The Iowa men’s basketball team fell on the wrong side of history Wednesday night in Madison, Wis.
Crushed by No. 15 Wisconsin, 67-40, the Hawkeyes tallied their 20th loss of the season — a school record. The 40 points scored also matched a season low set on Feb. 13 against Purdue.
Iowa now sits at 10-20 overall, 4-13 in the Big Ten, but it remains ninth in the conference standings.
The Hawkeyes will secure the No. 9 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament if Penn State loses at No. 11 Michigan State tonight in East Lansing, Mich.
“It’s very frustrating,” sophomore Aaron Fuller said during a postgame radio interview. “We know we’re better than this, and right now, we’re not performing on the court. Teams are really taking advantage of us.”
Four games back from injury, junior forward Jon Leuer led all scorers on Wisconsin’s Senior Night with 18 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. He also tallied six rebounds and three blocks for the Badgers.
Starting seniors Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes also dominated for Wisconsin. Bohannon, a Marion native and product of Linn-Mar High School, ended the night one rebound shy of a double-double, finishing the contest with 11 points and nine boards. Hughes had 15 points, along with four assists and three steals.
Iowa finished the game shooting 16-of-43, 3-of-15 from 3-point range. The Hawkeyes also committed 12 turnovers. Every player who saw time on the floor each recorded a mishap with the basketball.
“The problem was we took shots we couldn’t make, and we didn’t work the shot clock down,” Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter said during a postgame radio interview.
If there were any bright spots for the Hawkeyes, they came in the form of their two big men — Fuller and Jarryd Cole. Fuller led the Hawkeyes with 14 points and five rebounds, and Cole had nine points and six boards for Iowa.
At one point early in the first half, the Hawkeyes took an 8-7 lead after Fuller grabbed an offensive board and got the put-back. Then Wisconsin sent Iowa into a downward spiral, going on a 23-2 run.
“They really did whatever they wanted out there on the offensive end, and we had no answer for them,” Fuller said.
The Badger attack continued; Wisconsin took a 20-point lead, 36-16, into halftime. The 16 points were the second-lowest first-half total of the season for the Hawks, and it was the third-straight contest away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena that the Hawkeyes had fewer than 20 points at the half.
The second half was no different. The Badgers finished 28-of-51 from the field with 16 assists and outrebounded Iowa, 29-19.
The Hawkeyes will travel to Minneapolis on March 7 for their last regular-season game, a 5 p.m. showdown with the Golden Gophers that will air on the Big Ten Network. Minnesota won the teams’ first meeting, on Jan. 2, 86-74.