Illinois punches out Iowa in Big Ten Tournament

INDIANAPOLIS — Heartbreak and frustration gripped the Iowa men's basketball program as yet another Big Ten Tournament ended in a disappointing, perplexing fashion.

For the third straight season, the No. 18 Hawkeyes (21-10) punched out in their first league tourney game, this time to Illinois 68-66. It's also the third consecutive season a double-digit seed has canned the Hawkeyes, and Iowa hasn't advanced to the conference semifinals in 10 years. It also marks the Hawkeyes' sixth overall loss in their last eight games.

The frustration was evident from the second Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery sat on the podium. A reporter asked point guard Mike Gesell about the play call in the final seconds. McCaffery interjected, 'It's none of your business what the play call was.'

When pressed, McCaffery retorted again, 'None of your business what the play call was. Period.'

Iowa trailed by two points with 15.2 seconds left and Gesell ran up the floor to get the team into its offense. He was trapped, lost the ball and was tied up by Illinois' Alex Austin. The possession arrow went to Iowa, and the Hawkeyes kept the ball under their basket with 4.8 seconds left.

Gesell tried to inbound the ball toward forward Dom Uhl at the top of the key. Illinois' Kendrick Nunn deflected the ball, it caromed off Uhl and rolled out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left. Illinois took possession and ran out the clock.

Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff said the ball was designed to go to him, but he was guarded closely by Austin. McCaffery later said there were two play calls because Illinois was switching defenses.

'The first look wasn't there, so Mike was going to throw it over and we didn't make the play,' McCaffery said.

Iowa twice rallied from an 11-point deficit and seemingly took control only to let it go quickly afterward. Illinois led 24-13 midway through the first half, then Iowa guard Peter Jok got hot. He knocked down a jumper, then after a Gesell 3-pointer, he scored 15 consecutive points on six straight possessions. The first three in the series were on 3-pointers. That vaulted Iowa into a 35-32 lead. Then the Illini scored the next five points to lead by two at halftime.

Iowa couldn't get defensive stops, and the Illini kept scoring. With 3:28 left, Illinois led 66-55 after a Jalen Coleman-Lands 3-pointer. Then, the Hawkeyes soared back in the game with an 11-0 run. Traditional three-point plays by Uthoff and Nicholas Baer along with a Uhl 3-pointer and Baer steal and dunk tied the game with 1:40 left. The momentum swung in Iowa's favor, and just as quickly swung away. Illinois' Malcolm Hill knocked down a jumper to put Illinois ahead 68-66 with 1:12 left. The Hawkeyes had two trips up the floor and failed to score the rest of the way.

Senior guard Anthony Clemmons symbolized the heartbreak. As media milled around the locker room, Clemmons sat in at his locker with a towel over his head. He was embraced by assistant coaches and teammates. Clemmons had one of his worst days at Iowa, missing all eight shots with four turnovers (and six assists) in 28 minutes. Center Adam Woodbury scored Iowa's first points on a layup, then missed his final six shots. A Gesell 3-pointer helped ignite a first-half run, but his missed his four other shots.

In all, those three seniors were 2 of 20 from the field. Jok and Uthoff combined for 50 of Iowa's 66 points.

'Everybody struggled (Thursday),' McCaffery said. 'Yeah, that was unfortunate.'

It was a collective failure by the Hawkeyes that led to the defeat. Iowa gave up 10 3-pointers and 19 points off 18 turnovers.

'We didn't do the things necessary throughout the course of the game to win, in my opinion,' McCaffery said. 'But what I was proud of was the fight they showed to come back and tie up the game because it certainly didn't look like we were going to tie the game in the second half.'

Under McCaffery, the Hawkeyes are 2-6 in the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa was a fifth seed last year when it lost to 13th-seeded Penn State. Two years ago, Iowa was a No. 6 seed and fell to No. 11 Northwestern. Only two No. 5 seeds have failed to advance to the quarterfinals, and both times it was Iowa.

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