Iowa’s basketball season keeps going downhill as the Hawkeyes lose to Michigan.
Iowa’s men’s basketball team lost to Michigan on Sunday because of a terrible second half. This was the latest setback in a long string of bad luck.
The Hawkeyes had lost three games in seven days, all at home. They lost by more than 10 points to Purdue on the road and to Iowa State at home.
Iowa was ahead by two points less than a minute to the second half. The Hawkeyes fell apart in the next few minutes, though. Michigan was ahead by 20 points with about 13 minutes left.
Michigan started that run by making three long shots in less than a minute. Iowa’s Fran McCaffery was thrown out of the game near the end of that run, and the Wolverines received technical fouls.
Iowa fought hard in the last part of the game and cut into the lead. But the deep hole turned out to be impossible to get out of. Michigan won by 90–80.
So far this season, the Hawkeyes are 5-5 and 0-2 among the Big Ten. Right now, the team has a lot more questions than solutions.
The Hawkeyes are down three games in a row. Even though all of those losses were to teams from the Power 5 conferences, Iowa lost by a total of 54 points.
Iowa had a good half. The Hawkeyes were only down 35–33 at halfway. They spent the whole game trying to get back into the game after their opponents dug huge holes for them using the shovels Iowa gave them.
“It’s been a tough week in three straight losses,” said Hawkeyes forward Ben Krikke, who scored 24 points to lead the team. “I think we felt good about ourselves going into the week and hoped to get a minimum of a couple of wins.”
That obviously didn’t happen—a little upset.” Tony Perkins, a guard who scored 19 points, said, “I’ll just say we’re trying to work things out.”
Reed made seven out of ten shots and scored 10 points, only the second occasion in his career. Burnett had 14 points and 4 helpers in the end.
In the first minute of the second half, Iowa (5-5 overall, 0-2 Big Ten) scored four points. However, they then gave up a 15-1 run that included 11 straight points from the Wolverines (5-5, 1-0), who came in having similar problems.
There were 19 points from Tarris Reed Jr., which was the high point of his career. In the second half, Michigan got hot from the field and pulled away from Iowa to win 90–80 in the Big Ten Conference on Sunday.
In the first half, Michigan (5-5, 1-0 Big Ten) was ahead by two points, 35–33. They then went on a 15–5 run to start the second half and lead 50–38.
Before halftime, the Wolverines had lost three straight games. After halftime, they won their first conference game by making 17 of 30 shots (56.7%).
Olivier Nkamhoua then made a 3 and a dunk to start the run in the second half. Nimari Burnett had made two 3s in a row.
Nkamhoua made a jump shot with 3:44 left to give Michigan a 20-point lead, making the score 80–60. Terrance William II hit a long ball.
While Nkamhoua scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards, Williams scored 13 points and had five rebounds.
Dug McDaniel scored 11 points and had seven assists, as well as Will Tschetter, who came off the bench, scored 10 points and grabbed six boards.
In the game, Michigan made 29 of 60 shots from the field, which is 48.3%. They made 9 of 24 shots from beyond the line.
Ben Krikke scored 24 points to lead the Hawkeyes (5-5, 0-2). Tony Perkins scored 19 points, and Patrick McCaffery as well as Payton Sandfort each scored 10.
Along with Kate Martin’s 11 points, Monika Czinano scored 13. With more playing time, Sydney Affolter also had a good stat line: seven points, six rebounds, and four offensive boards.
McKenna Warnock and Gabbie Marshall watched a second straight game from the stands because they were still sore from a tough stretch of Big Ten basketball.
Warnock’s left hand or wrist was still covered, but Marshall had been at least dressed. Michigan built a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter, making their losses felt all game, especially in the beginning.