Feb. 11, 2009
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by Sean Neugent
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team became the 54th straight non-ranked opponent to fall victim to the Wisconsin Badgers at home, losing 69-52, inside the Kohl Center on Wednesday night.
Iowa (13-12 overall, 3-9 Big Tence Conference) turned the ball over 14 times which led to 29 points for the Badgers. Wisconsin, in turn, only turned the ball over six times. The Hawkeyes shot 19 of 38 (50 percent) from the field and 6 of 16 (38 percent) from three-point land. Wisconsin (15-9, 6-6) shot 26 of 49 (53 percent) from the floor and 7 of 12 (58 percent) from deep. The Badgers outmuscled the Hawkeyes for a 27-21 rebound advantage.
Bohannon’s Three’s Drown Iowa, 69-52
“I think one or two of them were careless passes but I also was called on some travels and fell down twice,” said Jake Kelly, of his eight turnovers. “I just have to be aware of myself and my surroundings and do a better job to not put my teammates in that kind of position.”
Iowa was led in shooting by Kelly who had 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting, including 2 of 3 from the three-point arc. Jeff Peterson was the only other Hawkeye player to score in double-figures with 10 points. Jarryd Cole added eight rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin had three players score in double-figures. They were led by Joe Krabbenhoft with 16 points, 15 from Jason Bohannon, and Trevon Hughes added 14 for the Badgers.
Wisconsin took a quick 7-3 lead, but Iowa’s Matt Gatens hit a mid-range jumper to move within two in the early going part of the first half. Peterson penetrated the lane and tied it up with 14:26 remaining in the half. Bohannon nailed a trifecta a few possessions later to take a three-point advantage.
Peterson again tied it up with a quick juke that made Hughes fall down, and drilled an open shot from outside the perimeter. Hughes would not be outdone and helped the Badgers take an 18-14 lead when he followed up Jon Leuer’s layup with one of his own. UW’s Keaton Nankivil drilled an open trey and Krabbenhoft hit a field goal to cap a 14-5 run and take a 23-14 advantage. Kelly ended the run when he aggressively shot through the lane and hit a layup before being fouled, and also hit the and-one.
Wisconsin quickly pushed its lead to 10 with an offensive drought from Iowa. As fast as the Badgers went up by 10, the Hawkeyes ended their drought and charged right back with a 7-0 run of their own. Iowa’s sharpshooter Devan Bawinkel hit a trey from the corner to trail 27-22. The Hawkeyes forced Wisconsin’s first turnover and Peterson drove the lane and missed a layup, but Cole worked his way in for the rebound and hit the layup to push Iowa within three.
A few minutes later Kelly passed it into the arms of Hughes as they came down and he scored an easy layup. The Hawkeyes were hit with a tough technical foul from Gatens after he grabbed the ball and pushed one of the Badgers over. It led to five Wisconsin points — all from Bohannon — two free throws and a buzzer-beating trey. The Badgers walked into halftime up 36-24, thanks to a 9-0 run in the closing minutes of the half. The Hawkeyes had 10 turnovers in the first half.
“We had the ball at half-court and Jake (Kelly) throws it across court and Hughes is quick and anticipates well,” UI head coach Todd Lickliter said. “So bad play, but he hustle back and tries to contest the shot and he made it. We get the ball and we’re going to get the last shot. Matt (Gatens) shoved Landry, I don’t know if he shoved him to the floor, Landry’s a pretty big guy and smart too, but it was a play that didn’t need to be made. There’s not a good reason for making that and emotionally I don’t think we should be spent at that time. Now they score five points when we should have had the ball. We created the run for them and it was pretty hard to recover from there.”
“We had a steal on my pass to Trevon and he got a layup and then we got a technical, so it was a bad set of plays,” Kelly said. “Bohannon hit a deep three at the end of the half and that gave them all the momentum going into the second half.”
The Badger run did not end at the half and came out in the second half scorching. They took a commanding 15-point lead and the Hawkeyes continued to hand out gifts to Wisconsin with more turnovers.
“This is a team that they are a position defending team,” Lickliter said. “Every once and a while they will shoot a gap. But, for the most part they are going to stay in position. Our guys knew that. But, we would try to drive it against them. If you are going to do that you are not going to get very deep initially very often. Jake (Kelly) could, Jake got to the basket some but you are going to have to kick it back out and drive it again. We just insisted on trying to drive it in there and give it back to them.”
Iowa had no defensive answer and the Badgers were able to get to the bonus line early. The Badgers’ Marcus Landry went to the charity stripe and missed his free throw, but grabbed his own rebound and hit a layup before he was fouled. Landry hit his free throw to take a 50-32 lead with 13:30 remaining.
Kelly came down and drilled a three-pointer on Iowa’s next possession. Iowa went on an 8-2 run after Aaron Fuller hit from downtown and trailed 53-40. Landry ended the streak and scored the 1,000th point of his career when he hit a jumper before he was fouled and also made his free throw. Kelly hit another three-pointer to push Iowa within 12 points.
There was no chance for Iowa after that point when Bohannon nailed a trifecta, Krabbenhoft made a layup and Tim Jarmusz hit from downtown in three straight possessions. That would put any Iowa comeback down the drain as the Badgers were able to start bleeding the clock.
“We need to come into these places and enjoy the fact that we have this opportunity and we seize it,” Lickliter said. “The point of the matter is you can’t hurry up and win these games, the beauty is you get to be right in it. You’re involved, you’re in it. There’s this challenge and you have to make it happen.”
“Anytime we lose it is quiet and guys have their heads down,” Kelly said. “Tomorrow morning we are going to wake up and it is a new day and we will focus on the next opponent.”
Iowa will head back home to face No. 23 Purdue on Saturday with a 3:05 p.mm tipoff inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.