Iowa City, Iowa- Iowa guard Bryce Carthwright tries to get between two Buckeyes defenders at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, January 7, 2011. Cartwright finished with 5 points in the Hawkeyes 76-47 loss to the Buckeyes. (The Daily Iowan/Anthony Bauer)
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By Jordan Garretson
jordan-garretson@uiowa.edu
Fran McCaffery took a moment to collect his thoughts. Faced with a question during his post-game press conference, McCaffery sullenly raised a hand to his forehead before responding.
It was that kind of a day for the Iowa men’s basketball team. The Hawkeyes (10-7, 2-2 Big Ten) lost to No. 6 Ohio State (15-2, 3-1), 76-47, in front of 15,400 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.
“I don’t think we thought we would get blitzed like this,” the second-year head coach said.
Two Ohio State assets in particular — Jared Sullinger and an airtight defense — were too powerful for Iowa to overcome. Sullinger carved up the Hawkeyes for a season-high 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting from the floor.
The Buckeyes’ 6-9, 280-pounder simply “played the way he plays,” Iowa’s Eric May said.
“We didn’t contain Jared Sullinger at all,” Devyn Marble said. “He did whatever he wanted. We didn’t really stick to the game plan like we were supposed to.”
Sullinger finished the first half with 15 points, but collapsing defense from Iowa made “him work for it,” McCaffery said. The Hawkeyes were more than cognizant of the reigning All-American’s abilities and used a variety of defenses and double teams to try to neutralize him. Ohio State attempted a post-entry pass to Sullinger on its first possession of the game, and Melsahn Basabe even outmuscled him for superior position and came up with a steal.
But Iowa’s defense didn’t execute nearly as well against Sullinger in the second half. And as Devon Archie said, “Any slip up, he’ll take advantage of it. “
The sophomore played 14 minutes in the second half but added 13 more points.
“Sometimes you try to simulate it [in practice], and he’s a hard guy to simulate, because he’s just so quick,” McCaffery said. “He’s so elusive for a guy with that size, his hands — he’s got the best pair of hands I’ve ever seen. He catches everything. He finishes everything. And he’s amazingly quick, whether it’s a spin or an up-and-under, whatever he’s doing.”
When Sullinger wasn’t scoring at will, he was part of a Buckeye defensive effort that seemingly made scoring impossible for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa was held to 32.1 percent field-goal shooting, including an atrocious 5-of-23 mark (21.7 percent) in the first half. The Hawkeyes also turned the ball over 20 times and Ohio State tallyied 23 points off of those miscues.
Opponents average just 54.9 points per game against Ohio State — the country’s sixth-lowest mark. Nearly every single possession was hellish for Iowa, primarily due to the relentlessness of Buckeye point guard Aaron Craft and the athleticism of their wing players.
“They’re quick. They’re long. They’re smart players,” Matt Gatens said. “It’s a tough recipe to go against. There wasn’t very much room for error.”
Iowa must immediately prepare to face another formidable defense. The Hawkeyes play at Michigan State Tuesday night at 6 p.m. The Spartans’ defense allows 59.5 points per game, the Big Ten’s third-lowest number.
“They [Ohio State] were locked in,” Gatens said. “They came here ready to play. They weren’t taking us lightly. They’re good defensively and it showed tonight.
“We need to come ready to battle that pressure and be ready Tuesday night.”
