By Ian Murphy | [email protected]
The Iowa men’s basketball team’s Big Ten title hopes were likely blocked along with Mike Gesell’s potential game-tying lay-up.
With fewer than 10 seconds left, Gesell drove to the rim, blowing by every defender in his path, but had his shot blocked from behind by Ohio State’s Keita Bates-Diop.
“[Gesell] had plenty of options, and he chose to drive it,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said in a release. “I thought he made a good play there.”
The Hawkeyes’ 68-64 loss marks back-to-back losses in the Big Ten and Iowa’s fourth loss in five games. The Hawkeyes can still clinch a share of the Big Ten title but would need to win out andhave Indiana to lose out.
Iowa’s four-game funk rolled over into a fifth on Sunday, as the Hawkeyes continued to look out of sorts on both ends of the court.
“We didn’t execute, we didn’t rebound, we didn’t defend,” McCaffery said in his press conference after the game.
The first 20 minutes saw the Hawkeyes have bursts of brilliance, including a pair of dunks by Gesell, one featuring the senior blowing by a defender en route to the basket.
But for the majority of the first half, the Hawkeyes struggled in similar ways as they did against Wisconsin. The 3-pointers didn’t fall, turnovers mounted, and Iowa trailed 35-30 at halftime.
Gesell had seemingly found his scoring touch again, but Jarrod Uthoff and Peter Jok pput themselves in foul trouble, and the bench continued to be ineffective, although Dom Uhl finished with 6 points, and Nicholas Baer and Ahmad Wagner each had 2.
The Hawkeyes were less reliant on Jok and Uthoff than they have been recently, thanks to Gesell, but they failed to capitalize on the momentum plays the first half.
Gesell and Uthoff led the Hawkeyes with 16 points each. Marc Loving led Ohio State with 25. He averaged 12.9 points per game coming into the contest.
The second half seemed to be going the Hawkeyes’ way, as they began making 3s and led by as many as 6.
But long scoring droughts doomed the Hawkeyes again. Up 62-56 at the 4:07 mark and with Ohio State on the ropes, the Hawkeyes did not score again until the final minute of the game.
The Hawkeyes led for almost all of the second half, from the 14:22 mark on and seemed to have put their recent struggles behind them.
Iowa looked completely in control of the game, switching between a man and a zone and forcing Ohio State into 15 turnovers, although Iowa had 15 as well, mainly in the first half.
But as a growing trend suggests, the Hawkeyes have had trouble closing out games, with this being the latest example.
The Hawkeyes have a quick turnaround; they will face the Hoosiers on Tuesday in Carver-Hawkeye.