|
 With victories in five of its last six games, Iowa had moved back
into the top 25 at No. 25, and the Hawkeyes were looking to show
they were a legitimate threat in the Big Ten when they rolled into
the Kohl Center to face the sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers on
Tuesday.
Instead, the statement came from the Badgers, who did everything but
drain the battery in the Hawkeyes' bus, and cruised to an 82-50
victory in front of a crowd of 17,279.
"We had an opportunity tonight and we didn't take advantage of it,"
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
Wisconsin set a season high with 11 3-pointers its last time out --
a 70-55 victory last Thursday against Nebraska -- and nearly matched
that against the Hawkeyes, connecting on nine of 22 attempts from
long range.
Three of those came from point guard Bronson Koenig, who was making
his third consecutive start and second in a row in place of Traevon
Jackson, who broke his foot at Rutgers on Jan. 11.
Koenig, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, finished with 13 points and recorded a
pair of assists in 34 minutes of action.
 He was one of four Badgers to score in double figures.
Forward Sam Dekker led the way with 17 points, and forward Nigel
Hayes added 16. Center Frank Kaminsky finished with 13 points, 11
rebounds and six assists.
"Josh [Gasser] said something to us at halftime that we haven't put
together a complete 40 minutes yet this season and he wanted us to
continue that in the second half," Dekker said. "We're pretty happy
with the way we played in the second half. We got a few easy looks
but it was probably our best 40 minutes of the year."
Wisconsin was dominant in all aspects of the game while shooting
49.2 percent from the field. The Badgers turned the ball over just
one time -- a shot-clock violation early in the second half -- and
they posted a 37-24 rebounding advantage.
"One turnover?" Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan asked. "You have to give our
guys a lot of credit, there's not too many times you can do that. I
thought our guys did an excellent job making the extra pass and
using good ball fakes."
Iowa shot 42.6 percent overall, six of 15 (40 percent) from long
range.
"We did a lot of good things helping each other defensively," Ryan
said. "You don't hold a team like that for that long without guys
buying in and really doing their job. It was nice to see our guys
listen to the instructions and make the opposition try to score in
different ways."
The Hawkeyes were outplayed almost from the opening tip. They scored
on their first two possessions but came up empty on their next five
while Wisconsin raced out to a 13-4 lead.
[to top of second column] |
"We broke down," McCaffery said. "They're an excellent 3-point
shooting team but they're also a very good 1-on-1 team. They spread
you out and they go. We stayed a little longer than we should have
on our help, then they hit a couple early and we didn't recover.
That's not how you want to start."
It only got worse from there as Iowa missed all six of its 3-point
attempts in the half and shot just 25 percent while turning the ball
over three times.
"There wasn't just one area that we broke down," McCaffery said. "It
was a combination of things."
Forward Jarrod Uthoff, who originally committed to Wisconsin and
then transferred to Iowa early in his freshman year, was the
Hawkeyes' leading scorer, finishing with 12 points on 5-of-10
shooting.
Guard Trey Dickerson, making his first appearance in Big Ten play
this season, added eight points, while guard Peter Jok and forward
Aaron White each finished with seven.
The Hawkeyes, the nation's fourth-best squad at drawing fouls,
managed to get to the free-throw line just 10 times and only made
four free throws.
NOTES: Wisconsin G Josh Gasser left the game with 12:46 to play with
an apparent left shoulder injury but was cleared by the medical
staff and returned a few minute later. ... The Hawkeyes scored 70 or
more points in five of their previous six meetings with Wisconsin,
including the last four. ... The previous five meetings in the
series, which dates back to 1909, were all decided by five points or
fewer. ... Iowa came into the game 3-0 in true road games this
season, but the Hawkeyes lost 11 of their previous 12 at the Kohl
Center. ... Through Monday, Wisconsin led the nation in fewest fouls
(13.4) and turnovers (8.3) per game. ... The Badgers were
outrebounded only three times this season.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
