The Iowa men’s basketball team went cold from the field late in Sunday afternoon’s Senior Day loss to Nebraska at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes failed to make a field goal from the floor in the final 6:12 of the 81-77 defeat to end the regular season. 

“That’s not like us,’ Iowa junior forward Patrick McCaffery said of the late-game slump. “I don’t know exactly if it was like bad shots or what it was. I know, I took a not-great shot. I know, we also missed some free throws, I know I missed [the front end of a one-and-one]. We took some shots that were uncharacteristic, and I think that might have something to do with it. But also, you know, we took good shots that didn’t go in.”

After a 9-of-21 first half from beyond the arc, the Hawkeyes converted 3 of 16 deep tries in the second half. 

McCaffery, however, splashed in a career-high six 3-pointers on Sunday, on his way to a game-high 23 points — one shy of his career-high. 

The 6-foot-9 forward hadn’t scored in double-digits since Dec. 21, 2022, against Eastern Illinois.

He took a leave of absence to focus on managing his anxiety from Jan. 1-Jan. 29. 

RELATED: Iowa men’s basketball’s Patrick McCaffery out indefinitely to focus on mental health

“I hadn’t been shooting it that well as of late,” McCaffery said. “I hadn’t really been playing well. Took me a while to get my legs back, took me a while to get my groove back. But just stay with it, trust in the work that you put in. It felt good today, and wish we could’ve gotten a win, frustrated that we didn’t. I’m not gonna say it’s all for nothing, because it gives me a good confidence boost moving forward. And now it’s win or go home,  so we got to keep moving, keep pushing.”

Up next

With the loss, the Hawkeyes finish the regular season with a 19-12 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the conference. 

Iowa’s seed for the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in Chicago at the United Center next week will come down to the outcome of the Rutgers- Northwestern game tonight in Piscataway, New Jersey.

If the Scarlet Knights win, the Hawkeyes will be the No. 4 seed, get a double bye, and begin play in the quarterfinal round on Friday afternoon around 1:30. 

If the Wildcats are victorious, Iowa will be the No. 5 seed and will begin play Thursday at the same time. 

Iowa was the No. 5 seed last year when they won four games in four days to earn the title.

Iowa forward Kris Murray — who scored 22 in the loss Sunday — said the Hawkeyes are still confident and pointed to their resilience throughout the regular season. 

“Just look at where we were two months ago,” Murray said. “0-3 in the conference, down 21 at home, and finished in the top part of the conference this year. So I definitely think we’ve been a team to bounce back from adversity this year, going on two-game losing streaks, three-game losing streaks, and bouncing back. So that’s something that we got to look at. Just know we’ve been in this position before.”