Iowa Basketball: Close Games Giving Hawkeyes Needed Experience
The Iowa Hawkeyes’ 1-2 conference record is not all bad news
Iowa basketball dropped to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten after a 93-90 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in double overtime last night. It’s the second straight overtime game for Iowa, and even though they didn’t win this one, it gave them much-needed experience.
Before beating Michigan by three and losing to Nebraska by three this week, Iowa’s only other games decided by single-digits came at the beginning of the year against Seton Hall and Omaha. The Hawkeyes lost both.
While blowing out bad teams, and even a good team in Iowa State, is fun and gives Iowa confidence, close games are when a young team like Iowa will grow the most. Every play matters, which means they can’t have costly turnovers down the stretch or fall asleep on defense.
Just like any young team would, the Hawkeyes have had their good and bad moments down the stretch of their past two games.
Defensively, Iowa’s defense has picked up the intensity late in games. Iowa trailed at some point in the last five minutes of regulation in each of their past two games, but their stout defense gave them a chance.
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The Hawkeyes held Michigan to just three points in the last three minutes of regulation and 1-of-4 shooting in the final minute of overtime. They pressured the ball without fouling, which isn’t always easy for young teams, and forced Michigan into tough shots.
Last night, helped by poor free-throw shooting from Nebraska, Iowa again played sound defense at the end of regulation and overtimes. Nebraska missed their last four shots of regulation, although did attempt four free-throws in the final minute.
Iowa’s best defensive play of the year came from Nicholas Baer with one second left in regulation. Jeriah Horne stole it from Iowa and passed it to Evan Taylor who had an open layup. Baer fouled Turner, who ended up missing both free-throws and sending the game to overtime.
It wasn’t only that he was smart enough to foul Taylor in that situation, but also to foul him hard enough where he wouldn’t be able to convert the and-one. It shows the basketball IQ Nicholas Baer has, as he finished with five points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.
Surprisingly for a team who has thrived on offense this season, Iowa’s lack of scoring caused them to drop last night’s game to Nebraska.
Iowa’s freshmen stepped up in the final minutes of regulation to force overtime in both games. Jordan Bohannon and Cordell Pemsl scored Iowa’s five final points in regulation against Michigan, and underclassmen accounted for seven of Iowa’s 12 points in overtime.
Against Nebraska, Iowa’s freshmen scored 11 of their 16 points in overtime. They helped relive the pressure off of a tired Peter Jok, however couldn’t score in the final 41 seconds of double overtime after Jok fouled out.
In fact, poor shooting hindered Iowa at the end of regulation and both overtimes against Nebraska. After a Jok layup put them ahead 74-72 with 2:45 remaining in regulation, Iowa didn’t score again until overtime. They shot 0-of-3 from the field and had two turnovers to close out regulation.
After a strong second half from Jok, Iowa looked a little lost when Jok’s shot stopped falling. They couldn’t create offense for themselves in the second half.
The same was true in overtime. Iowa held an 83-79 lead in the first overtime but didn’t score in the final 1:37. They missed two shots, turned it over once and gave Tai Webster four free-throws in the final minute to allow Nebraska to force double overtime.
The solid defense without fouling they showed against Michigan disappeared against Nebraska. Even though Nebraska shot 54.3 percent from the line, that’s how the Cornhuskers stayed in the game.
By double overtime, the Hawkeyes looked exhausted and the offense had no flow to it. Two poor fouls on Jok that likely resulted from tired legs became the downfall for Iowa. After Peter Jok lost the ball going up for a shot and committed his fifth foul, Iowa unraveled on offense.
Isaiah Moss tried to drive the lane but had the ball stripped and hit off his knee out-of-bounds. Then, as well as Jordan Bohannon has played this season, he showed his youth on Iowa’s final two offensive plays.
With 15 seconds left, Bohannon drove to the right side and looked like he was going to go up for a layup. Although, with a defender on him, he stopped, picked up his dribble and got trapped.
Brady Ellingson came around from the other side and would have had an open look from three, with Iowa down 93-90, but Bohannon didn’t look towards him and forced a terrible shot.
He should have reset the offense after he saw nothing was there instead of picking up his dribble or simply gone up for a contested layup. Plus, he looked flustered near the basket, which led to him ignoring Ellingson. Nebraska’s defensive pressure got to Iowa’s freshman point guard.
On Iowa’s last chance down three, Nebraska tried to foul Bohannon but it wasn’t called. He had a good look from three but didn’t take it. As Iowa’s best three-point shooter, he has to take the shot.
Bohannon looked like he was looking to pass the whole time despite being Iowa’s best three-point shooter on the floor and having less than five seconds on the clock.
He ended up dishing it to Brady Ellingson, who this time didn’t have an open look. Ellingson’s shot didn’t come close.
Iowa is asking a lot from their four freshmen and many other underclassmen, and so far they’ve delivered. Winning close games will be a challenge all year for Iowa as they continue to grow. That said, they showed a lot of positive signs and played much better than they would have at the beginning of the year if they were in the same situation.
By no means is the loss only on Bohannon, but he did show his youth to end the game. By the end of the year, Bohannon will probably look for Ellingson on the second to last play and go right for a pull-up three to try to tie the game at the end.
The Hawkeyes are now 1-2 in conference play after dropping an important game, but, in a rebuilding year, these are the games that will make Iowa better.
It’s easy to go through similar situations in practice, however performing well under pressure, especially on the road, is challenging and a new experience for most of Iowa’s team.
It would have been nice to beat Nebraska and improve to 10-6, but the experience they gained is what matters in a year like this.
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