Ohio State rallies past Iowa

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Another loss and another quest for answers.

No. 8 Iowa dropped its third straight game, this time 68-64 at Ohio State on Sunday. It's the Hawkeyes' (20-8, 11-5 Big Ten) fourth loss in their last five games, and a once promising season now tilts at the precipice of a major collapse.

Coaches and players were at a loss for words in the wake of this defeat, one that Iowa led by six points with less than four minutes to play.

'I don't know what happened,' Iowa senior forward Jarrod Uthoff said. 'Defensive lapses, offensively lapses. What can you say?'

'Everything went wrong,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'We didn't execute, we didn't defend, we didn't rebound.'

Uthoff, who once was considered a national player of the year candidate, scored 16 points on 5-of-14 shooting in 34 minutes but appeared tentative in the game's final minutes. He attempted his last shot with 6 minutes, 13 seconds left.

McCaffery had no answer as to why Uthoff didn't attempt any shots late.

'You'll have to ask him,' McCaffery said.

Uthoff's response?

'The ball ended up in other people's hands, and they took the shot,' Uthoff said.

The Buckeyes (19-11, 11-6 Big Ten) had answers each time Iowa held a six-point lead, which happened twice inside of seven minutes remaining. The second time Iowa led 62-56 with 4:03 left. On the Buckeyes' next possession, guard Kam Williams drove to cut Iowa's lead to four. The Hawkeyes stumbled through a shot clock violation, and Ohio State forward Marc Loving drilled a 3-pointer to slice the Buckeyes' deficit to 62-61. Iowa guard Mike Gesell missed at the rim, and Williams hit a long, two-point basket — that was reversed on review — to put Ohio State ahead to stay. One possession later, Williams connected on an unquestioned 3-pointer to push OSU's lead to 66-62.

Iowa still had a chance. Center Adam Woodbury scored on a post feed from guard Peter Jok to trim the deficit to 66-64. Ohio State's JaQuan Lyle missed a 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left to give Iowa one opportunity under its basket.

Woodbury inbounded the ball to Gesell, who streaked up the court flanked by Uthoff on one side and Jok at the other. Gesell instead drove hard at the rim, but Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop blocked Gesell's attempt. Loving rebounded, was fouled and clinched the game with a pair of free throws.

'You're down two so you're just trying to get a bucket,' said Gesell, who scored 16 points with five assists. 'Take it into overtime or win. I thought I beat everyone to the bucket, so I was just trying to make a play at the rim.'

'He had plenty of options,' McCaffery said. 'He chose to drive it. I thought he made a good play there.'

Jok agreed.

'We could have went and got a rebound but we thought he got fouled when he got up,' Jok said. 'A lot of people stopped instead of going up and getting a rebound. The play was for him, if he had an open lane, just go up and attack the basket or if we're open, pass it to us. He made the right decision, and we didn't get want we wanted.'

Mathematically, Iowa still is alive for a piece of the Big Ten title. The Hawkeyes play Indiana (23-6, 13-3) on Tuesday in their home finale before traveling to Michigan (20-10, 10-7) on Saturday. With Iowa's loss, Indiana clinched a share of the league title. The Hoosiers win it outright if they beat Iowa or Maryland (23-6, 11-5) next Sunday. The Hawkeyes now are in a four-way tie for second with Michigan State, Maryland and Wisconsin and could finish as low as eighth with a pair of losses this week.

That's an incredulous fall for a team ranked as high as third four weeks ago.

'We're in a slump,' Jok said. 'There's a lot of teams in the country that went through slumps. Ours had to be at the end of the season. We've got to stay positive. We have to believe in each other and ourselves.'

Asked where the team's confidence level is right now, Uthoff said. 'I don't know.'

That adequately sums up the state of the program right now.

l Comments: (319) 339-3169; scott.dochterman@thegazette.com