Wisconsin downs Iowa

IOWA CITY - Iowa took on border rival Wisconsin, and for a half posted its best shooting performance this season. Yet, the Badgers led by six points at halftime, and controlled the game for the half's final 14 minutes.

It was that kind of day for Iowa in a 74-63 home loss to No. 5 and Big Ten-leading Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon. The Hawkeyes shot 64 percent in the first half - 10 percentage points better than the Badgers - but Wisconsin led 42-36. It had little to do with mystery math; it was simply an early rebounding edge that caused Iowa problems.

Wisconsin (19-2, 7-1 Big Ten) out-rebounded Iowa 15-9 in the first half. But the real issue was on the offensive glass, where the Badgers corralled seven - just as many as Iowa did on defense - and turned that into 10 points. Iowa scored just two second-chance points in the half.

'Offensive rebounds. Second-chance points. We gave them seven at halftime, 10-plus points,” Iowa senior Aaron White said. 'That was the difference in the first half, and the difference in the game.”

It was as much when the second-chance baskets happened as the points themselves that hurt the Hawkeyes (13-8, 4-4 Big Ten). Iowa led 10-9, and Wisconsin guard Bronson Koenig missed a 3-pointer. Center Frank Kaminsky, who led all scorers with 24 points, grabbed the rebound and 14 seconds later, Badgers forward Sam Dekker drilled a 3-pointer to give Wisconsin the lead for good at 12-10.

With Wisconsin carrying a 19-17 lead, forward Nigel Hayes missed a jumper. The ball came back to Hayes, who then buried a 3-pointer to move the Badgers ahead 22-17. Three possessions later, Dekker rebounded his own missed 3-point attempt and was fouled going to the basket. He knocked down two free throws, and the Badgers led by eight.

Two trips later, Wisconsin extended its lead to eight points again when Dekker tipped in a Kaminsky miss.

'It seems like every possession they get the shot that they want,” White said. 'It's frustrating especially because I think we guarded them pretty well, but the offensive rebounds killed us. They're No. 1 in the country in efficiency in second-chance points and I think they proved that tonight.”

'I think it's just effort,” said Iowa center Gabe Olaseni, who had 11 offensive rebounds by himself last week at Purdue. The Hawkeyes totaled seven on Saturday. 'We should try to block our guys a little harder than we did. Me, myself included. They just wanted it a little more than us. We should have put a body of them, they kind of went around us, went through us. I think that's on us.”

In a 15-possession first-half stretch, Wisconsin scored on 14 trips. Still, Iowa hung with the Badgers. But every time the Hawkeyes scored to cut its deficit to a manageable number, Wisconsin extended it. Iowa's last best chance came when Mike Gesell drove to the basket with 9:24 left to bring the Hawkeyes within eight at 55-47. With a sold-out crowd rallying Iowa's defense, the Badgers worked the ball on its next possession. Then Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser drilled a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock to put the Badgers up 11 and the momentum fizzled for Iowa.

'Josh just hit, in a 3-point shooting drill we have, from almost that exact spot ... and I can't tell you how many in a row he hit from that spot,” Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said. 'That's something that he works on, and boy was it huge.”

Iowa now has its first three-game losing streak this season and has lost five straight to the Badgers. The Hawkeyes next play Thursday at Michigan (13-8, 6-3), where they've lost their last five.

'You lose three in a row, (the team's confidence is) not going to be the same as if we won three in a row, but I think it's incumbent upon me and my staff to make sure we remain focused and we keep trying to get better, keep believing in each other,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

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