Iowa notes: Shooting key in NCAA

IOWA CITY - As it enters NCAA tournament play, Iowa's men's basketball team needs to ensure its rough shooting performance against Penn State doesn't become a trend.

The Hawkeyes (21-11) shot just 21.9 percent in the second half against the Nittany Lions in an early-round Big Ten Tournament exit. It was Iowa's worst percentage for a half against a Big Ten opponent and second-worst for the season. Only the Hawkeyes' shockingly low 12.5 percent shooting effort in the second half against Northern Iowa (3 of 24) on Dec. 20 was worse.

'I don't know what caused it,” said Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff, who was 5 of 14 for 17 points against Penn State. 'I hope we can fix it before the tournament. I know we can, and I'm looking forward to making a run.”

Many of Iowa's shots were missed from close range. Centers Gabe Olaseni and Adam Woodbury were a combined 2 of 9 from the field. Olaseni had six offensive rebounds, yet only one turned into points.

'We've made shots like that before; we just happened to miss them (against Penn State),” Olaseni said. 'That's definitely on us.”

Perhaps just as concerning, Iowa's guards were a combined 3-for-21 shooting. Sophomore shooting guard Peter Jok was 1 of 7 and played seven minutes in the second half.

'Struggling,” was how Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery described Jok's performance afterward. 'He's got to get it figured out. We'll help him. He's a great kid, a really good player.”

Keeping pace with Davidson (24-7) and its array of shooters in their initial NCAA tournament game (6:20 p.m. Friday, TNT) will be crucial. The Wildcats rank third nationally in 3-pointers (337), 3-point attempts (849), assists per game (17.2) and sixth in points per possession (1.18) and turnovers per game (9.6).

LONG LAYOFF

Iowa's eight-day layoff from the Big Ten Tournament until Friday's game matches the longest this season for the Hawkeyes. Iowa had eight days off between the Iowa State and Northern Iowa losses because of semester finals, and then had eight days off between wins against North Florida and Ohio State for the holidays.

After Iowa's loss, the players took off Friday and Saturday before practicing on Sunday, the day of the NCAA selection show.

'We kind of took a couple of days to rest our legs, especially some of the guys who have been logging a lot of minutes,” Iowa senior Aaron White said. 'So we got a couple of key rest days.”

McCaffery doesn't think the break will affect his team negatively.

'They're in a good place,” he said. 'There's never a positive to losing, but we had a chance to get some rest.”

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