Video: Iowa's Anthony Tucker scores 24, but Hawkeyes fall to Virginia Tech

IOWA CITY - Iowa nearly had this one. It was so close the players could touch it, from the blood spewing out of Jarryd Cole's mouth to Aaron Fuller's swollen left ankle.

Iowa (2-5) led by seven points to start the game and rallied from 10 points down to lead by one in the second half. But one lucky, 3-point shot at the end of the 35-second clock kept them from securing a win against Virginia Tech in a 70-64 loss as part of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge last night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

With time dwindling and a four-point lead, Virginia Tech guard Dorenzo Hudson lost track of the shot clock. He launched his off-balanced 23-foot shot and it went in, giving the Hokies a seven-point lead with 1 minute, 29 seconds left. It was too much for Iowa to overcome.

Iowa then cut the lead to five on a pair of free throws by Cole and held Virginia Tech for one possession. But a wild scramble for a loose ball led to a Virginia Tech (5-1) dunk by Terrell Bell to essentially put the game away.

The sour ending failed to dampen the effort by sophomore guard Anthony Tucker, who tied a career-high with 24 points. Tucker drilled 6-of-14 3-pointers, including four in the first half. Tucker entered the game shooting just 22.7 percent from 3-point range.

"It's been a rough season, a rough start for me shooting the ball, obvioufsly" Tucker said. "I think it was starting to get to a point where it was all mental. It's good to finally break through that."

Iowa started strong offensively. Tucker nailed his first 3-point attempt on Iowa's first possession. Two possessions later, Tucker again hit from outside to give Iowa an 8-1 lead. Brennan Cougill hit a 3-pointer three possessions later to put Iowa up 11-3.

Then the Hawkeyes allowed Virginia Tech to crawl back. With a 20-15 lead, Iowa went cold from the floor. Iowa failed to score on eight straight possessions and went 6 minutes, 31 seconds without a point. Virginia Tech, conversely, went on 17-2 run to lead by 10 points.

Tucker brought Iowa closer with a pair of 3-pointers at the end of the half, but Iowa trailed 34-28.

In the first half, Iowa hit 6-of-14 3-point shots. Iowa did give up 10 turnovers - which led to 10 Virginia Tech points - and were outscored 20-10 in the paint.

Virginia Tech scored on its first two second-half possessions, including a thunderous breakaway dunk by Victor Davila, which led to a quick Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes regrouped and scored on six straight trips up the floor to cut Virginia Tech's lead from 10 to two points. Cully Payne, Eric May and Devan Bawinkel each hit 3-pointers during 13-2 run. Payne tossed an alley-oop pass to Cole, who dunked it for Iowa.

Iowa tied a season-best 12 3-pointers but were outscored 38-18 in the paint. Virginia Tech scored 16 points off 11 Iowa turnovers. Iowa did have only one turnover in the second half.

Iowa's transition defense was a mixture of good and bad.

"When it was existent, it was good. When it was non-existent, it wasn't very good," Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said. "What a lesson."

Iowa struggled to keep Virginia Tech off the glass, getting out-rebounded 34-27. The Hokies grabbed 12 offensive rebounds.

"That was one of the main emphasis for the night," Cole said. "They were a very aggressive offensive-rebounding team.

"That was definitely a focal point."

NOTES

Iowa is now 2-7 all-time in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. Iowa had lost at Virginia Tech in 2006.

Iowa gave away free tickets to students and about 600 showed up.

Iowa sophomore forward Aaron Fuller played his first meaningful minutes since spraining his left ankle against Bowling Green on Nov. 20. He played three minutes and did not score.

Tucker leads the team in scoring at 11 points a game.