Villanova blasts Iowa in NCAA game

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Iowa's season ended five minutes before its final game began on Sunday. Or so it seemed.

The Hawkeyes (22-11) were battered in every facet of an 87-68 beatdown by Villanova in an NCAA tournament second-round game at the Barclays Center.

You name it, Iowa lost it. Offensively, the Hawkeyes struggled with the Wildcats' aggressive defense. Iowa's defense was eviscerated by precise passing and crisp perimeter shooting.

Iowa missed five layups in the first eight minutes. Villanova shot 60.6 percent in the first half and hit 7 of 10 3-point attempts. The Hawkeyes' eight turnovers turned into 12 Wildcats' points before halftime. As Iowa staggered, Villanova was full of swagger.

'We had a stretch there in the first half where we missed three layups in maybe four possessions,' Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'Giving up transition opportunities, they're hitting 3s. I think that staggered us a little. You can say that's energy level but we got back on our heels a little bit, and we weren't ourselves defensively. Then we revved it up, and we couldn't score.

'It's a frustrating eight-to-10 minutes of basketball. We regrouped at halftime and did much better but unfortunately we were already down by 20 points.'

In a tie game at 13-13, Iowa forward Jarrod Uthoff was substituted to converse strategy with his coaches. Villanova then bolted to a quick 8-0 run, highlighted by a Kris Jenkins jumper and 3-pointer. Iowa freshman Nicholas Baer kept the Hawkeyes within striking distance with buckets on three consecutive possessions, but Villanova kept up the pressure. Jalen Brunson knocked down a 3-pointer that rolled around the rim, then Jenkins followed with another jumper. Uthoff sat at the scorer's table for more than two minutes of game action before a dead ball, and Iowa trailed 28-19.

Then it got ugly. Villanova exploded to a 15-3 run that included three 3-pointers. Iowa struggled to generate any offense, and the Wildcats built a 43-24 lead with 4:50 left in the half.

Adding to the frustration was Iowa guard Anthony Clemmons watched the carnage from the bench. Clemmons, a top perimeter defender, was whistled for his second foul with 17:26 left in the half and didn't play again until after halftime.

'That was an unfortunate call there, but he went up and he whacked him,' McCaffery said. 'I thought about putting him back in ... I struggle with it.'

'I wanted to come and set a tone,' Clemmons said. 'We weren't scared of them. I wasn't scared of them. I just wanted to come out and show them that we were here to compete.'

Villanova (31-5) continued its torrid pace early in the second half, opening with an 11-2 run to build a 65-31 lead.

'We were just hitting on all cylinders,' Villanova Coach Jay Wright said.

As Villanova extended its success, frustration set in for the Hawkeyes.

'They were cooking offensively,' said Uthoff, who finished with 16 points. 'They didn't miss any shots. They were moving the ball well, they were driving, kicking. Just playing well.

'Nothing went well for us. It happens. You dig a hole like that, you can't get back from it.'

Hlas: Iowa's 2nd-round NCAA tourney game wasn't a contest, again

Iowa's once-promising season ended in the same round by the same score as last year. The Hawkeyes were ranked as high as No. 3 in early February and now end with a 3-7 decline over their final 10 games. It's Iowa's only loss by more than eight points this year.

'It's frustrating because we had the team and the talent to win a Big Ten championship,' Uthoff said, 'and we had the talent, the pieces to win a national championship. It's frustrating that we didn't.

'It's basketball. The best teams in basketball lose. That's the way it goes.'

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