Iowa men’s basketball unable to climb out of early hole in NIT loss to Utah

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s defensive woes caught up again with the Hawkeyes on Sunday night.

The consequence this time was an early deficit — one that proved to be too big to overcome — and a season-ending loss as Utah pulled away with a 91-82 win in the second round of the NIT at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Utes’ lead swelled to as much as 18 late in the first half, in large part thanks to 51.5 percent shooting before halftime.

Iowa trimmed that lead to as few as five points in the second half, and Utah eventually cooled off offensively, but the Utes did not relinquish the lead.

“We got it back to where we were within striking distance, and then we made it on a little run,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said in a Zoom call with local reporters. “After that, they made enough plays to win.”

Utah guard Gabe Madsen proved to be particularly problematic for the Hawkeyes’ defense, racking up a career-high 31 points on 9-for-19 shooting. He was 7-of-15 from 3-point range.

“He’s a really good player,” McCaffery said. “They ran good stuff for him. We lost him a few times. They’ve got a lot of weapons.”

Iowa aided Madsen with two fouls on 3-point attempts in the first half; Madsen made all six free throws.

“It hurt when we fouled him twice,” McCaffery said. “I think we had a situation where maybe he wasn’t going to make those, and then we fouled him.”

Utah’s Deivon Smith and Branden Carlson scored 19 and 12 points, respectively, while making at least half of their shots.

Iowa’s offense, while not productive enough to mask the defensive issues, had a respectable night in Salt Lake City.

Patrick McCaffery led the Hawkeyes with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting in what could possibly be the redshirt senior’s final game playing for his father.

“It’s been a great ride — five years with him,” Fran McCaffery said. “He’s an awesome teammate. He’s an awesome player. Played really well tonight. Very proud of him, told him that. Told him I loved him.”

Four other Hawkeyes — Josh Dix, Ben Krikke, Owen Freeman and Brock Harding — finished in double figures as the team shot 48.5 percent from the field.

Iowa did not see many contributions from its usual top two scorers, though.

Payton Sandfort, who entered play averaging 16.7 points per game, scored only five points on 1-of-11 shooting. Tony Perkins, who averaged 14.3 points per game before Sunday, had three points on 1-of-5 shooting.

“We need those two guys to play well,” McCaffery said. “I thought they really tried, and they didn’t have it tonight.”

Iowa finishes the year with a 19-15 overall record, marking the second consecutive year in which the Hawkeyes failed to reach the 20-win mark (after a stretch of four-straight 20-plus-win seasons before that).

“We got off to a slow start in Big Ten play, but rallied,” McCaffery said. “Had some terrific wins. Our young guys continued to improve. … Really proud of this group and how they stayed connected and stayed positive.”

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