Hlas: A late-February freeze-up for Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — So, Iowa can still win at least a share of the Big Ten men's basketball title.

Or, it can finish as wobbly as 11-7 in the Big Ten after once being 10-1, and play on a Thursday yet again in the Big Ten tournament.

The Hawkeyes couldn't shoot straight in the final six minutes of their 67-59 loss to Wisconsin Wednesday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was a six-minute time capsule this program will want to bury and never unearth.

When it most needed to be really good in this Big Ten season to date, Iowa was anything but. When Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok most needed to make shots after making so many this Big Ten season, they could not.

A Wisconsin team that was an afterthought in the conference in mid-January outperformed the Hawkeyes for the sixth-consecutive occasion.

Only this time, there was no Frank Kaminsky or Sam Dekker. Or three of their other top seven players from last year's national runner-up team. Yet, this refurbished Badger bunch has won nine of its last 10 games and bolted down its school's 16th-straight winning season in conference play.

Change your head coach, turn over your starting lineup, keep beating Iowa.

For the Hawkeyes, they're now 11-4 in the Big Ten and a game behind leader Indiana. It's still the Hawkeyes' league title to at least share if it sweeps its final three games, including a home date with the Hoosiers next Tuesday. That's sandwiched between trips to Ohio State and Michigan, neither a picnic.

Such a sweep seems like a far taller order than it did in the glow of that run to 10-1. Things ended so badly for Iowa Wednesday that Badgers star Nigel Hayes had a breakaway in the final five seconds, but charitably pulled up.

Down the stretch, Hayes and his teammates acted like they'd been there before. The Hawkeyes did not.

This is late February, not a time people are familiar with deeply meaningful men's basketball games in Carver. The tension of it all was thick from tipoff until the 39th minute. The 40th minute brought a tension headache to the Hawkeyes, while rejoicing was heard from the pockets of Badger fans who made themselves heard here throughout the game. Again this year.

The first-half saw more swings than a batting cage as the Hawkeyes started with a 5-0 flare, the Badgers shot back, and the lead changed sides seven times.

The tension certainly hadn't abated by halftime when Wisconsin trotted to its locker room with a 35-34 lead despite the effort of Jok, who carried his squad offensively with 17 points.

Iowa poured in the first seven points of the second half for a 6-point edge, but it was just another tease. The Badgers plugged away and finally regained the lead on a play-of-the-night jam by Khalil Iverson with 8:46 left.

That showy dunk made a statement. We're not going anywhere except in your faces, the Badgers seemed to say.

The lead did some more pingponging, but the final story was Iowa missing shot after shot after the game was tied at the five-minute mark.

Uthoff was mortal against his former team. Foul trouble wore on him. He was 3-of-12 from the field overall and 2-of-9 from 3-point distance. He uncharacteristically avoided reporters after the game.

So did Jok, who had just four points after halftime. Iowa associate athletic communications director Matt Weitzel said Jok was ill. Uthoff said plenty by not showing up for interviews.

Iowa's Adam Woodbury and Mike Gesell did face the music afterward. Woodbury had a career-high 18 rebounds, 10 on the offensive glass. It was a winner's performance, but he was a dejected giant after the game.

'Any time you come back to the locker room if you lose, (the stats) don't matter,' Woodbury said.

While the Hawkeyes were fortunate to catch Michigan State when the Spartans were at their healthiest or best early in the season, they faced a Wisconsin team that has grown before Madison's eyes over the last month.

The Badgers had 23 bench points to Iowa's four. They spread the scoring around so well you would have thought interim coach Greg Gard was a socialist.

While Iowa failed to make a basket in those last six minutes, the Badgers kept splashing in 3s. They played like the team with four senior starters instead of none.

This season has turned for Iowa. Now hear this: There's still time for it to turn back. A week from today, the Hawkeyes could again be tied for the league lead after beating Indiana here the night before. But for the first time this conference season, the Hawkeyes are now the hunters instead of the hunted.

'We have two options,' Woodbury said. 'We can either cave in or continue to succeed.'

At the risk of being melodramatic, Iowa's regular season is on the brink. The Hawkeyes must defeat Ohio State in Columbus Sunday to make that home game two days later against Indiana mean more than a game in Carver has ever meant.

'It shouldn't be hard,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said about his team finding reason to come back with a bounce Sunday. 'Playing on CBS, it's a great opportunity.'

'It's a great opportunity' has been the Hawkeyes' story of this Big Ten season. There had been a margin for error. It is now gone.