3 Takeaways: Uthoff's night, Late-game woes, Jok's eye

AMES — Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff's first-half performance will remain nothing more than a footnote in the Hawkeyes' blown 20-point lead and 83-82 loss at No. 2 Iowa State on Thursday night. But for 20 minutes, it was a gem.

Uthoff scored 30 of his 32 points in the first half to push the Hawkeyes to a 49-35 halftime lead. He was 11 of 13 from the field and scored in multiple ways. He hit five of his six 3-point attempts, whether he was wide open or he was covered.

When Uthoff put Iowa up 27-14, he hit a jump shot over the top of Iowa State's Naz Mitrou-Long. Two possessions later, he crossed over Mitrou-Long, who nearly tripped, and Uthoff canned a jumper. That drew heavy praise from ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla.

'He's looking like Larry Bird right now,' Fraschilla said during the telecast. 'You talk about a guy that's embracing being Iowa's go-to guy.'

The right-handed Uthoff then scored twice with his left hand. The first was a layup around ISU's Abdel Nader. The second was a drive from outside the 3-point arc that ended with a left-handed slam over Nader. Uthoff added a fast-break dunk to put the Hawkeyes up 43-23.

When Uthoff tied his career high of 27 points, he was wide open from the top of left part of the 3-point circle. On his last 3-pointer of the half, Uthoff opened the possession in the high post and then moved to the right wing, where he buried the shot.

'I haven't seen many 20-minute performances better than this,' Fraschilla remarked.

'Uthoff was playing out of his mind,' Iowa State Coach Steve Prohm said. 'He's a very good player.'

After halftime, however, Uthoff struggled to gain the separation he gained in the first half. After missing his first two shots of the half, Uthoff appeared more tentative.

'They were into him, but they were into him in the first half,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'For whatever reason, he wasn't as aggressive. Maybe he sensed that they were up in his face a little bit more and didn't have as much opportunity to shoot the ball. He just didn't feel comfortable.

'There was a couple of times when I said, 'Jarrod shoot that one. Shoot that one.' He had one opportunity on a drive and kick. He didn't catch it cleanly so he didn't shoot that one. That's probably a good idea.'

Uthoff hit only one shot on seven attempts in the second half. Some of that was a function of the offense. Iowa's motion attack lacked the same collective movement in the final 10 minutes that it had maintained in the first half. Iowa State guard Matt Thomas also was much more aggressive in defending Uthoff and used his body to limit separation.

'We just weren't moving the ball as much,' Uthoff said about the second half. 'When we weren't clicking, it wasn't real fluid on offense and that was the main thing.'

Uthoff averages 19.6 points a game, which leads the Big Ten. He's the first Iowa player to score at least 30 points in a game since Devyn Marble in 2013. He added nine rebounds and four blocks in 37 minutes. But the game's outcome dwarfed his own performance.

'It doesn't matter,' he said about the first half. 'We lost the game.'

END-OF-GAME SITUATIONS

Despite giving up a 20-point second-half lead, Iowa still had an opportunity to beat No. 2-ranked Iowa State on the game's final possession. But like so many late-game chances over the last few years, the Hawkeyes squandered it in an 83-82 loss.

Iowa State point guard Monte Morris' jumper with 8.9 seconds left pushed the No. 2-ranked Cyclones ahead by one point. The Hawkeyes sprinted up the court, didn't call timeout and Iowa point guard Mike Gesell found forward Jarrod Uthoff at the top of the key. Iowa guard Peter Jok screened Uthoff's defender Matt Thomas, and Uthoff fired a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left. The ball bounced off the front of the rim and time ran out. ISU prevailed.

'I thought it was good, too,' Uthoff said.

It's just one of many last-second offensive failures by the Hawkeyes over the last three seasons. During that time frame, in games when Iowa (7-3) could win outright or tie on one possession in the final 15 seconds of regulation or overtime, the Hawkeyes have converted on just two of 14 opportunities (counting one game twice). Iowa holds a 3-10 record in those games.

In three of Iowa's four losses this season — including Thursday's defeat at Iowa State — the Hawkeyes had a chance to win or tie in the final seconds. Iowa trailed Dayton 80-77 at the AdvoCare Invitational, and Jok missed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left. In a tie game at home last week against Florida State, Gesell bounced a pass off the back of the backboard with two seconds left.

Last year, Uthoff hit shots in end-of-game situations to either tie (at Northwestern) or win outright (at Minnesota). In four other games Iowa failed to convert in regulation — at Penn State, at Purdue, against Minnesota at home and against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden.

Four games and five opportunities were blown in 2013-14. Twice at home against Michigan State (regulation and overtime), the Hawkeyes failed to score in end-of-game situations. There was a turnover at home against Illinois inside of a second, a missed 3-pointer at Iowa State to tie and a missed shot against Xavier of an overtime victory.

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery shuns timeouts in those situations and such was the case Thursday at Iowa State. In only one of those 14 situations did the Hawkeyes call for a timeout, and that was after Illinois drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer inside of 1 second remaining. In two other games, McCaffery called timeouts before an opponent's second free-throw attempt but not when the ball is in play.

Thursday, McCaffery was asked if he considered calling timeout before Uthoff's final shot and the coach simply said, 'No.'

McCaffery prefers to let his players make offensive decisions and plays on their own. Likewise, a timeout can allow a defense time to set up rather than adjust on the fly. But the late-game numbers the last three years indicate Iowa's players struggle in the clutch. In those situations, Iowa is just 2 of 11 from the field with three turnovers and another situation that failed to net a shot.

Thursday's loss adds to all of the others, but Gesell said the key is to stay positive.

'When you lose a game like that and you felt you should have won it, it's always tough,' Gesell said. 'I think we have a mature group of guys, guys with a lot of character. There's a lot we can learn from this game.'

JOK HURT

Iowa guard Peter Jok scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half against Iowa State, which was important after the Cyclones clamped down on forward Jarrod Uthoff. With Iowa holding a 15-point lead and 12:48 left, Jok was grazed in the eye by Iowa State's Naz Mitrou-Long and had to leave the game. Jok connected on one jumper five minutes later, but he missed two other shots and failed to gain any rhythm on offense.

'Pete didn't seem to be the same when he fell that one time,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'He didn't get his contact right. So I was debating whether to put him back in or take him out, but he was one of our best offensive threats. So I went back to him.'

Jok said afterward that his vision was blurred for the rest of the game.

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