Iowa's Fran McCaffery eyes improvement despite losses

IOWA CITY — Iowa men's basketball coach Fran McCaffery saw something different in Tuesday's loss to Indiana from what he viewed in the Hawkeyes' previous defeats.

The loss was the No. 15 Hawkeyes' fourth straight and fifth of their last six games. But within the losses, he sees improvement, which is important with the postseason starting next week.

'Our execution was a lot better,' said McCaffery on the eve of his team's regular-season finale at Michigan (20-10, 10-7) on Saturday. 'You can still miss shots. But you've got to get yourselves into a position where you have those shots and then you have a chance to win. We did that perfectly in the Indiana game. We didn't do it at all in the Wisconsin game.

'We were pretty good in the Ohio State game. The last play we ran, we couldn't run any better and we ran a play before that, we had a shot opportunity. I feel like we've really improved in that area, which is critical.'

Iowa (20-9, 11-6 Big Ten) has struggled to close out close games this year. In the five games where the Hawkeyes have an opportunity to win or tie with shots in the final four seconds, they are 0 for 6. Against Indiana, the Hawkeyes had two cracks at tying the game. Anthony Clemmons missed a 3-pointer from near the top of the key with three seconds left. After an Adam Woodbury rebound, Peter Jok missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner.

At Ohio State, the Hawkeyes trailed by two points with 7.5 seconds left. Point guard Mike Gesell sprinted up the floor toward the basket but had his shot blocked. Iowa missed on three other chances in non-conference play.

The lack of late-game execution is part of an ugly trend for Iowa the last three years. Iowa has had played 15 games (4-11 record) with an opportunity to tie or win in the final 11 seconds. The Hawkeyes have taken 15 shots and made only two. Both were hit last year by Jarrod Uthoff, including a game-winning jumper at Minnesota and a 3-pointer that sent a game into overtime at Northwestern.

McCaffery said the team practices end-of-game situations but variables like foul trouble and opponent defenses are difficult to predict. He also discussed the mental approach with his team last week after the Wisconsin loss, and the team made strides afterward

'As a coach, I'm not going to go in after the game the other night and start ripping everybody, because they did everything we asked them to do. The shot didn't go at the end,' McCaffery said. 'The shot, we ran a set play. Uthoff made a perfect read, he didn't make the shot (with about 30 seconds left). He wasn't trying to miss. But if he went the wrong way or he read it wrong and the play got jammed up and we turn it over and they go down and dunk it, well that's a problem.

'If you execute the play, and the shot doesn't go in and (Indiana guard) Yogi (Ferrell) pulls up from 24 feet and shoots a contested 3 and makes it, there's nothing we can do about that.'

Iowa faces Michigan for the second time this season. The Hawkeyes beat the Wolverines 82-71 in Iowa City on Jan. 17. Both teams hit 10 3-pointers that day.

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