Hawkeyes’ season is over

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By Steve Batterson | Thursday, March 20, 2008 |

Iowa forward Cyrus Tate (44) tries to score against Michigan's Anthony Wright, left, and Manny Harris (3)during the first half of an opening round basketball game in the Big Ten Conference Tournament in Indianapolis, Thursday, March 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

INDIANAPOLIS — Something was missing Thursday when Iowa took the court at the Big Ten Tournament.

The Hawkeyes arrived at Conseco Fieldhouse without their shooting touch and in a game that was there for the taking, Iowa’s second-worst shooting effort of the season proved lethal in a 55-47 opening-round loss to Michigan.

“The shots we were missing, they’re shots we take and make every day. That’s the frustrating thing about it,’’ Iowa senior Seth Gorney said. “Getting open shots wasn’t a problem, we just didn’t hit any of them.”

Iowa hit 15 of 47 shots in its first opening-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament since 2003.

The 31.9 percent effort included a 2-for-17 touch from

3-point range, 11.8 percent shooting that left first-year coach Todd Lickliter shaking his head.

“You just aren’t going to win with that,” Lickliter said. “I thought early on we had good looks that came at a time they went on a run. Once we got that stopped, it was an even game — not pretty, but even.’’

Michigan even provided Iowa with an opportunity to rally from its 34-25 halftime deficit.

The Wolverines went 10 minutes without scoring a point midway through the second half, missing 15 consecutive shots, but the Hawkeyes were able to trim just seven points from the 44-29 lead Michigan opened on a 3-pointer by DeShawn Sims with 15 minutes, 50 seconds left in the game.

All seven of those points came at the line as Iowa dealt with scoring issues of its own.

The Hawkeyes went 16:14 without a field goal, scoreless from the field from the time Gorney hit a jumper with 18:10 left until Jake Kelly scored on a layin with 1:56 remaining.

“They weren’t hitting shots, but we couldn’t get anything to go, either,” Iowa’s Tony Freeman said. “They gave us a chance. We just couldn’t do anything with it.”

The drought mirrored the offensive struggles Iowa dealt with throughout much of a season that saw the Hawkeyes score fewer than 50 points six times for the first time in 59 seasons, one reason Iowa (13-19) finished with a school record for losses.

“All you can do when shots aren’t dropping is get back and defend. We did that. We didn’t let them pull away. We fought. We just didn’t score,” said Cyrus Tate, who led Iowa with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Lickliter praised Tate’s effort.

“He was very active and played with a big heart. He gave us what he had,” Lickliter said.

It wasn’t enough as Michigan (10-21) used a 8-for-13 start from the field to quickly pull away from Iowa, which started 3-for-13 as it fell behind 20-7 9 minutes into the game.

Harris had scored 10 of his game-high 19 points by that point.

Mostly, though, the Wolverines relied on defense. Michigan shelved its 1-3-1 zone in favor of stretching Iowa’s offense out with an extended man-to-man look.

“You look at Iowa and they drive the ball so well. By stretching things a bit, we may have given up an offensive rebound or two, but we contained them fairly well,” Wolverines coach John Beilein said. “That gave us a chance.”

Iowa items

- Thursday’s game was the 13th time in 32 games Iowa played this season that neither team scored 60 points.

- Cyrus Tate tied a Big Ten tournament record with 17 free-throw attempts. Iowa’s Reggie Evans also had 17 vs. Penn State on March 10, 2001.

- With one 3-point basket, Justin Johnson moved past Luke Recker into second place on Iowa’s single-season charts with his 93rd of the season.

- Thursday’s loss marked the second time in the 11-year history of the Big Ten tournament that Iowa did not play in the quarterfinals.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.