Iowa men’s basketball team loses again, 74-63 at Carver to No. 21 Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — There’s been no raging from Fran McCaffery on the sideline, no getting a technical foul or ejection, no terse one-word answers to questions in postgame press conferences.

The McCaffery-coached Iowa men’s basketball team is rolling over for no one, but continues to roll downhill in the Big Ten standings. Saturday’s 74-63 loss to No. 21 Wisconsin at Carver-Hawkeye Arena dropped the Hawkeyes to 4-8 in league play, 13-10 overall.

“As long as they keep fighting for me and showing up for practice incredibly with an incredibly professional approach,” McCaffery said after Iowa’s sixth loss in its last seven games.

“That's all I ever ask of them. We're going to try to win. They want to win. They're putting the time in, and they're competing. It's our job to just try to help them get over the hump.”

The hump is a big one that got bigger with the news earlier in the week that starting center Owen Freeman (16.7 points per game) is done for the season because of finger surgery.

In Saturday’s second half, starting point guard Drew Thelwell suffered an ankle injury. He came back to briefly play after a visit to the training room, but left again. After the game, the ankle was wrapped in ice as he hopped back to the training room.

“I’m sort of amazed he came back in,” McCaffery said, “because he was in a lot of pain, and he’s in a lot of pain right now.”

The healthy Hawkeyes have a different kind of hurt.

“Just sick of losing,” Iowa sophomore wing Pryce Sandfort said after he scored a team-high 14 points. “That’s the mindset. I want to (expletive deleted) win. Can’t do it right now. Excuse my language.”

The game had 10 lead-changes and 12 ties. Thelwell scored for a 59-58 Iowa lead with 7:36 left. The Badgers then took over.

Wisconsin senior guard John Tonje scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the final 7:12, making all eight of his free throws in that stretch. A 92 percent foul-shooter entering the game, Tonje’s percentage actually dropped with his 9-of-10 showing.

“He’s hard to keep off the free-throw line, especially when he’s shooting the ball the way he is,” said McCaffery.

Wisconsin improved to 19-5 overall, 9-4 in the Big Ten. This game was nothing like the Badgers’ 116-75 blasting of Iowa in Madison on Jan. 3. They shot 64.4 percent from the field and 67.7 percent (21-of-31) from deep in that one. Saturday, they were 39.3 and 34.3 percent, respectively.

The Hawkeyes, however, were 38.1 and 32 percent. Iowa’s starters made just 31.1 percent of their shots.

The crowd of 12,693 — reveling in a Saturday afternoon game against a rival — was Iowa’s second-largest of the season and easily surpassed any they’ve had for a Big Ten foe.

Sandfort scored with 1.5 seconds left in the first half for a 39-37 Iowa lead. The Hawkeyes had just two turnovers in the half.

In the second half, though, Iowa shot an icy 29.6 percent from the field and victory again was elusive.

Iowa’s next game is Wednesday night at Rutgers (12-11, 5-7).

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