Second look at Iowa-UNI (plus foul video)

CEDAR FALLS - Fran McCaffery was reserved yet direct after his Iowa team took an 80-60 loss at Northern Iowa on Tuesday night.

It was a tough night for McCaffery, but it hardly was scoreboard-related. He saw his team give up a 10-point first-half lead, fall behind by seven points three different times and claw back within two points.

But it all changed within 20 seconds. With 9:47 left in the game, Iowa sophomore Zach McCabe was whistled for charging when he ducked his shoulder into UNI's Austin Pehl while shooting, taking away the tying basket. With similar calls going against Iowa throughout the game, McCaffery went ballistic and received a technical. Another assistant, which appeared to be Andrew Francis, also was called for a technical.

Four UNI free throws later, McCabe was whistled for another foul under the Panther basket. McCabe tapped the ball, and was hit with a technical - his fifth foul. Four more free throws - two from the foul, two from the techhnical - sent a game within Iowa's grasp into a 10-point deficit.

The technicals and ensuing free throws virtually ended Iowa's chance at knocking off UNI.

"I think we had great energy in that second half," McCaffery said. "(Eric) May makes the dunk. We were right there. Zach makes a layup to tie the game. It didn't count. I thought we were right there."

The game continued to plummet for Iowa. The Hawkeyes were called for seven offensive fouls. Iowa senior Matt Gatens was hit on consecutive trips up the court. Finally when Gatens took a contested shot and a foul wasn't called, McCaffery argued with official Bob Higgins and was tossed from the game with 4 minutes, 47 seconds left.

McCaffery bristled at the notion that his team struggled.

"I don't think anything went that wrong," he said. "Not with our team. Not much went wrong."

Statistically, it was a strange game. The Hawkeyes hit more than half their shots - 28-of-55 - and held the Panthers to just nine two-point baskets. Iowa outrebounded UNI by six and outscored the Panthers 10-2 in second-chance opportunities. But once you look column-by-column you see where the numbers tilted opposite the Hawkeyes on Tuesday.

UNI shot 33 free throws and made 29. Iowa, conversely, shot 3-of-9 from the free-throw line. In the second half, UNI sank 23-of-24 free throws on 14 Iowa fouls - including four technicals. Iowa went 3-of-6 on seven fouls. 

Northern Iowa nailed 11-of-21 3-point attempts; Iowa hit just 1 of 12. Defending the perimeter has been a problem for Iowa most of the season, something McCaffery acknowledged.

"It's around a couple of areas," he said. "It's ball-screen defense. We struggled with that. They run a lot of ball screens. We were better early; we were better at time. But we weren't consistently defending ball screens the way we needed to. That's an area we have to shore up."

Here's a video that has circulated on the web detailing Iowa's fouls. It's definitely worth a look.