3 Takeaways: Recipe for disaster, upcoming schedule, newbies

IOWA CITY - Two traits are vital for any team that plays Wisconsin, and that's focus and discipline. Iowa's men's basketball team whiffed on both counts Tuesday night at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers dominated the game from the opening tip, building a nine-point lead barely four minutes into the game and blew out the Hawkeyes 82-50. It was Wisconsin's largest margin-of-victory in the 160-game series.

Iowa (13-6, 4-2) overhelped on defense and failed to rotate quickly enough to find open shooters. Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky opened a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer from the right wing. On the Badgers' next possession, guard Bronson Koenig was wide open from the right corner and drilled a 3-pointer when Iowa defender Peter Jok was late to defend his position. On the ensuing series, Kaminsky drove the lane and four Iowa defenders collapsed. Kaminsky passed to a wide-open Josh Gasser on the left wing for an easy 3-pointer. That put Wisconsin up 13-4.

The Hawkeyes made up for their defensive failings by struggling offensively. There were quick and impatient shots, little-to-no ball movement, rare second-chance opportunities and failures to spot mismatches in the post.

'It takes tremendous concentration and effort to beat a team of this caliber,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said afterward. 'They are experienced and very efficient with their passing and their ball movement. They are very physical defensively and big, so they are tough to rebound against. Anything short of complete effort and concentration, you are going to struggle to win this game.

'I was disappointed in our execution when we got behind, and that happens a lot on the road. Sometimes you try to get it all back at once. We started quick shooting the ball, and that's what I'm talking about with concentration. You can't come into this environment, fall behind, and then start quick shooting the ball and expect to win. It's not going to happen, and it didn't.”

Iowa's first two possessions went to plan with Peter Jok hitting a jumper after an offensive rebound, and Jarrod Uthoff knocking down another on the next series. Then Iowa's downfall spiraled out of control with poor shot selection and ended with players taking shots way too quickly.

'We kind of got into that old habit of trying to do it ourselves,” Iowa senior forward Aaron White said. 'You can't drive a packed-line defense like that. You've got to swing the ball side-to-side to get good ones. Coach was upset we weren't getting second shots, but at the same time people are shooting shots we really weren't expecting them to shoot, so there's nobody in the paint to get the rebound. It was just no excuse. It was a bad night all around from me on down. We've got to hold ourselves accountable from one to 15.”

Early in the first half, Wisconsin's defensive switches left guards posted up against Iowa's 6-foot-10 center Gabe Olaseni. Yet, Iowa's guards failed to spot the mismatch and led to low-percentage perimeter shots.

'You know they are a switching team, so that's going to happen,” McCaffery said. 'It's not going to happen all the time, but periodically. If you don't recognize it right away and hit the guy then you don't get any benefit from it. You don't have angles to attack the rim. That is something we will hopefully do a better job of against other teams that switch.”

2. The schedule.

Let's face it: Most teams lose at the Kohl Center. Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan is 101-14 at home against Big Ten opponents. Wisconsin is ranked in the top six in both polls and returned most of its roster from a Final Four team last year. So there's no shame in losing.

But ... that was a pathetic performance by Iowa, maybe the worst since a 95-61 beatdown at Michigan State in 2012. After trailing Wisconsin 13-4, there was little fight left in the Hawkeyes against an opponent that imposed its will against them. They looked undisciplined, unfocused and lackadaisical at both ends of the floor.

'I don't think we expected to play the way we played (Tuesday),” McCaffery said. 'I think that is safe to say. We didn't play a good game (Tuesday). We didn't play a game that is typical of who we are. We also played a really good team that played really well, and I think you have to be respectful of that and that was part of it. We did some of it to ourselves, and they did some of it. That is what happens sometimes when you go on the road in this league.”

Iowa had won all three true road games this year entering Wisconsin. That includes victories at North Carolina, Ohio State and Minnesota. But the Hawkeyes were humbled in several ways Tuesday. The complete domination surprised White because it hadn't happened all season.

'Not even the past five games, the whole season,” White said about when Iowa had played as poorly. 'We've lost, but it's not from a totally bad game. We've had a bad half, we've had bad stretches but 40 minutes, bad basketball? Sometimes you've got to chalk it up as it not being our night, but at the same time you've got to get back to work. So I've got no excuse, no reasoning for you, just a bad night by us and we'll try to do better.”

Let this be yet another lesson that there are no layups or easy road games in the Big Ten. Iowa faces a tough, hard-nosed opponent this Saturday at Purdue, a place where Iowa hasn't won since 2006 (six straight losses). With a pair of massive centers in 7-foot A.J. Hammons (261 pounds) and Isaac Haas (297 pounds), it will be another grind at Mackey Arena.

Afterward, Iowa plays host to Wisconsin again, then travels to Michigan and faces Big Ten co-leader Maryland at home. A split in those four games would put Iowa at 6-4 facing a slightly easier schedule. Of Iowa's final eight Big Ten opponents, only Indiana (4-1) has a winning league record. The other seven are a combined 10-31 in Big Ten play.

3. Newbie highlights. Iowa forward Dominique Uhl and point guard Trey Dickerson earned significant minutes against the Badgers on Tuesday.

Uhl, a 6-foot-8 freshman, played 20 minutes, his most since entering conference play. He scored four points and impacted the game both ends. He struggled from the field, shooting just two of seven, but he's shown significant strides almost weekly.

Uhl scored five points in Iowa's two wins last week and had a big 3-pointer against Minnesota. His role is growing and he usually enters the game between the first and second media timeout in the first half.

'He's really smart, and he's skilled,” McCaffery said last Saturday. 'I think what you're seeing is a guy that is figuring out the complexity of the game in this league in terms of physicality. And so he's playing a little differently now. He was always kind of a finesse guy, move it on, drive and kick, but he's playing a little more smash-mouth, which is what he's going to have to do, and he's good enough to do that, and he's only going to get better because he's going to get stronger.”

Dickerson saw his first Big Ten game action Tuesday (on his birthday no less) and finished second in scoring with eight points. He hit both of his 3-point attempts, had two assists and only one turnover in 10 minutes of action.

'I feel like I just wanted to go out there and play hard and bring some energy because they played with a lot more energy than us,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson's contributions have been minimal this year. Before Tuesday, he played double-digit minutes only five times this year. He played on minute against Northern Iowa and eight minutes against North Florida. While most players would feel frustrated if they were in Dickerson's role, he said he's stayed confident and kept working.

'I never doubted myself because I'm a confident player,” Dickerson said. 'I just try to stay ready whenever my number was called.”

McCaffery praised Dickerson's performance.

'I don't think it's easy to sit for five games and then come off the bench in this environment and play well,” he said. 'I thought he played well. I thought he played with the idea of what was necessary at the time. I think he sat on the bench and thought how can I impact this game? Then he came in and tried to do that. That's pretty much all you can ask from him at that point, and I was proud of him.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com