The Iowa Hawkeyes (21-12, 10-10) couldn’t finish a second half comeback against the Ohio State Buckeyes (21-11, 12-8) and lost in the third round of the Big Ten Tournament, 72-69. Isaia Howard’s three pointer off an offensive rebound missed the mark as time expired.
Bennett Stirtz led the Hawks with 17 points on 6/11 shooting. He was the only Hawkeye in double figures, though they had 23 bench points to Ohio State’s 3.
The defense was much more locked in throughout the first portion of the game, though
the offense still struggled to find its footing. Tavion Banks & Kael Combs hit early 3 pointers as Iowa built a 6-point lead. Despite holding the Buckeyes to just 6 points through 8+ minutes, Iowa could only get 12 of their own as they started with 4 early turnovers.
While Iowa was able to keep the Buckeyes at bay throughout the middle portion of the first half, Ohio State was having a ton of success with Christoph Tilly occupying the lane. He had 12 first half points and his gravity in the lane opened it up for the rest of the Bucks. A’Mare Bynum was a menace as a cutter and made 3 dunks and 1 layup, the last of which put them up 21-20.
More Tilly free throws extended OSU’s lead to 5, though a Cooper Koch and Stirtz traded baskets with them to enter half down 34-30.
Out of half, the Hawks struggled to find the basket, with just one in the first 6:30. During that time, Ohio State’s all time leading scorer, Bruce Thornton, got it going with 10 straight points to stretch the Buckeye lead to 16 points.
At that point, it felt like pack it up, pack it in time. Tate Sage, who had 8 points off the bench, hit a 3, which was followed by a Cam Manyawu dunk. Thornton and Stirtz traded threes, Iowa found themselves down 15 after John Mobley, Jr. and a Bynum FT extended their lead with 10:33 remaining.
Iowa then went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 7 and it felt like they might have a chance. Iowa went without a basket for over 3 minutes as OSU was able to stretch the lead back to 12 before Howard & Koch cut it back to 7 with just over 4:00 remaining.
Coming out of the final TV timeout, Bynum got another dunk but Iowa was trading 3s for 2s with a pair of Alvaro Folgueiras 3s. After his second cut it to 5, a Banks dunk got it to 3. Here we go???
Iowa was able to get another stop and Stirtz hit a pair of free throws to cut it back to one.
Ben McCollum opted to have the Hawks d up with 8 seconds separating the game & shot clock and they held the Bucks to a contested jumper but Koch couldn’t corral the rebound though he fouled Mobley, Jr. on the attempt and he sank two FTs.
The Hawks were able to get a look after advancing it on a quick pass to Sage but Brendan Hausen’s shot was … errant as he shot quickly thinking that he was getting fouled. The Hawks got another chance as Folgueiras was fouled off a missed Tilly free throw. Folgueiras missed his only attempt at the line, Howard tracked it down, but his turnaround jumper missed the mark.
In some ways, this was a fine tournament result. Iowa showed fight after getting down against an equally matched team. They avoided disaster as Stirtz got dinged up (the big Thornton run came with him on the bench) and took just 2 shots the final 8 minutes. They don’t have to face a juggernaut Michigan team.
But it is a little disappointing to see them go down. The issues Iowa’s had all season – mainly 2 point defense – came to a head today as Ohio State made 77% of their shots from inside the arc. Defensive rebound got spotty. And the scoring droughts are tough when they’re not getting stops on the other end.
Ben McCollum’s comments postgame show that he is striving for more:
Ultimately, they will likely have to play a Michigan-caliber team next week if they hope to advance to the Sweet 16. Whether they’re able to capture that lightning in a bottle remains to be seen but today is the type of effort they’ll need to make it happen.
