Ohio State's Eugene Brown III (3) defends Iowa's Filip Rebraca (0) during the Big Ten Men s Basketball Tournament on March 9, 2023, at United Center in Chicago. (Alex Martin/Journal and Courier/USA TODAY NETWORK)
Notes: Wild Scramble Caps Iowa-OSU
CHICAGO — It was a full-court scramble for the basketball.
“Chaos,” is what Iowa forward Kris Murray called it.
It was a chance for the Hawkeyes to have an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the final seconds of Thursday’s 73-69 loss to Ohio State in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament, but like everything else on this day for Iowa, the opportunity was elusive.
Iowa had gotten to within 71-69 after two Payton Sandfort free throws, and then the scramble began.
Perkins knocked away the inbounds pass, and the ball rolled toward the free-throw line at Iowa’s end. But as Perkins tried to grab the ball, Ohio State’s Sean McNeil crashed into him, knocking the ball loose.
Ohio State recovered, but no one seemed to get a handle on anything until Iowa’s Kris Murray batted the ball toward midcourt. The ball went out of bounds, and it was originally ruled a kicked ball by Murray. After a replay review, the ball was awarded to Ohio State.
Justice Sueing was fouled after the inbounds pass, and made two free throws to complete the win.
“Just two teams going for the ball,” Murray said. “Tough game. I mean, I'm not sure about the call at the end, but it just didn't go our way, I guess, and they got the ball back.
“I couldn't tell you exactly what happened. There was a lot of chaos going on.”
“We just tried to deny the ball, get steals, get a quick basket and tie the game,” Perkins said. “We could have tied it up, tied the ball up, or get a jump ball or try to call timeout if we could get a full grip, but we couldn't get a full grip on the ball.”
“I did say I thought we should have jumped on the ball at the end and called timeout when the (possession) arrow is (pointing) our way,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “That's what Tony alluded to. I think we thought we had it, and we fumbled it again.”
SANDFORT’S FRUSTRATION: Sandfort has been reliable for the Hawkeyes all season off the bench — he was voted the Big Ten’s Sixth Man of the Year.
But two fouls in the first half took him out of the game, and he finished with just four points on 1-of-3 shooting. He did not have a 3-point attempt.
“I really felt like he was really frustrated,” McCaffery said. “I think you saw that. I think everybody saw that. That was unfortunate for him.”
McCaffery usually doesn’t bring players with two first-half fouls back until after halftime, but considered getting Sandfort back on the court.
“We had a pretty decent defensive effort going on, and we kind of had our defensive guys out there a little bit more, and I wanted (Sandfort) to be able to play loose and try to get going in the second half,” McCaffery said. “It just didn't happen.
“Maybe it's how they were guarding him, but it just didn't happen for him.”
NOTES: The game featured 18 lead changes, the most in an Iowa game this season. … The Iowa-Ohio State series is now even at 84-84. … Iowa is 2-3 against Ohio State in Big Ten Tournament games.
