Iowa plays the percentages and loses at Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Iowa's defense played the percentages and lost both the possession and the game on the same last night at Wake Forest.

With just seconds remaining and the score tied, Iowa tried to force Wake Forest's shooters into taking a bad shot. Demon Deacons freshman J.T. Terrell took the bait. Unfortunately for Iowa, Terrell hit a 25-foot shot with 2.7 seconds left to sink the Hawkeyes 76-73 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

"You're in a tied situation, you were down nine (points) just a few minutes ago, we'll take overtime," Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. "We don't want somebody driving the ball to the basket. They're in the bonus, a contested 3 from 5 feet beyond the line, I think we're going to take that."

"We'd rather them shoot that than get in the lane and us reach in and put them on the line," Iowa sophomore Eric May said. "They took a deep shot, a tough shot and hit it."

The shot completed a massive comeback by Wake Forest, which trailed Iowa 39-21 late in the first half. It also signified a massive letdown by the Hawkeyes, which stumbled early in the second half.

Iowa (3-4) wilted on Wake Forest's final three first-half possessions and led by 12. Wake Forest started the half with a 25-6 run to take a 52-45 lead. The Demon Deacons then extended it to 10 points with 9:02 left before Iowa rallied to take the lead twice, the last at 73-72 with 2:41 left.

Iowa had its chances to win in the final minutes. With the score tied 73-73, Iowa held possession for 1:24, missed four shots but pulled down offensive rebounds after each one. Junior Matt Gatens, who sat out for nearly 14 minutes in the second half, entered the game at 1:10 left and missed an open 3-pointer.

"I thought his 3 was down," McCaffery said.

Wake Forest's Ari Stewart chucked up a 3-point attempt with 47 seconds left, and Iowa drove back down the court. But Gatens' layup attempt was blocked by Ty Walker - his third block in the final 2:01 - and that set up Terrell's final 3-point attempt.

Iowa's substitution pattern altered between necessary and eccentric from nearly the beginning. Bryce Cartwright started for Cully Payne, who had surgery on a sports hernia on Tuesday. Cartwright was hit with his second foul just 2:45 into the game and sat for the rest of the first half. Gatens was pulled from game based on effectiveness, McCaffery said.

"It's one of those things where the lineup we had was the one that was cooking," McCaffery said. "(Gatens) wasn't in there at the time so I went with them, and then I went back to him late."

Gatens said his 3-point attempt was "just an inch or two off."

"It felt great and I thought I worked real hard last week on shot preparation and I thought I got everything down right," he said.

As for sitting on the bench for such a long spell, Gatens said, "It's something I'm not used to. It's more difficult than when you're in a rhythm."

Iowa now falls to 2-8 in ACC-Big Ten Challenge games and has lost five in a row in the series. Wake Forest improves to 4-3.