Takeaways: Hawkeyes Stumble in Madison

Iowa shot 3-of-24 in 3-pointers in Sunday’s loss at Northwestern.

It got worse in Wednesday’s game against Wisconsin.

The Hawkeyes were 3-of-28 from behind the arc in the 64-52 road loss to the Badgers, sending them in a slide down the Big Ten standings with three regular-season games left.

Iowa (17-11 overall, 9-8 Big Ten), which had a chance to get into second place in the conference with a win on Sunday, now finds itself in ninth place.

The Badgers (16-11, 8-9) swept the season series from the Hawkeyes by holding them to 32.3 percent shooting.

The takeaways from Wednesday’s loss:

LET’S TALK ABOUT THE 3-POINT SHOOTING

Kris Murray, Ahron Ulis and Payton Sandfort each had one, but once again the oh-fers were notable in the box score.

Patrick McCaffery missed the three he took. Tony Perkins and Connor McCaffery each missed the five they took.

Sandfort missed three. Ulis and Murray missed four.

All of those players are better shooters than they have shown over the last two games. But it’s a slump they need to shake, and soon.

“I didn’t think the shots we took were bad,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “It was a frustrating night from that standpoint. That’s two games in a row when it just wasn’t dropping from three.”

MURRAY’S STRUGGLES

Murray, Iowa’s leading scorer this season, was scoreless in the first half, playing just 8 minutes, 13 seconds after picking up two fouls.

That time on the bench messed with any sort of rhythm he had. He finally scored in the second half, but was just 2-of-10 from the field while contributing five rebounds.

It’s not the first time Murray has dealt with first-half foul trouble this season, and it’s something he’s going to have to correct if Iowa wants March success.

“They worked hard guarding him,” McCaffery said. “They were physical, they chased him around. Truthfully, that’s what he gets every game. But I thought they were really hard on him.

“He missed a couple of bunnies he normally makes. That weighs on you a little bit.”

CAN’T EVEN GET STOPS

If the shots aren’t falling, you’ve got to play defense, and the Hawkeyes didn’t do that at times, especially in the second half.

The Badgers were consistent throughout the game — 52.2 percent from the field in the first half, 52 percent in the second half.

“I thought we competed pretty hard defensively to hang in there,” McCaffery said. “We’re only down one at (halftime). It’s unfortunate how we defended the out-of-bounds plays late — we gave them six points. I think that was the game right there. They blew the game open. Give them credit for that — they executed.”

SOLID REBRACA

Filip Rebraca did what he could to help the Hawkeyes, continuing a season of consistent solid play inside.

Rebraca had 13 points and seven rebounds, shooting 6-of-10 from the field while playing 31 minutes.