Hawkeyes brush aside injuries in loss

IOWA CITY - With his pride more wounded than his ailing neck, Iowa forward Aaron White discarded any notion that his performance was substandard because of stinger injury.

White played a personal-high 38 minutes in a 74-63 loss to No. 5 Wisconsin on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The senior's status was questionable before Saturday morning, when he arrived early at the arena and took shots more than three hours before tip-off. There was no way he wasn't playing, and his 15 points and seven rebounds illuminated his toughness.

'I couldn't be prouder of him. I mean, he had a heck of a week,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'I really didn't think he was going to play on Wednesday, and then Thursday I felt pretty sure that he was going to play. He tried to go yesterday and really was not himself, was OK, and I just think ... my biggest concern was him getting hit again and being able to play kind of his game. Played him 38 minutes. Tough kid.”

Wisconsin planned for White to play all along.

'He showed the character than he is made of, the grit. He was going to play,” Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said. 'As he's walking past me in line at our place, he was very polite, and I mentioned this, he said, ‘We'll see you see you our place, coach.' Good thing I'm not intimidated easily. He's tough.”

Ryan added that he could tell White wasn't 100 percent healthy, which White disputed afterward.

'I must have been doing some good things if I played for 38 minutes,” White said.

Iowa guard Mike Gesell (right elbow) and center Gabe Olaseni (left ankle) were limited this week after suffering injuries on practice Monday. Olaseni had few issues despite wearing a walking boot earlier this week. He scored 12 points and grabbed five boards. Gesell had more issues with a hyperextended elbow. He attempted just one 3-pointer and his range was restricted by the injury.

'He couldn't really shoot a 3,” McCaffery said. 'That's why he kept turning down 3s, and he could shoot a pullup, and he could get to the rim.”

Gesell finished with eight points and two assists but he also had three turnovers.

White scoffed at any notion of a moral victory. But he was proud of his team's resolve, especially after the week's injuries.

'Nobody in our locker is going to feel sorry for ourselves,” White said. 'Whether we were dinged up, whether we practiced, whether we could play, we couldn't play, there's no feeling sorry for ourselves. Whoever's out there is going to give it our all, that's what we did. We showed good fight.”

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