By Adam Hensley
Iowa’s stretch of uncharacteristic, lackluster starts reached three-straight games on Wednesday against Illinois.
So now, the Hawkeyes (11-10) hope to end that streak and snag a home win against Ohio State (13-8) at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.
Over the most recent losing span, Iowa has averaged 64.6 points per game while giving up 83 — not a recipe for success.
Sparks have been scarce. In the past two games, energy has come in the second half from the bench.
The Illini appeared unfazed by any Hawkeye defense from the beginning. In the first half, Illinois connected on 55.2-percent of its shots, including 6-of-11 on 3-pointers.
Head coach Fran McCaffery switched things up at halftime with the Hawkeyes on the wrong end of a 40-24 game.
Nicholas Baer, Dom Uhl, and Ahmad Wagner started the second half in an attempt to get something — anything — going.
“I thought those three guys in the second half were really, really good,” McCaffery said. “They gave us a chance with their activity level defensively, getting to the glass, running the floor. I thought that’s what we needed.”
Many watching the game were left scratching their heads at one player in particular who didn’t leave the lineup — Peter Jok.
It was evident the senior was in pain and wasn’t getting his shots to fall. He took only nine shots. He connected on three of them and managed to put together a 10-point outing. He also turned the ball over four times, tied for a team high.
McCaffery hinted at a possible lineup change in his teleconference on Monday. No changes came at the start of the game, with Jordan Bohannon, Isaiah Moss, Jok, Tyler Cook, and Cordell Pemsl in the first rotation.
He did, however, make early adjustments, just as against Maryland, but nothing seemed to work in the first half.
Keeping the likes of Moss, Cook, and Pemsl on the bench for a good portion of the second half wasn’t meant to send a message, McCaffery said.
“I’m not a message-sender,” he said. “I love all three of those guys, and we need them. I played those other guys, and they were effective, so I stayed with them.”
The Hawkeyes actually outscored the Illini 40-36 in the second half, but there was never a point at which Iowa looked in control.
Ohio State will travel to Carver-Hawkeye with more athletic ability and on an impressive run.
After dropping their first four games in conference play, the Buckeyes have won three of their last four. Their only loss (by 2 points) came at the hands of Northwestern, one of the conference’s better teams.
Ohio State’s recent wins came against Michigan State, Nebraska, and Minnesota.
Iowa’s defense has struggled at times with teams that use a multidimensional scoring attack, instead of keying in on just one player, and the Buckeyes have six players scoring more than 9 points a game.
Jae-Sean Tate leads the charge, netting 13.9 per contest.
The Hawkeyes will have their hands full in the paint as well, another defensive weakness this season. Ohio State’s 7-footer Trevor Thompson is having a career year, scoring 11 points, grabbing 9.3 rebounds, blocking almost 2 shots, and shooting 58.8-percent.
The last time the Hawkeyes squared off with the Buckeyes came last season. Ohio State dropped Iowa, 68-64, in Columbus during Iowa’s late four-game losing streak.