat for Iowa in a season filled with gut-wrenching losses. This one, however, may have been the most excruciating.
“It’s very frustrating,” Gesell said. “We feel like we should have won all of those games, and they’re all against very good teams.”
“We fully expected to win that game,” May said. “That’s how we come into games, expecting to win.
“We’re a really good team, and we’ve got to play like it.”
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The last thirty seconds made me want to pull my hair out. There are certainly some winnable games – both home and road – left on the schedule. Hopefully they can make the game-winning plays at the end. Go Hawks!
This is really getting old. We have exactly one quality win this season and none on the road. I guess we wait for next year and see if we can get any leadership out of somebody.
The biggest mystery about this season to me is why anyone thought that it would be any different than it has been. The Hawkeyes didn’t exactly light up the B1G last year, and they came out with some very impressive, albeit close, wins. The B1G is even better than it was last year, and Iowa’s contributers are younger and no real leader, no “go-to” guy has emerged. Still, Iowa could (and probably won’t) go undefeated the rest of the season. Its a razor’s edge this year, and in one of the best leagues in the nation, I don’t know why we would expect a very young Iowa team to make the NCAA tournament. This is next year’s team, and always has been – sure they played with your emotions against a very weak pre-conference schedule, but I may go out on a limb and say this team is performing better than I expected, for a team that is not nearly as good as most of its in-conference opponents. I will say however, that with the talent this team has, Iowa should expect to be in the tournament in 2014, and should be in the sweet 16 by 2015. If they aren’t McCaffery isn’t nearly as good of a coach as he is a talker and recruiter…
It is one thing to lose close games. It is another to fall apart in the late going, which is what we have done with depressing regularity. I realize it will get better next year but it is still no fun to watch now.
Something is definitely wrong with Devyn Marble. He has a physical and/or mental problem. He has not been the same player since the January 6th Michigan game. Oglesby has been very inconsistent with his shooting, and
he seems to be off balance (fall backwards) with his jump shot.
McCaffrey says he can shoot and make a high percentage of his shots in practice. But it does not carry over into the games. I wonder why many of the players are not shooting well from the field or free throw line? Could it be the fact that McCaffrey gets angry quickly and easily and screams and yells in the faces of his players? This puts added stress on and, is humiliating and detrimental to, his players. The players’ body language indicates they are not having fun playing the game. Similar to a stretch of games played last year. McCaffrey needs to attend anger management classes!!!
If you are right, Delbert, it is a sad reflection on how soft our society’s kids have become. I am not saying that Fran is a good coach by any means (nor am I saying he is bad), but it is a poor reflection on an athlete who cannot step up and meet a challenge, whether or not it is screamed at him.