PENN STATE 67, IOWA 58: DISASTER

Well, hopefully Iowa packed light. The Hawkeyes played one of their worst games of the season—and perhaps one of their worst halves of basketball in the Fran McCaffery era—and were dispatched by Penn State, 67-58, in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. Iowa's regular season is now over, and it can do nothing but wait for Selection Sunday and hope none of its contemporaries put together strong conference tourney runs of their own.

Iowa shot just 15-for-57 from the field, routinely missing near the bucket and clanging threes at a horrific 3-for-15 rate. Aaron White (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Jarrod Uthoff (17 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks) showed up to play, but that was about it; the rest of the Hawkeyes shot just 5-for-30 from the field for the day. Penn State couldn't keep its own field goal percentage over 40% for most of the game, but with Iowa ice cold (including a mind-numbing 7-for-32 performance from the field in the second half), it really didn't matter.

It would have been reasonable to think, given Iowa's previous six-game winning streak and overall strong showing in the Big Ten, that the Hawkeyes' second-half woes were mere historical relics at this point, the stuff mostly of the "old" them. And though this second-half collapse wasn't fueled by turnovers the way so many prior were (Iowa only turned the ball over four times after the half), the offensive rhythm was nonexistent and Aaron White could only do much to keep the Hawkeyes within reach.

Iowa's fate is in the hands of other teams and the tournament committee now. Here's to hoping the damage from today's loss is minimal.