Practice leads to imperfect for Iowa

IOWA CITY - Imperfect practice led to a far-from-perfect performance on game night for the Iowa men's basketball team.

Iowa struggled from the perimeter against Minnesota's 2-3 zone defense and shot a season-low 34 percent from the field in a 62-45 loss to the Gophers last night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes hit just six of 28 3-point attempts and sank only one-third of their second-half shots.

“I don't think we shot particularly well (Saturday) in practice,” Iowa sophomore Eric May said. “Everything was right there. Some shots went in and out. I think if a few of those drop, it's a different game. The focus (in practice) wasn't what coaches want to be, and we're going to change that (Monday).”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said Sunday's effort was a wake-up call for the team, which plays two more games this week.

“I'm sure we'll have their full attention (Monday).”

Minnesota (17-8, 6-7 Big Ten) battered Iowa's interior game early with a starting front-line wall that stands 6-foot-11, 6-10 and 6-8. The Gophers played exclusively 2-3 zone, an unusual defense for the team that normally plays man-to-man defense. That shake-up caused multiple problems for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa (10-15, 3-10) scored just 14 points in the paint and interior players Jarryd Cole, Melsahn Basabe and Andrew Brommer attempted a combined nine shots. The perimeter was open because of Minnesota's zone, but the Hawkeyes struggled to hit anything.

“To be honest with you, at times our execution wasn't that bad,” McCaffery said. “We just couldn't get anything to go down (and) became really perimeter-oriented.”

The Hawkeyes attacked Minnesota's defense effectively early in the game. Iowa hit three 3-pointers in the first 7:29 and took a 14-6 lead with 10:17 left in the first half. Then Basabe was whistled for his second foul, which relegated him to the bench for the remainder of the half. Iowa's outside shooting went with him.

After hitting 3-of-6 from 3-point range to start the game, Iowa missed 19 of its final 22 3-point attempts. With Basabe in foul trouble and Devon Archie missing a second straight game with a concussion, Iowa's transition game also grinded to a halt. Minnesota finished the half on a 24-6 run and took a 10-point halftime lead.

“When you have very few bags that are actually capable of playing, it's kind of hard to run our system,” Cole said. “Our bags are supposed to run 94 to 94, and it's hard to do that with three other bodies. And when one of those bodies gets into foul trouble, it's quite simple for the effort to go down.”

The second half wasn't much better for Iowa, which scored only seven points until a Bryce Cartwright 3-pointer with 7:37 left in the game. Minnesota power forward Trevor Mbakwe scored 22 of his game-high 24 points and hit 10-of-11 free throws in the second half.

While Cartwright scored a team-high 11 points and dished seven assists, he also had five turnovers. Iowa guard Matt Gatens sank two of his first three 3-point attempts, then missed his final eight shots from the field.

“I thought I made about eight of them,” Gatens said. “I don't know how many I shot but a lot of them felt good.

“I'd say eight or nine of them felt like they were going in.”

Photos by Brian Ray

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