Hawkeye Basketball's Skid Continues

Michigan Hands Iowa 3rd Loss in a Row Sunday at Carver

BOX SCORE

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa’s 90-80 loss to Michigan on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena ended a brutal week for the Hawkeyes, and led to plenty of questions of where the Hawkeyes go in the coming weeks.

It was three defeats in seven days for the Hawkeyes, double-digit losses on the road against Purdue and Iowa State and at home in this one. Iowa played one good half — the Hawkeyes were only down 35-33 at halftime of this game — and spent each game trying to rally from huge holes their opponents dug with the shovels Iowa gave them.

“Like you said, a tough week with three losses in a row,” said forward Ben Krikke, who led the Hawkeyes with 24 points. “Coming into the week, I think we were feeling confident, hoping to pick up at least a couple of wins. Obviously, that didn’t happen — a little frustrated.”

“I’ll just say we’re trying to figure things out,” said guard Tony Perkins, who had 19 points.

Iowa (5-5 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) opened the second half with four points in the first minute, then surrendered a 15-1 run that included 11 consecutive points by the Wolverines (5-5, 1-1), who came in with similar struggles.

“They settled down and got (the lead) to seven or eight right away,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “The game was pretty physical at that point. We just got a little sideways.”

Michigan was up 56-42 when McCaffery picked up two technical fouls in the span of six seconds and was ejected from the game. Four free throws later, the Wolverines had their largest lead of the game.

That put a little bit of a spark in the Hawkeyes, but they could never get a significant run going until the closing minutes when the outcome had been decided.

“Once Fran got ejected, we were like, ‘We just have to fight,’” Perkins said. “Our head coach isn’t here, so we have to depend on each other, depend on the other coaches.”

Iowa’s offense wasn’t up to the challenge of fighting back. The Hawkeyes shot 43.8 percent for the game, but were 1-of-15 in 3-pointers at one point in the second half, with the rest of their threes coming in the last two minutes.

“This group, I like the depth,” McCaffery said. “I think we have enough shooting. There's been some days that we haven't shot it well, obviously. But I do think we have enough shooting.”

McCaffery went with a bigger lineup to combat Michigan’s size, moving Krikke to the ‘4’ and starting freshman Owen Freeman at the ‘5.’ Perkins ran the offense, with Payton Sandfort at the ‘2’ and Patrick McCaffery at the ‘3’.

That lineup gave Iowa some early energy before Freeman picked up two fouls. The Hawkeyes were still able to keep pace with the Wolverines, but Fran McCaffery thought they could have gotten a bigger edge with better shooting.

“We had good shooters with good shots, they just didn’t go in,” McCaffery said. “And that puts all of the pressure on your defense.”

Six Wolverines scored in double figures, led by Tarris Reed Jr.’s 19 points.

The Hawkeyes are off for finals week, playing Florida A&M on Saturday in Des Moines.