Likely NCAA bid little consolation to Hawkeyes

CHICAGO - The sting of yet another Big Ten Tournament failure was apparent in the moments that followed Iowa's 67-58 loss to Penn State.

Players answered questions with a sharper tone, as expected after seeing their six-game winning streak snapped by the tournament's No. 13 seed. Iowa's hopes of competing for a tournament title were over, and that realization was difficult to comprehend. The Hawkeyes (21-11) will earn an NCAA tournament berth, but that wasn't on the players' minds afterward.

'I don't know if there's any consolation right now,” Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff said. 'Our goal was to win a Big Ten championship and win this tournament, and it hurts a lot.”

'Right now we're not really thinking about that,” Iowa center Gabe Olaseni said. 'This loss really hurts, but we're fortunate enough to have played better than we did (Thursday) and to get an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament.”

Iowa has won just two Big Ten Tournament games in its last nine appearances. The Hawkeyes haven't advanced past the quarterfinal round since winning the tournament in 2006. The last two seasons a lethargic Iowa stumbled against a motivated underdog. No. 11 seed Northwestern stunned the sixth-seeded Hawkeyes 67-62 last year. Penn State, which was seeded 13th, rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes on Thursday.

The Nittany Lions also gained a measure of revenge for Iowa's 81-77 overtime win at State College on Feb. 28. Penn State lost 10 Big Ten games by single digits after opening the season 12-1 in non-conference play.

The loss stopped Iowa's six-game winning streak, its longest in Big Ten play since 1986-87. The Hawkeyes finished 12-6 in league action, their best Big Ten record since 1996-97.

'I wouldn't place 100 percent merit in this game,” Iowa senior Aaron White said. 'Obviously we didn't play well, but you look at our body of work over the whole season and we've got a good team. I think we've got a lot of pieces on our team that can be really successful. So I'm disappointed we lost, but at the same time I know we're going to be fired up for that run in the tourney.”

'One game doesn't define our season,” Adam Woodbury said.

Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said he's confident the team will rebound for the NCAA tournament.

'There's a lot of character in that locker room,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'There's no question in my mind that they're going to do that.”

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