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Badgers snatch victory from Hawkeyes in final minute

Posted on 22. Feb, 2014 by in Iowa Basketball

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By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — What would have been a monumental win for No. 15 Iowa was within sight. Despite a first half where the defense was suspect at best and atrocious at worst, the Hawkeyes went ahead of No. 16 Wisconsin 72-71 when junior guard Josh Oglesby hit a jumper with 1:01 remaining.

Oglesby, who had 17 points off the bench in 24 minutes, thought for sure his shot would keep Iowa ahead for good.

Except it didn’t. The Badgers re-grouped and manage to outscore the Hawkeyes 8-2 over the final minute to not only beat Iowa 79-74 on Saturday, but also move ahead into sole possession of third place. This loss dropped Iowa to 8-5 in Big Ten play and 19-7 overall. In addition to seeing Wisconsin vault ahead of them into third place, the Badgers also have a season sweep of the Hawkeyes after beating them in Madison last month.

“I knew if we got a stop, we’d be in good shape because they were going to run the shot clock,” Oglesby said. “But we couldn’t get a stop.”

This final minute started with that go-ahead bucket from Oglesby, which prompted Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan to call timeout with 58.4 seconds remaining. Frank Kaminsky, who was a focal point of the Badgers’ game plan the entire afternoon, put them ahead 73-72 when he made a move in the paint on Iowa junior center Gabe Olaseni and converted an easy lay-in.

“It was a simple pick and roll and I should have fouled him,” Olaseni said.

Iowa looked ready to respond back with senior guard Devyn Marble taking the ball up the court. Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery then made the surprising decision to call timeout, just as Marble appeared ready to attack the rim.

“I was [surprised] because I thought he was going to just let me go because he didn’t call it immediately,” Marble said. “I saw an opening, but I wasn’t upset about that.”

Out of the timeout, Marble got the ball back, but had it stripped away from him by Kaminsky, who was then fouled by Olaseni with 24 seconds remaining. Kaminsky knocked down both free throws and the Hawkeyes called another timeout with 24 seconds remaining.

Olaseni was then taken out and replaced by senior forward Zach McCabe, who had started in place of an ill Melsahn Basabe on Saturday. Basabe attempted to play later in the first half, but was on the court for less than two minutes before coming out of the game for good.

With the Hawkeyes down by three, McCabe got the ball and had an open look at the hoop.

“There were other options in it, but that was an option that we liked and we thought he would be able,” McCaffery said about McCabe taking the shot.

But just as McCabe began to release the ball, it slipped out of his hands, went directly into Wisconsin’s hands, and he ended up fouling out when he committed his fifth foul on Traevon Jackson, who proceeded to knock down two more free throws to extend Wisconsin’s lead to 77-72.

“I had a good shot. It just slipped out of my hands going up,” McCabe said. “There was no excuse for it. That was probably the best we had run it.

“It was a wide shot. It just slipped out of my hands.”

Iowa and Wisconsin would exchange two more free throws each, but that would be it. Just like that, the Badgers walked away victorious.

Now the Hawkeyes find themselves scrambling with consecutive road games in a 3-day span upcoming. Iowa’s next contest comes Feb. 25 at Minnesota in a 6 p.m. Central contest airing nationally on the Big Ten Network. The Hawkeyes won their first meeting over the Golden Gophers, 94-73, back on Jan. 19.

“We just have to bring energy,” McCabe said. “We’ve got to bring intensity. That’s what we didn’t defensively and Wisconsin was able to do what it wanted to.”

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