Lapse in intensity leads to another Iowa blowout at Michigan State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Iowa's intensity waned in key spots Wednesday night at Michigan State, and the Spartans promptly flattened the Hawkeyes in response.

After trailing by only four points at halftime, Iowa couldn't match Michigan State at either end of the court. The Spartans hit 54.5 percent of their shots, while Iowa failed to sink a single 3-point attempt for the first time in 239 games. The outcome was predictable, an 85-66 blowout loss at Breslin Center.

Iowa (10-19, 3-14 Big Ten) now has lost 17 straight at Michigan State, dating to 1993. The Spartans (17-12, 9-8) also reversed its second-worst loss this season, a 20-point blowout to Iowa on Feb. 2.

The Hawkeyes held their own against the Spartans for most of the first half and traded leads four times. Iowa had a chance to pull within one point at the buzzer but Devyn Marble's 3-point attempt sailed wide of the backboard. That play was emblematic of the second half.

With 16:20 left in the game, Iowa trailed 41-37. Then Michigan State went on a 14-4 run to take a 55-41 lead.

“It seemed like we weren't focused in that second half,” Iowa senior Jarryd Cole said. “It's kind of been the story of our season where we have a little breakdown somewhere in the game. This time it happened to be at a very crucial point. You can't come out of the locker room and not play basketball. That's definitely what we did tonight, and you can't win that way.

“We couldn't guard them. On the defensive end we couldn't grab rebounds, we couldn't get ourselves a second shot. It's kind of hard to win when you're not doing things like that.”

Michigan State scored on six of nine possessions during that run, while Iowa missed five-of-six shots and missed four-of-six free-throw attempts. Iowa also had three turnovers in that run.

“You can't play a fourth of the game, you can't play half the game,” Iowa freshman Melsahn Basabe said. “You've got to play the whole game. It's that simple. Just because you beat somebody two, three weeks ago don't mean you're going to get them again or win it. You can get blown out or embarrassed like we did tonight.”

Along with 3-point shooting, Iowa struggled from the free-throw line. The Hawkeyes hit just 20-of-33 free-throw attempts and were 14-of-25 in the second half alone.

“We missed a lot of free throws tonight,” Iowa junior Bryce Cartwright said. “I think that's kind of uncharacteristic for us. But it happens. In an environment like this, you've got to keep your composure.”

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery was upset with the shooting woes, but even more aggravated with his defense's second-half intensity.

“I don't think our defensive execution and or defensive intensity was anywhere what it was in the first half in the second half,” McCaffery said. “It's disappointing because if you're going to beat this team, especially here, you've got to play with the same level of intensity we played with in the first half. I thought in the first half our defensive execution was very good. We're still down four, but we fought. We made some mistakes but we got some steals, we hung in there.”

Melsahn Basabe and Matt Gatens each had 13 points for Iowa. Gatens now ranks 33rd on Iowa's all-time scoring list. passing Pierre Pierce.