Search Weight Loss Topics:




Feb 10

Hawkeyes face Spartan diet – The Daily Iowan

Diet Comments Off on Hawkeyes face Spartan diet – The Daily Iowan

By Blake Dowson

blake-dowson@uiowa.edu

The Iowa basketball team went on the road on Jan. 31 and put a beating on lowly Rutgers at the RAC, 83-63.

It was one of the Hawkeyes better performances of the season to date, even playing without Peter Jok.

It was also, and still is, Iowas only road win of the season.

It squandered a chance to get No. 2 Wednesday night in Minneapolis, giving away a 2-point lead with 20 seconds left and ultimately losing by 12 in double overtime, 101-89.

The cruel Big Ten schedule (or opportunistic, depending on how you look at it) gives Iowa another shot to get its second road win, when it travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Breslin Center.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery is not one for moral victories, and the loss at Minnesota was in no way one, but he did say he saw some encouraging signs from his team.

Theres a lot thats teachable, because there were a lot of really good things, he said. Yeah, its disappointing in a lot of ways, but I thought we showed tremendous fight. We were much better in the second half defensively. We had great activity level. We ran. We moved the ball, I thought, extremely well. Made good decisions, whether [it was] our dribble penetration, and so forth.

Jok was back to his old self against Minnesota, which is a tremendous boost to the Hawkeyes.

He was part of a lineup that has seldom been used by McCaffery this season in the second half but one that will likely see quite a bit of time together against the Spartans.

Jordan Bohannon, Brady Ellingson, Nicholas Baer, and Tyler Cook joined Jok on the court down the stretch in the second half and to start both overtime periods.

Its one of those things, sometimes, you have a lineup that clicks, McCaffery said. They clicked defensively, they clicked offensively.

And then they got tired, and that was unfortunate. Thats what happens.

Both McCaffery and Gopher head coach Richard Pitino noted the fatigue their players experienced in the double-overtime contest, and for good reason. McCaffery chose to shorten his bench considerably down the stretch, and the Gophers only go eight or nine deep on a regular basis.

Nate Mason and the Gophers made plays down the stretch, however, and the Hawkeyes wound up staring at Jordan Murphy as he dunked all over the Hawkeyes in the two overtimes.

Its those types of plays that Pitino said he stresses to his players, and its those plays that the Hawkeyes have failed to make all season long on the road.

We talk about making winning plays, Pitino said. We just talked about in order to win league games, rivalry games, border battle games, those are the types of plays you need to make. Youre going to be exhausted. Youre going to be tired. You just got to fight through it.

The Hawkeyes have more opportunities to pick up wins away from Carver-Hawkeye, but it doesnt get any easier to do so after dropping the Minnesota game. Trips to Wisconsin and Maryland loom after Michigan State.

Sitting at 6-6 in the conference, its not out of the question that the Hawkeyes could play postseason basketball. But that postseason will end up very short if the Hawkeyes dont learn how to make winning plays on courts that dont have an oversized Tigerhawk at center court.

That can change tonight, but the Izzone awaits.

More:
Hawkeyes face Spartan diet - The Daily Iowan

Related Posts

    Your Full Name

    Your Email

    Your Phone Number

    Select your age (30+ only)

    Select Your US State

    Program Choice

    Confirm over 30 years old

    Yes

    Confirm that you resident in USA

    Yes

    This is a Serious Inquiry

    Yes

    Message:



    matomo tracker