Indiana 67, Iowa 65: Super Skid Sunday

Your Iowa Hawkeyes littered flashes of greatness with stretches of mind-boggling ineptitude and personnel mismatches in a 67-65 loss to Indiana Sunday afternoon.

Iowa went on an early 14-0 run, thanks to back-to-back threes from Connor McCaffery and Jordan Bohannon, and two straight drives from Joe Wieskamp. Shortly thereafter, while holding a 17-4 lead, Luka Garza fouled Race Thompson under the basket on some bullshit.

With 12:30 to go in the half, Garza went to the bench and watched from a prison cell Iowa get outscored 26-14 as its lead evaporated and momentum shifted and frustration flared.

You can guess how Indiana got the lead back. Aside from Iowa missing open looks and turning the ball over (9 in the first half alone), inconsistent and erratic lineups allowed the Hoosiers to exploit gaps in Iowa’s game, allowing Race Thompson and Trayce Jackson-Davis to feast a little bit in their own right.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out some troubling inconsistencies in those who are in charge of calling balls and strikes.

Everything was going against Iowa (including its own coach, who was assessed his first technical foul of the year, resulting in two Hoosier points) and the Hawkeyes went into the locker room down 33-31.

Fran and the Hawks were vindicated early in the second frame, where 4 straight Garza points sparked a 14-0 Iowa run and a 45-35 Iowa lead. Indiana answered with 9 unanswered points of its own, but two made free throws and a swooshed three from Jordan Bohannon after a Trey Galloway three forced Archie Miller to call a timeout and shake things up with 11 minutes left to play.

The shakeup worked as Jackson-Davis and Thompson were able to weave around Iowa’s interior with impunity, eventually knotting it up at 53’s with 6 to play thanks to five straight from JD.

Garza cured the brief scoring drought after sinking a pair of free throws. And then he sunk another two about a minute later to make it 57 all.

Keegan Murray fouled out with 3:09 to play, but JD missed the shots and Garza muscled in another 2 to make it a small Iowa lead with 2 ¹⁄₂ to play.

A Thompson basket preceded two made free throws from Jackson-Davis to make it 65-62 Hoosiers with just under a minute to play.

Bohannon then stepped back after playing musical chairs with Garza and knotted it up with 27 ticks left on the clock. Indiana had the luxury of taking the final shot of the game, and Armaan Franklin took full advantage of that. He sunk a 10-footer over the middle with 1.8 seconds to go.

A truly bonkers inbounds play fell flat for the Hawkeyes on this Sunday, and Iowa has lost four of its last five games.

Musings

• Luka Garza was not assessed a foul for the entire 20 minutes of the second half. Despite just scoring 2 points in the first half, he ended the game with a 18.
• Wieskamp matched Garza’s 18. He was probably Iowa’s best player on the court today, and tied for Murray with the most hustle.
• Is Joe Toussaint hurt? He played 4 minutes.
• This stinks.