Hawkeyes come up short against Demon Deacons
Posted on 30. Nov, 2010 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes had Wake Forest right where they wanted it in the closing seconds — forcing a deep shot that if missed would have sent the game to overtime.
The only thing was freshman guard J.T. Terrell hit the shot, and the Demon Deacons edged the Hawkeyes on Tuesday at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 76-73. Iowa fell to 3-4 overall on the season with this defeat.
Terrell was the spark for Wake Forest, as he led the Demon Deacons in scoring with 32 points on the evening.
For most of this contest, it was a tale of two halves. The first half was dominated by the Hawkeyes, while Wake Forest had the momentum for the majority of the second 20-minute stanza.
At one point in this contest, Iowa held a 39-21 lead late in the first half. The Demon Deacons would score the period’s final six points to only trail by a dozen at halftime, then they came out firing by shooting 70 percent from the field.
Wake Forest managed to go on a 41-13 run, which gave the Demon Deacons a 62-52 lead.
“We lost our composure for a little bit in that stretch where we couldn’t get a basket,” said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery, who played at Wake Forest for one season before transferring to Penn. “We couldn’t get a second shot, we couldn’t stop Terrell, and we gave them the space that they needed to get comfortable with their offense.”
But the Hawkeyes did make sort of a comeback.
Iowa continued to chip away at Wake Forest’s lead, and sophomore Eric May was able to finish a 3-point play with 3:17 remaining that gave the Hawkeyes a 71-70 advantage.
“We just stuck with it,” the 6-5 guard said. “The coaches always say ‘Remember the game plan,’ and we did. We just stayed solid on defense, which we finally did at one point.
“It wasn’t too little, too late. It was just unfortunate how it ended.”
May finished with team-highs in both points, with 17 of them on 8-of-13 shooting, and steals with six takeaways. The Dubuque native was one of four Hawkeyes to post double-figures for points, with the others being freshman Melsahn Basabe with 13 points to go with eight rebounds, junior Bryce Cartwright with 13 points, and freshman Roy Devyn Marble with 11 points coming off the bench.
Marble ended up playing the majority of the first half for the Hawkeyes at the point following two quick fouls early in the game on Cartwright, who made his second career start for Iowa since news of Cully Payne’s injury was announced Thanksgiving weekend.
The game would be tied at 73-73 in the final 1:10, and Iowa had the ball with 15 seconds left on the shot clock. Junior guard Matt Gatens had an open look from behind the arc, only to see his shot rattle out. Gatens had another chance to redeem himself, only to have his final shot rejected, which led to Terrell’s game-winning 3-point shot.
“It just didn’t fall,” Gatens said about the open shot he took, adding that the play was one the coaches drew up in practice. “I felt great. I sure thought it was in, and I just wish it would have gone in.”
The Hawkeyes had a chance to tie the game at the end, but May’s inbound pass was deflected and stolen, and Wake Forest was able to run out the clock and preserve the victory.
Even in defeat though, the players were able to draw up on some positives they feel will benefit them later in the season.
“We fought back when they gave us a run, and we had a chance to win it at the end,” Gatens said. “It was just a little off.”
Iowa returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena this weekend, playing host to Idaho State on Dec. 4. Tip-off is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Central, and the game will be televised by both the Mediacom Connections Channel and via live stream on BigTenNetwork.com.
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