Iowa One-And-Done at B1G Tourney

No. 13 Seed Ohio State Eliminates Hawkeyes

BOX SCORE

CHICAGO — No championship.

No trophy.

No four-wins-in-four-days this time.

Iowa was here and gone in the Big Ten Tournament, a quick exit when the Hawkeyes were hoping they could stick around for a while.

The 73-69 loss to Ohio State in Thursday’s second-round game at the United Center sent the Hawkeyes home before they had a chance to settle into the tournament.

One game in one day, and back to Iowa City to wait for the NCAA tournament call and get some rest after the peaks and valleys of a conference season that seemed a lot more pronounced.

“We wanted to be playing for a championship,” forward Filip Rebraca said.

Instead the Hawkeyes (19-13) will lament another game they felt they should have won.

Ohio State (15-18), the 13th seed in the tournament, barely had any time to rest after Wednesday’s win over Wisconsin, yet the Buckeyes seemed fresher than the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes, who constantly had leads in this game yet couldn’t escape.

Ohio State was wounded from a bitter season, and the Hawkeyes saw them at their best and their worst when the two teams split their regular-season games.

“When they put it together, they’re tough to beat,” Iowa forward Kris Murray said.

The Hawkeyes could never stagger the Buckeyes. Every Iowa action had an Ohio State reaction.

There was the play early in the second half when Iowa was up 37-33. Murray missed an easy shot inside, then the Buckeyes followed that with a Sean McNeil 3-pointer.

There was the dunk by Iowa’s Payton Sandfort off a Tony Perkins steal that gave Iowa a 55-51 lead with nine minutes to play, then Ohio State came back with a 3-pointer from Justice Sueing.

Action, then answer.

“I think you have to give them credit,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “They came back and kept scoring. They didn't panic.”

“We knew they were a team that wasn’t going to give up,” Rebraca said. “They’re not going to quit, and it showed.”

“They're a really talented team,” Murray said. “We've kind of seen that all year. They've been in close games. They’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of scoring. Guys could take over at any point in the game.

“They’re a tough team to beat when they’re hot and they’re playing together.”

It’s how Iowa won the title last season in Indianapolis. Four wins in four days requires big play after big play, with a little bit of luck thrown in to help.

Here, the Hawkeyes had plenty of stumbles. They had 11 turnovers in the game, seven in the first half. They made just 4-of-17 3-pointers.

“I think in a game like this, 11 turnovers is too many,” McCaffery said.

One-and-done tournaments don’t require perfection, just steadiness.

The Hawkeyes lacked that in this game, lacked that in Sunday’s loss to Nebraska in the regular-season finale.

“I felt like we did well preparing,” Rebraca said. “I feel like we executed— I mean, during practice, what the coaches wanted. I feel like maybe we didn't do everything in the game that they wanted tonight.”

Four Buckeyes scored in double figures, led by Bruce Thornton’s 17 points. But the biggest points in the closing minutes came from Roddy Gayle Jr., who started the game but got all nine of his points in the final six minutes. It was his 3-pointer with 3 ½ minutes remaining that put Ohio State up 64-61, and the Buckeyes would never relinquish the lead.

“He's prominent (on the scouting report),” McCaffery said. “He started yesterday. He's a starter, so he's at the top of the list. He's a really good player. He's not a guy that hunts threes, but he obviously made a huge one today.”

Rebraca led Iowa with 20 points. Murray had 17, and Perkins had 16.

The Hawkeyes’ stay in this tournament was brief.

“We'll go back to work, work on our stuff, and then find out who we're playing (in the NCAA tournament),” McCaffery said.

“We lost today, but the next game we get a chance to play, we're most definitely going to turn it up a notch and make sure we win,” Perkins said. “Make sure we make up for today.”