Hawkeyes In A Slump

On Sunday, February 28, 2016, the Hawkeyes lost yet another game to a team they probably should have beaten. This is Iowa's third straight loss, and it really hurt any hopes they had for the Big Ten Title. This past Wednesday, the Hawks dropped a tough won against the Wisconsin Badgers at home. The Badgers, to be fair, were a formidable opponent who had won eight of their last ten games, including wins over both the Indiana Hoosiers and the Maryland Terrapins, who are two of the teams Iowa is competing most heavily against for the Big Ten Title. However, the Hawks did lose a game against Penn State that they really should have won and earlier, dropped a game against the Hoosiers in Indiana in which the Hawks led for a while in the second half after overcoming a 7-point halftime deficit. The Hawks will have a chance for revenge on Tuesday, March 1, in a must-win rematch against the Indiana Hoosiers. One of the most frustrating things about the current slump the Hawkeyes are in is that most of the players, and even head coach Fran McCaffery, do not even seem to be upset about their current state. They just seem to act like there was nothing they could do and aren't really trying to do anything to pump themselves up or change their game plan.
This game against the Ohio State Buckeyes was particularly frustrating for Hawkeye fans, as the Hawks just didn't seem to play with any intensity or desperation, especially on the defensive end. The game started off similar to many games for the Iowa Hawkeyes, as Jarrod Uthoff started out hot early, making a lot of his jumpers. The biggest problem with Uthoff is that once the defense starts focusing on him in the second half, he almost disappears, and doesn't really call for the ball much in the clutch when he needs to take over in order for the Hawkeyes to pull out a win. This was just another case of that, as after Uthoff started the game strong, he failed to do much later in the game, especially when the Hawkeyes needed him most. Throughout the remainder of the first half, the game went back-and-forth for the most part, but the home team Ohio State Buckeyes eventually took the lead with a bunch of made free-throws after the Hawks were called for many fouls.
The second half started slow with neither team able to score on their first couple possessions until Peter Jok, Iowa's sharpshooter, nailed a three-point jumper to cut the Buckeye's lead from 35-30 to just three points 35-33. After a couple of empty possessions for both teams, Iowa tied the game back up at 35 all with two free throws from senior point guard Mike Gesell. The Buckeyes responded with a 4-0 run off of a quick bucket from Daniel Giddens and two free throws from Keita Bates-Diop after Jok was called for another foul. The teams battled back-and-forth for a while with each team losing the lead and then taking it back, with Iowa ultimately gaining a five-point edge over the home team after two made free throws from Dom Uhl with 9:37 to play with the score 51-46 in favor of the Iowa Hawkeyes. For the next six and a half minutes, the Ohio State Buckeyes tried to take back the lead, but every time they would get close the Hawks would once again pull away, until at the 2:56 mark, Marc Loving drained a three to bring the Buckeyes within one point 61-62. After a missed layup by Gesell, the Buckeyes took a lead off the jumper from Kam Williams and never gave it back winning 68-64.