Iowa blows opportunities in loss to Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — Three times Iowa had a six-point lead after halftime against Wisconsin. All three times the No. 8 Hawkeyes gave it up, and the end result was painful.

The Badgers battled and surpassed Iowa 67-59 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday night. They answered every Hawkeye run with big shots, and Iowa failed in its chances to take a decisive lead.

The Hawkeyes (20-7, 11-4) trailed by one point at halftime, then blazed to a 7-0 run to start the second half. Forward Jarrod Uthoff drilled a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to put Iowa up 41-35 with 17:59 left in the game. Wisconsin's next possession ended with a turnover, causing Coach Greg Gard to call a timeout to regroup.

On the Hawkeyes' first attempt at a kill shot, Uthoff missed a pair of jumpers. The Badgers recovered with a Zak Showalter 3-pointer. Uthoff missed another 3-pointer, and Wisconsin's Jordan Hill drove for a layup to move within 41-40.

Iowa then scored on three straight possessions, capped by a Nicholas Baer putback to go ahead 47-41. Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes' 3-point attempt rattled in and out, and the Hawkeyes took possession. Baer quickly shot — and missed — a 3-pointer on Iowa's next trip.

Iowa led 51-45 with 10:18 left in the game. Then the Badgers uncorked from long range with Hayes and Bronson Koenig knocking down 3-pointers and Khalil Iverson driving for a layup. Wisconsin led 53-51, and Iowa went four consecutive possessions without scoring.

'If Baer's 3 had gone in, that would have been a big one,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'Like I said, they hit ... that's one example. They hit a timely 3 and we didn't. We had a 3 to go up nine, we don't make it. They hit a 3, cuts it to three.'

'We just got to do a better job of getting stops at that point and try to pull away a little bit,' Iowa point guard Mike Gesell said. 'Wisconsin is not a team you want to hang around with.'

While Iowa couldn't convert in the clutch, Wisconsin countered with toughness at both ends. The Badgers (18-10, 10-5 Big Ten) shot 48.1 percent for the game, while Iowa hit just 32.7 percent. Wisconsin knocked down six of 14 3-pointers in the second half, while Iowa was one of 11.

The Badgers have won nine of their last 10 games in Big Ten play and have beaten three top-10 teams this year.

'For our guys to be able to come in here with a team as good as Fran has, to be able to play punch-for-punch, so to speak, I think it really showed the maturity of our guys of how much they've grown the last 60, 70, 80 days, whatever it's been since Dec. 17 when I took over,' Wisconsin interim coach Greg Gard said. 'We didn't play as good as we can play, but I think we were able to find enough answers and especially off our bench.'

Uthoff, who entered the day second in Big Ten scoring, was held to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting. Uthoff, who left without answering questions, hit only two of nine 3-pointers. Iowa guard Peter Jok led all scorers with 21 points.

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