Iowa’s comeback bid falls short

IOWA CITY — They fought with guts. They fought with heart. They almost had a comeback for the ages. Then it all slipped away.

No. 15 Iowa trailed by 14 points midway through the second half and all hope was lost in its home finale against No. 11 Indiana. Twitter world eviscerated the Hawkeyes for lacking all of the intangible qualities listed above. But Iowa stormed back to take a pair of leads, then couldn't execute offensively late in an 81-78 loss to the Hoosiers.

The defeat was Iowa's fourth straight and fifth in six games. Indiana (24-6, 14-3 Big Ten) claimed the Big Ten title outright. The Hawkeyes (20-9, 11-6) fall into a tie for fifth in the Big Ten with one game remaining.

It was a fight to the finish that ended only with the buzzer. Iowa limped offensively for the game's final four minutes and trailed by six before guard Anthony Clemmons drained a 3-pointer to cut Iowa's deficit to 81-78. Then on Indiana's inbounds pass, Iowa guard Christian Williams tightly guarded Indiana's Nick Zeisloft. The ball caromed off Zeisloft and went out of bounds with 6.1 seconds left to give Iowa another chance.

Clemmons got the ball at the top of the key open for a 3-pointer. It missed the rim but fell directly to Iowa center Adam Woodbury, who quickly called timeout with 2.1 seconds left. That set up one final play for Iowa, which got the look it wanted.

Guard Peter Jok found an opening from the left corner. He got the ball and sent up his shot. He was short, and it bounced off the rim. Indiana celebrated at midcourt.

The comeback doesn't deaden the pain for Iowa. But it was valiant when the odds was long. The Hawkeyes trailed 70-59 with nearly 9 minutes left. Then they put together an 11-0 run, highlighted by consecutive 3-pointers from Nicholas Baer to tie the game at 70-70.

The teams traded leads three times before Iowa's offense grew stagnant. Iowa whiffed on seven straight possessions, missed eight shots and two free throws. Indiana scored the next seven points to put the Hawkeyes in too great of a hole.

The first half's pace was fast and furious. Iowa led by five points early, before Indiana went on a 12-2 run to lead 17-12. Highlighted in the run were a pair of 3-pointers, one by Zeisloft and another by Yogi Ferrell.

The Hoosiers, who connected on 8 of 11 first-half 3-pointers, led by six points with 9 minutes left in the half. On consecutive possessions Clemmons and Williams converted traditional three-point plays to bring Iowa within one. Three free throws later, the Hawkeyes took a 32-31 lead.

Indiana roared back. The Hoosiers drilled 3-pointers on three straight trips. Max Bielfeldt bookended the sequence with triples, while Ferrell hit one in the middle take a one-point deficit into a 40-34 advantage.

The Hoosiers answered every Iowa score the rest of the half. After Jok scored his first points on a 3-pointer, Indiana center Thomas Bryant hit a short jumper in the lane to put the Hoosiers up 44-39. Jok missed a transition jumper on Iowa's next possession, and Zeisloft made him pay with another 3-pointer to give Indiana its largest lead at eight points. Iowa closed within 47-41 at halftime when center Ahmad Wagner putback a Clemmons' miss.

Ferrell led all scorers with 20 points. Iowa's Jarrod Uthoff scored 18. Neither team was sterling from the free-throw line: Iowa was 18 of 27, while Indiana was 10 of 20.

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