You’re witnessing what happens to a “pretender”.
They show flashes (1st half MSU, the rain of 3s vs Illannoy).They have a little overhyped success (NYC, Ohio State, Iowa State, Nebraska grittiness) then they start to trend toward who they really are.
In Iowa’s case...it’s a bad defensive team with a lack of ball control discipline, little conscientiousness of game flow, a discombobulated strategy and horrific personnel management. They have enough talent to be a decent NIT team but not enough skill, moxy, IQ or Coaching savvy to surpass that.