AMES − Through nine games, Fran McCaffery’s 14th Iowa basketball team has been put to the test against four opponents that statistically play defense in the upper 3.5% of teams in Division I basketball.
The Hawkeyes have shown their youth in those games, all losses, including
Thursday’s 90-65 drubbing at Iowa State.
The Cyclones (7-2) toyed with their visiting in-state rival from start to finish, handing Iowa (5-4) its most-lopsided Cy-Hawk loss and detailing a recipe for a potentially difficult season ahead.
Poor interior defense? Check. Though that’s hardly new. Iowa State owned an unbelievable 30-2 edge on points in the paint in the lopsided first half.
Poor ball-handling in a tough environment? Check. Iowa committed an uncharacteristic 12 first-half turnovers and a season-high 19 for the game. It scored on only seven of its first 30 possessions. When a McCaffery offense is out of sorts, that's a major uh-oh.
Poor composure? Check. The student sections at Hilton Coliseum were filled 90 minutes before tip-off and hounded the Hawkeyes all night with their chants. (Give them credit for the "you need Caitlin" razz in the final minutes.) In his first career start, Josh Dix had trouble simply bringing the ball up the floor.
Iowa’s shot selection for the first 20 minutes was pretty much this: Heave a challenged 3-pointer and hope it falls.
“We didn’t get enough movement, whether it be ball movement or people movement,” McCaffery said. “We have to do more screening, more cutting, more penetration. We just kind of moved it side to side and somebody shot it at the end of the clock. We need more activity to challenge the defense in a better way.”
Thursday’s outcome was unsettling, especially on the heels of an 87-68 loss at No. 3 Purdue. The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 35 in that game; they trailed by as many as 32 in this one.
“We’re getting down so bad in games, and it’s hard to shoot when you’re down and everybody’s screaming at you,” said Iowa’s Payton Sandfort, who scored 14 points in the first half and zero in the second. “We’ve got to come out with more fight. We’ve got to make it more of a back-and-forth game.”
None of this means Iowa will definitively be a terrible and unwatchable team this season.
But this week sure has the vibe of that first big snowstorm and cold snap in December that sets the tone for a long winter ahead...
TRANSLATION: This is a baaad team. And not in a good way.