Hoosiers squander late lead, fall to Hawkeyes

For the fourth game in a row, the IU men’s basketball team took its opponent to the final shot Saturday.

For the second time in that span, IU ended on the losing side.

Junior guard Verdell Jones’ jumpshot as time expired hit all iron, and a desperation tip came up empty as the Hoosiers fell to Iowa, 64-63, in Assembly Hall.

“Any time at the end of the game, you want a chance to make the shot, a chance to get fouled and a chance to rebound it,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “We had all those opportunities, and it didn’t happen.”

Crean said on the last play, he tried to get sophomore guard Jordan Hulls open, freshman forward Will Sheehey in the post and freshman guard Victor Oladipo on the back side providing an option.

Oladipo nearly tipped Jones’ miss in, but he said he realizes the last attempt wasn’t the entire story.

“There are other plays in the game that affect it,” he said. “It shouldn’t have even been in that situation.”

The Hoosiers (12-12, 3-8) blew a 10-point lead with 7:47 remaining in the second half and committed two turnovers, two fouls and went 0-of-1 from the field in the next two minutes.

Iowa (10-13, 3-8), meanwhile, stormed back with a 4-of-4 effort from the field. Hawkeyes forward Melsahn Basabe, who finished with 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, led the charge with six points and a steal.

“He dominated us,” Crean said of Basabe. “Whatever we did defensively today, we didn’t win it. But our two freshmen guarded him as good as anybody ... We’re getting better as a team, but maybe (the injuries) caught up with us today.”

Early in the second half, Sheehey sparked the crowd with a thunderous one-handed slam over Basabe, which pushed IU to a 15-9 run and a 58-48 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Sophomore guard Jordan Hulls tied a career-high with 24 points, but he didn’t score in the final five minutes. Jones, who finished with two points in 21 minutes, had the Hoosiers’ last three field goal attempts and finished 1-of-9.

Yet it wasn’t the sudden cold snap offensively, but the porous late defense that worried the Hoosiers following the game.

“Coach is always harping about keeping guys out of the middle,” junior forward Tom Pritchard said. “I know (Iowa guard Bryce) Cartwright late in the game got an easy layup in the middle, and that really hurt ... We gave them a lot of offensive rebounds and second chances, and that really killed us.”

The Hoosiers are now experienced in both heart-pounding victories and heartbreaking defeats. After surviving a final shot attempt to defeat Illinois 10 days ago, IU had a buzzer beater fall short at Michigan State in an 84-83 overtime loss. IU then responded by stopping Minnesota at the final gun for the victory.

But in their recent history with the Hawkeyes, the Hoosiers haven’t had much to hold their breath about. Saturday marked IU’s fourth straight loss to Iowa, but the first one by less than 14 points.

Crean credited former Iowa coach Todd Lichliter for bringing in tough players and current coach Fran McCaffery for molding them, and he said IU hasn’t gotten up to par with that mentality.

“We have not matched the toughness at the trim and in the lane the way need to with them,” Crean said. “And that’s disappointing.”