Hawkeye basketball: Finding lessons in losses

IOWA CITY - Iowa's basketball program doesn't have a plaque hanging around the locker room displaying the words “moral victory.”

Losing hurts and that doesn't matter if it's against a top team or a bottom feeder. But Coach Todd Lickliter is telling himself and the players to look past the final score and find reasons for each win and loss. He saw improvement from his team Tuesday in an 11-point loss to No. 4 Purdue and hopes it can apply those positives in the future.

“I'm not going to let a loss influence me or makes us feel like we didn't do anything right. It's not correct,” Lickliter said. “It was the fourth-ranked team in the nation. They were undefeated. I give them their due; they're really good.

“We approached it that they were really good and we want to win, and we're going to have to do these things. But at the same time, we realize how good the competition is.”

Iowa (5-8, 0-1 Big Ten) hosts Minnesota (10-3, 1-0) today. Lickliter expects Minnesota to compete with Purdue and Michigan State for the Big Ten title. He knows his team has little margin for error when competing against the league's best and doesn't shy away from telling his players the facts.

“It's something that you struggle with, with a team that's growing in a league that's got a lot of veterans in it. You know you're going to be tested,” Lickliter said. “You know you're going to have to play at an incredibly high level. You have to acknowledge when you do that. You have to have some goals that lead to winning and also be recognized as successful.

“We're looking at the way we play and one of the things that you can do is you can look at tape. You can show guys good plays and you can say, ‘Let's have more of these,' and you can emphasize things that you think can help you be a better team and recognize them for what they do.”

Against Purdue, Iowa started strong and took a 10-2 lead. The Hawkeyes led the Boilermakers at halftime and were within five points midway through the second half. Then Purdue pulled away on an 8-0 run to take control.

Iowa out-rebounded Purdue, 34-30, but allowed the Boilermakers to hit 65 percent of their shots in the second half. Iowa had 16 turnovers that led to 18 Purdue points.

“It is still a loss,” Iowa sophomore Matt Gatens said. “We look at it that against two of the top teams in the top five in America (Purdue and Texas), we've been tied or had the lead after the first half. We've just got to finish the game out. It's doable, as coaches have been telling us.”