Breakdown of ISU’s 18-0 run on Iowa

IOWA CITY - It took only three minutes and 34 seconds for a six-point deficit to become a 24-point nightmare for Iowa last Friday night against Iowa State.

Like Iowa football's 51-14 disaster last month at Minnesota, this basketball shipwreck featured a snowball of bad offense, defense and decision-making. Iowa had five turnovers in a six-possession snap, had one shot blocked and other was poorly executed at the rim. The turnovers led to 13 Iowa State points as part of an 18-0 run.

'Everything went wrong,” Iowa forward Aaron White said. 'Exactly what I've been telling you guys all that we did last year, we relied on our offense. It's exactly what we did when our offense wasn't clicking. Missing shots, turning the ball over. Just letting them score at will. Didn't execute our game plan in the second half. Left shooters open, (Georges) Niang open, (Monte) Morris drove wherever he wanted so. Pretty frustrated.”

Here's a possession-by-possession breakdown of the run and how a competitive game turned into a technical knockout in such a short period of time.

Iowa trailed 41-35 and had possession with about 18:30 left in the game. Iowa State's Dustin Hogue defended White, who attempted to pass to a clearing Mike Gesell under the basket. Hogue deflected the hard pass - of which BTN's Shon Morris said White 'telegraphed” - and raced up the court in transition. Iowa State had a three-on-one fast break, and Hogue passed to Naz Long for the easy layup. (ISU 43-35, 18:11)

Iowa quickly raced up the court, and Anthony Clemmons attempted a long alley-oop pass to Jarrod Uthoff near the rim. The ball was deflected by Hogue out of bounds. Iowa retained possession. Gesell seemingly had an open jumper but was blocked by Monte Morris, and Niang pulled down the rebound. As ISU set its offense, Morris took the ball near the 3-point line and shifted past Clemmons - who was screened by Niang - to the lane. White stepped up to stop the penetration, which freed up Niang to angle toward the hoop. Niang beat defender Adam Woodbury to the hole, and Morris found Niang for an easy dunk. (ISU 45-35, 17:47)

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery called a timeout with 17:47 left in the game.

On Iowa's next possession, the Hawkeyes attempted to work inside out. White tried a bounce pass to Woodbury in the post, but Hogue again deflected and the ball was scooped by Morris. The Cyclones moved into a four-on-two fast break, and Morris made a perfect bounce pass to Abdel Nader in stride near the rim for a layup. (ISU 47-35, 17:21)

Then Iowa tried to work again to Woodbury. Uthoff was along the right wing and passed inside to Woodbury, who was coming off a screen. The pass was deflected by Morris, which turned into a fast-break layup by Naz Long two seconds later. (ISU 49-35, 17:05)

In a stroke of bad luck, Woodbury got dinged for a tickey-tack offensive foul trying to screen on Iowa's next possession, handing the ball back to Iowa State. The Hawkeyes tried to trap Morris between the midcourt and 3-point line with Gabe Olaseni - who replaced Woodbury - and Clemmons. Morris split the double team and hit Niang, who was guarded by Olaseni, at the free-throw line. Peter Jok stepped up to defend Niang, who quickly passed to an open Long on the right wing. Long buried the 3-pointer. (ISU 52-35, 16:31)

McCaffery called another timeout with 16:31 left.

Iowa tried to work good offense against ISU's zone on its next possession, but the players clearly were rattled. With five seconds left in the shot clock, Olaseni had the ball at the free-throw line. He whirled to his right and passed awkwardly toward Clemmons on the wing, but Nader stepped in front for the easy steal and raced to the basket. Olaseni fouled Nader at the rim, and the 6-6 Nader hit two free throws. (ISU 54-35, 15:56)

After a media timeout, Clemmons ran the baseline and attempted a tough reverse layup that failed to hit the backboard. Long rebounded, and passed to Niang in the open court. With good ball movement resulting in four passes, Hogue was isolated against Jok one-on-one in the post for an easy layup. (ISU 56-35, 15:14)

Iowa worked the ball to Jok in a catch-and-shoot situation, but Jok missed and Hogue rebounded. In the half-court, Morris penetrated in the lane and four Hawkeye defenders collapsed around him. Morris passed to Niang on the right wing. Niang then shuffled to Nader for an open 3-pointer in the corner. (ISU 59-35, 14:37)

'They got a lot of run-outs because (we) turned it over,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'We had a couple of, I wouldn't say unforced turnovers, but they had their hands in the passing lane and coughed it up. Then got out on the break and finished. They'll shoot the 3 in transition as well.”

'You know, in the turnover, it was Gabe, it was Whitey. Whitey is usually pretty good. Like I said, I'm standing right behind him when he had the one. Mike's wide open on the back pick, and he's trying to throw it to him, but he stared him down and the kid (Hogue) made a good play.”

There was some panic among the players and no matter what McCaffery tried to do, it backfired. He rarely calls timeouts, and he called two. McCaffery switched defenses and players, and it didn't change the situation.

'Well, there's only a couple things (you can do),” he said. 'You've got to start pushing different buttons. You make a couple substitutions. Maybe get energy. Go big, go small. Press, don't press. Trap, don't trap. Try to execute. We were trying to go inside and we missed a couple of opportunities. We turned it over a couple of times, like I said, trying to feed the post. Then we got a little tentative feeding the post, and we've got to throw the ball inside. Even if we don't shoot, it creates a double team. It creates everybody coming in. You can play in and out. We were just a little bit too perimeter-oriented in that stretch.”

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