Close no longer close enough for Iowa men's basketball team

IOWA CITY - Two missed shots in the final seconds cost Iowa a pair of victories against Ohio State in Matt Gatens' freshman year.

Last year at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa battled Ohio State possession-by-possession before losing by five points.

“It's always a tough game,” said Gatens, now a senior. “We've played them close here, but close isn't good enough. We need to get it done.

“It's going to be a tough game, but I think we're up for it.”

The No. 6 Buckeyes (14-2, 2-1 Big Ten) have beaten Iowa a series-record six times. Ohio State sophomore Jared Sullinger is a returning first-team All-American and averaging 16.4 points and 9.7 rebounds a game. William Buford, who edged Gatens as the Big Ten's top freshman in 2009, has scored nearly 1,700 career points. Sophomore Aaron Craft leads the Big Ten in steals per game.

But Ohio State's who's who list of Big Ten all-stars doesn't intimidate Iowa (10-6, 2-1) this year. Not anymore. The Hawkeyes are coming off consecutive Big Ten road victories for the first time in five years. One win was at Wisconsin's Kohl Center, a place where Iowa had lost nine straight. One win came at Minnesota, which had beaten the Hawkeyes six straight.

Those wins have given Iowa a renewed confidence and a different attitude. Last year the Hawkeyes lost five games to Big Ten opponents by five or fewer points, including NCAA Tournament teams Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State. Those losses convinced the players they could compete against high-powered opposition when they played well.

But competing against top teams no longer applies as Iowa's priority. It's simply about winning and losing.

“It has been a change, and I think it's a mentality that we've adopted from our coaching staff,” Iowa sophomore guard Devyn Marble said. “Moral wins don't get the job done. We have to start performing, and I think we responded well to that. Hopefully that just keeps going.”

“People always talk about moral victories when you get close, especially against ranked teams, and you play a lot of ranked teams in this league,” Gatens said. “You want to beat them, you don't want to come close.”

Iowa dropped its Big Ten opener to Purdue 79-76 last week. The Hawkeyes trailed throughout the game but almost to a man felt they were the better team that night. Instead of taking pride in nearly beating a 26-win team from a year ago, Iowa's players were angry.

“We felt that's one that we could have gotten,” Iowa forward Eric May said. “We lost by one possession. It wasn't a moral victory for us. It was a loss. That really upset us. That's what pushed us this last week to really focus in and take the next step.”

“The crazy thing was, we played absolutely horrific against Purdue and we only lost by three,” Marble said. “I think that really opened the eyes of the team. If we actually played hard and just really knuckle down for 40 minutes and just put it all on the court, we can actually win in this league. I think after the Purdue game I think that's when we really, really knew we could beat anybody we want to if we just put our mind to it.”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery encourages that attitude. He coached North Carolina-Greensboro to a 7-22 record in 2002-03 but said the team was 20 baskets from 20 wins. It's the extra free throws and conditioning drills in the summer that helps a team win those one or two more possessions each game that changes outcomes. Through three Big Ten games, McCaffery is still looking for answers.

“Right now we've proven we can play with pretty much everybody, but can we win and can we win consistently?” McCaffery asked. “That's the hardest thing.”