Hlas: Hawkeyes have a slip, not a flop

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Iowa's lofty spot in the national rankings, its projected No. 1 NCAA seed by those who project such things, its recent Sports Illustrated cover — all were less significant Thursday night than a tsunami warning in southern Indiana.

Or were they? Something certainly made Assembly Hall's crowd of 17,472 roar with intensity for two hours and something had Indiana's Hoosiers playing with fire in their eyes. Like a deep and desperate desire to take the Hawkeyes down a notch.

'It was excruciatingly loud,' Indiana Coach Tom Crean said, 'and it was tremendous.'

After both teams had a turn being dominant for a long stretch, Indiana won the third and final round of the fight and took down No. 5 Iowa, 85-78.

If it felt like it was Iowa against the world as you watched the ESPN telecast, that's because it was. It was so noisy people in the 50th row couldn't even hear Dick Vitale screaming at courtside.

What, you thought the Hawkeyes' effort to track down their first Big Ten regular-season men's basketball title in 37 years would be easy?

Indiana, Iowa and Maryland are 10-2 in the league. The remaining schedule may favor the Hawkeyes slightly over the Terrapins and more than a little over the Hoosiers, but none of that matters today.

The Hawkeyes' more-pressing concern is doing the same thing they did after they fell at Maryland on Jan. 28. Which is dusting themselves off after a road loss to a high-quality foe and leaving the next few opponents in the dirt.

'We're still sitting in a good spot,' said Iowa guard Mike Gesell, who had 17 points and 6 assists, and looked like the Gesell who had 25 points against Michigan State in his team's conference-opener.

If the Hawkeyes had one area resembling a weakness entering this game, it was rebounding. Entering this game, Iowa's Big Ten opponents had averaged two more offensive boards per game than the Hawkeyes.

Indiana had 12 offensive rebounds and 17 second-chance points in the first half as it built a 36-20 lead that was shaved to 45-38 by intermission.

It looked like Iowa caught a big break when Indiana freshman center Thomas Bryant was benched after getting his second foul with 15:34 left in the half. Bryant racked up four points, four offensive rebounds, and an assist on a Yogi Ferrell 3-pointer after he collared one of those caroms in those first few minutes.

But Bryant then sat and watched his teammates get offensive rebound after offensive rebound in the half. That was reversed in the second half, though. Adam Woodbury had nine offensive rebounds and a career-high 15 total, and both teams ended with 19 off the offensive glass.

However, if Iowa would have rebounded better in the first half …

Another Hawkeyes shortcoming was the bench. The four Hawkeye reserves who played scored a grand total of nothing over a total of 31 minutes, and didn't seem especially comfortable in an environment more hostile than perhaps any they had faced since Iowa State's in December.

This loss merits no shame, nor did it cost Iowa an iota of respect. Consider it a good thing that Hawkeye star Jarrod Uthoff (24 points) was clearly agitated by the loss after the game.

'We made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes at the end,' Uthoff said. We didn't knock down free throws (13 of 23).

'It was tough to swallow.'

You wouldn't want him saying anything else. But even with the evening's imperfections, Iowa's starters all scored in double-digits, and all showed a lot of skills and poise in refusing to get blown out.

They wiped out that 36-20 deficit with a 27-11 run covering 13 consecutive possessions that produced points, possessions often generated by good defensive stands. But they didn't pull away after assuming a 60-56 lead with 9:35 left, and lost to a team that can be very dynamic. It was certainly dynamic enough Thursday.

'This was a terrific team we just played,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

'They've got speed, they have post-up players, they have 3-point shooters, drivers.'

In a press conference on the other side of the arena from McCaffery's, Crean said 'Iowa is everything that they're made out to be. ... They've earned their record. Nobody has handed it to them.'

'To be honest,' Gesell said, 'this game was a blast. The atmosphere was awesome even though we didn't come out with a 'W.' We're going to be a better team because of this game.'

Iowa still must travel to Penn State, Ohio State and Michigan, all dangerous to varying degrees. But the Hawkeyes won't play another road game in which the home fans give their team so much extra energy. However, a different set of fans will be bringing the noise when the Hawkeyes face Indiana March 1 in Iowa City.

'We get Indiana down the road again,' Gesell said. 'But we've got to really focus on one game at a time for now, and that starts tomorrow in practice.'

The next game is Sunday night at home against Minnesota, which is 0-12 in the Big Ten.

You may hear these immortal words of Jean-Paul Sartre by the time that game is through: Au revoir, Gophers.