Hawkeyes smacked around by Hoosiers
Posted on 29. Jan, 2012 by admin in Iowa Basketball
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The Iowa Hawkeyes went into Assembly Hall on Sunday and scored 89 points on 63 percent shooting against No. 16 Indiana. Normally, that would be enough to win.
Except that wasn’t the case Sunday. Iowa lost 103-89 to fall to 3-6 in the Big Ten and 11-11 overall. Not only were the 103 points disconcerting to head coach Fran McCaffery afterwards, but also how easy the Hoosiers made it look.
Indiana was fueled by freshman center Cody Zeller attacking the rim at will. His seven dunks highlighted an 11-of-12 shooting performance and he finished with 26 points to lead the Hoosiers. As a team, Indiana finished with 58 points in the paint and in the second half went 17-of-30 shooting despite not making any of their five 3-point attempts.
In addition, the Hoosiers also outrebounded the Hawkeyes 37-22, with 20 of those 37 boards coming at the offensive end and leading to 23 second-chance points.
“Even though the post guys were having their way inside, it was really more of a function of us breaking down on the perimeter,” McCaffery said. “I mean, they made some decent post moves. It wasn’t like they were running a lot of stuff to get them the ball. They were just catching the ball and finishing.”
The disastrous defensive effort casted a dark cloud over the best performance to date of freshman guard Josh Oglesby’s career. The Cedar Rapids native scored a career-high 24 points on 8-of-12 shooting, and was 6-of-8 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Matt Gatens also finished with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting in defeat.
Oglesby said knocking down his first 3-pointer is what ultimately got him going on offense.
“I got into a rhythm and I tried to zone out the fans because they were wild,” Oglesby said. “But the first couple of shots that I made really got me into a rhythm, especially going into the second half.”
Early on, it looked to be a back-and-forth game with both teams scoring at will. The Hawkeyes made five of their first six shots and for most of the first half hung neck and neck with the Hoosiers.
This game also brought out a new starting lineup, as freshman forward Aaron White made his first career start and senior guard Bryce Cartwright started his first game at point guard since Dec. 3 when he injured his hamstring against Brown. White started in place of sophomore Melsahn Basabe, while Cartwright starting resulted in sophomore Devyn Marble moving to the 3-spot where junior Eric May had been starting all season.
“I think I start better coming off starting out the game,” Cartwright said, adding that he had been starting in practice but wasn’t told until right before the game he’d be back in the lineup.
Cartwright finished with eight points and eight assists, while White had nine points before fouling out with a little over six minutes remaining in the contest. Beginning a game off the bench for the first time in his career, Basabe played 13 minutes and finished with six points and three rebounds.
After Iowa cut Indiana’s lead in the first half to 32-31, Indiana head coach Tom Crean called a timeout and the Hoosiers held a 44-36 advantage with 3:24 left before halftime. Then Indiana proceeded to go on a 10-1 run to end the half and went into the locker room up 54-37.
While the Hawkeyes were able to shoot 79.2 percent (19-of-24) in the second half, the wheels came off in the second half as the Hoosier lead continued to balloon to as many as 24 points.
“You go on the road and shoot 80 in the second half, score 89 points, you should be in pretty good shape, shouldn’t you?” McCaffery said.
Iowa returns home for a pair of games to round out this week. First up is Minnesota on Feb. 1. The Hawkeyes beat the Golden Gophers 64-62 in their first meeting back on Jan. 4 at Williams Arena in Minneapolis. Tip-off from Carver-Hawkeye Arena is set for 7:30 p.m. Central, and the game will air nationally on the Big Ten Network.
As for what can be done to improve the defense?
“We got to hold each other accountable, first and foremost,” Cartwright said. “We got to look at the film and pinpoint everything we can.
“We got to box out and get offensive rebounds and hold them under 50 percent at least.”
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