No. 23 Michigan 85, Iowa 83: The fight falls short

ANN ARBOR – Despite trailing by double digits on the road to Michigan, Iowa battled back to nearly hit a game-winning shot in two straight games, but Pryce Sandfort’s three-pointer failed and the Hawkeyes fell to Michigan, 85-83. The Hawkeyes fell to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

At the 12:28 mark of the first half, Iowa trailed 20-4. Both Brock Harding and Owen Freeman were already on the bench with two fouls each.

“I thought they got on us and we struggled to shoot the ball early. It was reminiscent of the Utah State University game.” Fran McCaffery Bobby Hansen said on the radio show after the game. “I thought our shot selection was pretty good. We had good shooters who made good shots, but they didn’t go.”

Over the next eight minutes of the first half, Iowa went on a 22-8 run to get within two points.

“The court was packed, but we kept our composure and fought back,” McCaffery continued. “We had some serious foul problems in the first half.”

The Hawkeyes trailed by 11 points with 6:30 to play in the second half. Payton Sandfort was instrumental in Iowa’s second-half comeback, scoring 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting and hitting a three-pointer that tied the game at 83 with 20 seconds left.

“They went on a little run,” McCaffery said. “Our shot selection went down. That was the problem. We shot the ball quickly. They weren’t terrible shots, but we didn’t push the ball forward, we didn’t make them play defense.”

Iowa still hasn’t disappeared. Then the Hawkeyes went on an 18-7 run in the next 6:10 minutes.

“We were competitive in the second half,” McCaffery continued. “(Michigan) is a team that prides itself on pressure defense, we did it four times. We had 15 offensive rebounds, which was a problem last game. I applauded the boys for that.”

Ultimately, the Hawkeyes had their chances to get the win. However, as a team, Iowa shot just 10 of 17 from the free throw line, a rate of 58.8%.

“We did it,” McCaffery said. “But we fought.”

This was the second straight game in which the Hawkeyes shot less than 60% from the free throw line. On Tuesday against Northwestern, Iowa finished 11 of 19, or 57.9%.

On the rebounding side, the Wolverines outscored the Hawkeyes 45-30. Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin, Michigan’s two talented 7-footers, combined for 25 boards.

“We closed the gap because we got to the offensive glass,” McCaffery said. “You have to give your team opportunities to take the second shot. What was frustrating in the first half was that when we missed we couldn’t get them back.”

Despite the efforts in the second half, which resulted in ten attacking balls, it wasn’t enough.

“When your offense falters and the shots come and go, you have to go back and get them,” McCaffery added. “Put it back out there and shoot another three, or go back up and get to the free throw line. We did that in the second half.”

In a game tied 83-83 with 16 seconds left, Michigan had possession. After a 30-second timeout, Roddy Gayle Jr. drove to the basket on Sandfort and converted a layup that Freeman deemed a scoring threat.

The controversial call was immediately reviewed by the referees, but the play remained as scheduled and Iowa got the ball back with just over three seconds left in the game.

After Iowa’s decision to advance the ball and call a timeout with 1.5 seconds left, the deficit remained 85-83, and McCaffery engineered a play down the sideline off the field that resulted in a long pass from Drew Thelwell led to the opponent’s corner. Despite a strong effort to catch the pass and shoot the three-pointer, Sandfort’s shot narrowly missed.

“There are a few things we can execute there, but we executed what we executed,” McCaffery said. “I thought Pryce made a good impression. He didn’t really have time to dribble and shoot. It had to be a catch-and-shoot. Great pass from Drew in this situation. In this situation, I just want to make sure we get a good shot.

“We had created a great piece,” Sandfort added. “I was able to deal with it. It just didn’t go in.”

After the game and the miss, McCaffery noticed that there was a feeling of disappointment in the locker room.

“The boys are just exhausted – physically but also emotionally,” he said. “Strike back, strike back, strike back. Take the lead, give it back, tie the game. I’m really proud of this fight.”

“We won’t be in this situation if I don’t push forward and score,” complained Sandfort after the game. “I have to take responsibility for that and get better.”

Sandfort finished with 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting

NEXT: Iowa faces in-state rival No. 6 Iowa State on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. CT at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

Don’t miss any of our exclusive football, basketball and recruiting coverage. Sign up for Hawkeye Beacon here.