Hawkeyes thrashed by Tigers
Posted on 29. Nov, 2011 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Everything that could have gone wrong for the Iowa Hawkeyes did Tuesday night.
Missed shots, turnovers, and lack of on-court leadership all played significant roles in Clemson running away with a 71-55 win over Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The loss drops Iowa to 4-3 overall and is the Hawkeyes’ sixth straight defeat in the event, a streak dating back to the 2006-07 season.
In fact, Iowa and No. 14 Michigan were the only two Big Ten teams to lose Big Ten/ACC Challenge games Tuesday evening, as the Big Ten currently holds a 4-2 edge over the ACC.
It began with the Hawkeyes jumping out to a fast 4-0 lead and forcing the Tigers to burn an early timeout. After taking a 6-2 lead into the first official timeout of the game, Iowa began to implode, as Clemson went on a 21-6 run to move ahead 23-12.
From that point forward, the Hawkeyes found themselves falling further and further behind thanks to poor play at both ends of the court. Clemson took a 34-20 halftime lead into the locker room, while Iowa found itself shooting an anemic 7-of-30 from the floor in the first half. In fact, Iowa scored 12 points over the first half’s final 14:28 and all 12 points came from the bench.
“It was frustrating for all of us,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We had good shooters taking good shots. They just weren’t going in. But that’s when you really have to bear down defensively and hold them to a lower number.”
In the second half however, it was more of the same. The Tigers built a lead as big as 26 points during the second half and finished shooting 28-of-54 and 11-of-21 from 3-point range.
“That’s basically our defense, but you also have to give them credit for knocking down shots,” freshman guard Josh Oglesby said.
Conversely, the Hawkeyes finished shooting just 16-0f-56.
“When shots weren’t falling, we needed to be more patient,” junior forward Eric May said.
Oglesby was the lone Hawkeye to score in double figures, posting 15 points playing 25 minutes off the bench. Outside of that, there were some poor efforts across the board.
Senior guard Matt Gatens tallied eight points, all of which came in the second half with the outcome in doubt for Iowa. Sophomore forward Melsahn Basabe, for the fourth consecutive game, had just two points. May also had two points, and senior Bryce Cartwright finished with seven points and had two of Iowa’s five assists.
But even with all the poor performances coming from his starters Tuesday, McCaffery said confidence wouldn’t be a further issue and refused to pin the loss on any individual effort.
“I stay positive no matter what,” McCaffery said. “I never get too high. I never get too low. You do that and then you’ll be taking a year off or two to get yourself straightened out.
“We’ll get this thing figured out. We’re better than we’re playing right now, and we’ll get it figured out.”
Iowa returns to action on Dec. 3 when it plays host to Brown, concluding its current four-game home-stand. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. Central from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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