IOWA CITY − The stage was set and the stakes were high as Iowa men’s basketball hosted rival Nebraska on Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale with Big Ten Tournament implications.
A win would all but secure the No. 2 seed in the upcoming conference tournament, while a loss would swing the Hawkeyes’ fortunes.
The Hawkeyes were 11-point favorites entering the game, but found themselves in a dogfight throughout Sunday’s contest. The home team had several chances to close out the game, but couldn’t get over the hump in an 81-77 loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
With the loss, Iowa finished the regular season with a 19-12 overall record and 11-9 in Big Ten play. Iowa had to wait for the rest of Sunday’s Big Ten results to learn its final seeding. The possible scenarios are down to just two outcomes: a No. 4 seed and a double-bye, or the No. 5 seed.
Iowa’s seeding will be determined by the result of Sunday’s Rutgers-Northwestern game. If Rutgers wins, Iowa gets the No. 4 seed. A Rutgers loss would put Iowa in the No. 5 line.
Patrick McCaffery led the team with 23 points (including six 3-pointers), Kris Murray added 22 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Filip Rebraca recorded 10 points and seven rebounds.
“(We) obviously would have liked to have it today,” Patrick McCaffery said. “But you know, it is what it is. It’s something we’re going to try to learn from, watch the film and bounce back. That’s about all you can do at this point because it’s win or go home, wherever we go..”
Patrick McCaffery’s bounce-back game was a silver lining
The pregame excitement honoring Iowa’s two seniors, Connor McCaffery and Rebraca, gave way to a slow start that had Hawkeye fans anxious. At the 13:25 mark, the Cornhuskers held an 18-9 lead behind some hot shooting as Iowa’s starters struggled offensively to a 4-of-12 start. But then the Hawkeyes found a spark off the bench in Patrick McCaffery.
“He had a great practice (Friday and Saturday),” coach Fran McCaffery said. “You could kind of see it coming, but to see him play with that energy level and hit six 3-pointers, it was good to see.”
The junior had struggled since his return to the court from anxiety issues, but exploded Sunday afternoon. His first 3-pointer at the 12:52 mark brought Iowa within six points, and he hit another less than two minutes later that tied the score at 18. Led by bench mate Payton Sandfort, Iowa went on a 17-4 run to to take a 26-22 lead in the latter part of the first half.
Patrick McCaffery’s last double-digit scoring game was Dec. 21 against Eastern Illinois. On Sunday, he set a career high in 3-pointers in the first half alone en route to a 16-point first half. He also played 25 minutes, his most since Jan. 1 at Penn State, which was the last game before his absence.
Sandfort has always been a reliable bench player, but the potential for a confident Patrick McCaffery is good news for Iowa heading into the postseason. The most encouraging part, if you’re a Hawkeye fan, is that he said after the game that he didn’t feel out of breath during Sunday’s game, signaling that his conditioning is no longer an issue.
“It took me a while to get my legs back and my groove back,” McCaffery said. “But you just keep at it and trust the work. Of course it’s incredibly frustrating that it didn’t end up with a win, but I won’t say it’s for nothing because it gives me a good confidence boost going forward.”
An icy second half doomed Iowa’s chances Sunday
Iowa’s offense got into a nice rhythm down the stretch in the first half, shooting 43% from the field and 3-point line; that, along with nine offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points, provided a 43-39 halftime lead.
The second half bore little fruit offensively, however, and Nebraska’s offense continued its good day.
“It just felt like shots weren’t falling for us,” Murray said. “It felt like we got good looks and open shots, just couldn’t convert. That happens sometimes, but we need to get more stops on defense to set up our offense.”
In the second half, Iowa shot just 30% from the field, 18% from 3-point range (3-of-16) and 60% from the free throw line (60%). Despite all that, the Hawkeyes held a 62-55 lead with 12:07 left. Nebraska roared back with a 13-6 run to take a 68-67 lead with 8:16 left. Over the next three minutes, the lead would change hands three more times. Iowa’s offense stalled for good from there.
The Hawkeyes did not score a field goal in the final six minutes of the game and did not score any points in the final 1:55 of the game. On the other hand, Nebraska finished the second half with a 60/66/66 shooting split.
Nebraska’s CJ Wilcher took over the game for the Cornhuskers late, scoring seven straight points to give them an 80-75 lead with 2:33 left. Iowa had a pair of opportunities in the final minute of the game, but both went awry: Down 80-77, Rebraca missed a pair of free throws at the 1:15 mark and Sandfort missed a transition 3-pointer at the 45-second mark.
With 16 seconds left, Connor McCaffery drove to the basket for a layup and a potential and-1 opportunity, but it was ruled a charge that sealed Iowa’s fate.
“We made at least 12 three-pointers, but shot a ton (37 attempts),” Fran McCaffery said. “Probably more than we should have, but I don’t think there were many where I said, ‘Boy, that was a bad shot.'”
Iowa men’s basketball advances to the Big Ten Tournament
The fallout from Sunday’s loss is that the Hawkeyes no longer control their destiny. The players noted that last season could be a valuable lesson. Iowa then lost at Illinois in the final game of the regular season and advanced to the tournament title game as a 5 seed. Fran McCaffery’s message after the game was that whether the next game is Thursday (5 seed) or Friday (4 seed), his team must be prepared for a strong opponent.
“There’s a reason there are so many (Big Ten) teams bunched up (in the standings),” McCaffery said. “Win or lose the last (regular-season) game, you can’t let it hang on. We’ve got to go down there with a business approach. Bye or double-bye, you’re going to play a really good opponent .”