Fran McCaffery on Iowa’s play at Ohio State: ‘Very poor performance … Unacceptable today’

(This story was written in Cedar Rapids.)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A defensive downer dashed Iowa’s 4-game men’s basketball win streak.

Ohio State, scoring 50 points in the paint, broke away from a tied game in the first minute of the second half for a 93-77 win over the Hawkeyes (4-4 Big Ten, 12-7 overall).

“Very poor performance by our team,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said on the Hawkeye Radio Network postgame show. “Too many turnovers. We got just destroyed on the glass. Unacceptable today. Just not a good performance.

“We didn’t play with any sense of intelligence today, at all.”

The Buckeyes had a 36-29 advantage in rebounds. Iowa made 14 turnovers, leading to 15 OSU points.

Freshman forward Brice Sensabaugh scored a career-high 27 points in 26 minutes for the Buckeyes (3-5, 11-8), who stopped their 5-game losing streak.

"He’s a tremendous shot-maker,“ McCaffery said in his postgame press conference. ”You’ve got to make him play defense, but he scores in a variety of ways. It’s not just a 3-point shooter or driver. He’s got a terrific midrange game."

Sensabaugh is a potential NBA first-round draft pick this June, like Iowa’s Kris Murray, who had 22 points.

OSU Coach Chris Holtmann moved graduate transfer guard Isaac Likelele and freshman guard Roddy Gayle into the starting lineup for this game. Likekele had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists after scoring a total of 10 points over his previous seven games.

After making a 3-pointer for his first points, nearly all of Likekele’s points came from going to the basket.

“They just kept driving and backing a guy down and we didn’t react to them,” McCaffery said. We were getting back-cut. We’re not physical enough and it all broke down there.“

"I thought Isaac's play was phenomenal,“ said Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann.

Three other Buckeyes scored in double-figures. Filip Rebraca had 15 points and Ahron Ulis 12 for Iowa.

The Buckeyes shot 56.3 percent from the field in the game and 64.7 percent in the second half. Getting a surplus of lay-ins and dunks made a high shooting percentage inevitable.

Ohio State had 12-0 first-half run for a 25-15 lead, but Iowa cut it to 37-35 at halftime despite not scoring a basket in the final 5:10 of the half. Ulis made a pullup jumper on the Hawkeyes’ first second-half possession to tie the game, but a 9-0 run shortly thereafter gave the Buckeyes a cushion they didn’t surrender.

“This Iowa team is not going anywhere,” FOX color commentator Jim Jackson said when the Hawkeyes trailed 62-53 with 10:54 left. He was correct, but not in the way he intended. Iowa never got closer than eight points after Jackson’s proclamation.

Iowa’s next game is Thursday night at Michigan State at 6 p.m. (CT).

“We’ve got to be better,” McCaffery said. “We’ll be better in the next one.”

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