Hawkeyes lose heartbreaker in overtime
Posted on 10. Feb, 2011 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — For the second straight game, Iowa junior guard Bryce Cartwright had an opportunity to knock down a game-winning shot.
But unlike the Hawkeyes’ one-point win at Indiana last weekend, Cartwright’s shot in regulation fell short, and in overtime, No. 13 Wisconsin was able to escape Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a 62-59 win. The loss drops Iowa back into a tie for last place with Indiana at 3-9 in the conference, and the Hawkeyes are now 10-14 overall with six regular season games remaining before the Big Ten Tournament next month in Indianapolis, Ind.
Just after Wisconsin point guard Jordan Taylor tied the game at 53-53, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery opted not to call timeout and called the same “41” play the Hawkeyes executed against Indiana. Cartwright took the ball up the court, got a good luck at the buzzer, but it rattled in and out.
“I thought it was good when it left my hand, and I even got a roll,” Cartwright said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t go in this time. But when the opportunity comes again, I’m taking the shot again.”
Cartwright led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 14 points, and was one of four Hawkeyes to finish in double figures scoring. Both freshman forward Melsahn Basabe and senior center Jarryd Cole posted double-doubles for Iowa. Basabe finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Cole had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Matt Gatens emerged with 10 points and gave Iowa the lead late in regulation with two free throws prior to Taylor’s bucket that sent the game to overtime.
In the first half, the Hawkeyes held Wisconsin to a mere 6-of-33 shooting from the floor. However, the Badgers were able to crash the boards with 22 of them in the first half, and more significantly, 12 of those 22 rebounds came at the offensive end. As a result, Iowa only managed to take a 23-18 lead with it into the locker room at halftime.
“We felt good that we had the lead obviously, but we knew we hadn’t played to our potential,” Gatens said. “We didn’t play that great a half, we didn’t think. We said a few things in the locker room that we could come out and play better in the second half.”
Iowa did play a little better in the second half. However, so did Wisconsin, who shot over 50 percent in the second half, going 15-of-29 from the floor.
While the Badgers only had four more offensive boards the rest of the way, rebounding was a major point of emphasis discussed afterwards.
“All in all, we have to be a tougher team and not allow them to get those rebounds,” Cole said. “You know, rebounding is not a skill. It’s a want-to. We didn’t have that tonight. We didn’t have that want-to, and we gave up too many rebounds tonight.”
After Wisconsin’s Tim Jarmusz nailed a go-ahead 3-pointer in overtime, the Hawkeyes and Badgers exchanged buckets, and Wisconsin got a timeout called with 8.7 seconds left. Initially, a travel was called on Taylor, but the call was later changed to a foul on Cartwright.
“At first they called it a travel, and the first thought going through my mind is we got another opportunity to either win or tie it,” Cartwright said. “Unfortunately, the ref overturned it, and it was hard to swallow.”
After Taylor made the first free throw and missed the second, Iowa came down with the rebound and Cartwright had one more opportunity.
The 6-1 point guard said he was looking for Gatens to hit a 3-pointer that would’ve sent the game to a second overtime, but due to miscommunication on the floor, ended up heaving a last-second shot that was short of the rim.
Just like at the end of regulation, McCaffery had the chance to call timeout, but opted not to.
“We did not execute the play correctly,” McCaffery said. “We would’ve liked to have gotten a better shot there.”
The Hawkeyes return to action at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Feb. 13 to play Minnesota, who beat Iowa 69-59 back on Jan. 16 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m., and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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