The Iowa men’s basketball team was defeated by Wisconsin, 78-75, in overtime Sunday evening at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Badgers held Iowa to 60 points in regulation, 22 points below the Hawkeyes’ season average. 

“We were trying to push it in both halves,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We didn’t make any adjustments, we just didn’t make any shots in the first half of the first half.”

The Hawkeyes began the game 0-of-5 from the field and only scored five points in the first eight minutes. 

Without standout junior forward Kris Murray for a second straight game, and junior guard Ahron Ulis – who had started the Hawkyes last three games — head coach Fran McCaffery’s team trailed by five points with 20 seconds left. 

Although the Hawkeyes closed the gap to force an extra five minutes, big shots lifted the Badgers to victory. 

In Ulis and Murray’s absence, Fran McCaffery’s sons — Connor and Patrick — picked up the slack offensively.

McCaffery brothers shine

Patrick McCaffery, who has started every game this season for Iowa, and Connor McCaffery, who has started the last two, replacing Murray, combined to score 41 points on Sunday. 

Patrick poured in a game and career-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting, along with seven rebounds.

“I wouldn’t say it was necessarily that crazy,” Connor McCaffery said of his brother’s performance. “I know he had 24, so that’s definitely one of his higher point totals, but I mean, I would have expected him to be around 14 to 16 points per game this year, and I think he’s right around that. I think this game he definitely played really well. But I would say that this is something that we should kind of come to expect from somebody we want to count on.”  

Patrick McCaffery is averaging 13.9 points per game this season.

Connor McCaffery supplemented his brother’s performance, with his own season-high of 17 points. Connor McCaffery also grabbed 10 rebounds, to record his second double-double of the season. 

“He’s so critical now,” Fran McCaffery said of Connor McCaffery. “With a short bench, he’s got to play the whole game. He’s got to play bigger guys, you know, brought him in as a point guard, he plays 1,2,3 and four, played some point tonight. It was so critical … There’s just nobody tougher and smarter. He just has to be on the floor, so very proud of him. He’s a little sore right now, but we’ll get him healthy for the next one.”

Ulis sits out

When a reporter asked Fran McCaffery why Ulis didn’t see the court on Sunday, the 13-year Hawkeye head coach was rather blunt.

“He said he couldn’t go” was all that McCaffery offered to the media. 

In Ulis’s absence, freshman guard Dasonte Bowen made his first collegiate start and totaled two points, four rebounds, and four assists in 20 minutes of action. 

“I thought he was solid,” Fran McCaffery said of Bowen. “I mean, he made a couple of mistakes. I think he tried to get us into our stuff, he tried to guard their offense, which is not easy … You know I want him to be aggressive offensively because he’s a guy that can score. He pulled up for three, and one of those goes in, maybe he’s even a little more aggressive. But he’s gonna be terrific.”

Big picture

Sunday’s loss drops Iowa to 7-3 on the season and 0-1 in the Big Ten. Fourteen of the last 21 meetings between the Hawkeyes and Badgers have been decided by seven points or less. 

Up next

Iowa will welcome Southeast Missouri State to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a 7:30 p.m. showdown on Dec.17. The Hawkeyes will not play another Big Ten game until they travel to Lincoln to take on Nebraska at 6 p.m. on Dec.29.