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Good game plan by Iowa

1. Fast inbound and spread out their guys in a wide 1-2-2 offense while bringing the ball up the court - completely took away our full court press.

2. Lots of Iowa guys cutting from weak side to under the basket, so when we doubled the post, there was always a guy open under the basket to receive a pass — and they hit most of their layups.

3. They were ready for our doubling of the post, and had guys get wide open looks because they made three or four crisp passes — and they hit their shots.

4. Zone defense flummoxed our offense in the first half, and took Paul’s dribble drives out of the game. (Side note - bad job by Pike NOT adjusting- should have put Paul at the foul line to receive entry pass and then make plays - instead, we kept Mag there).

5. Having 6-8 Murray either guarding Cam, or shading to his side, made it difficult for Cam to get open looks against Murray’s length.

6. Doubling Cliff before entry pass, and then, if he received entry pass, doubling from weak side. Took Cliff out of the game.

Despite the above, we were within 4 points with lots of time remaining, but we just couldn’t get more than a couple of stops because Iowa’s offense is so efficient, and the lead always ballooned back up to 10 or 11. And freaking Peyton Sandfort was just unconscious for that few minute stretch to basically put the game away.

Here come the overreactions

Game thread in full meltdown mode as usual. Just remember that this a good team that will be fine the rest of the season. We simply aren’t good enough offensively yet to overcome a bad defensive performance or be elite but we will be hopefully a single digit seed in the ncaa tournament and top 4 team in the big ten. When the elite recruits start rolling in next year is when we can start to dream big.
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