If I would have told you before the Iowa-Illinois game

[JonDMiller]

that Iowa would have outshot Illinois by 7, go +9 on the offensive glass and have two fewer turnovers than Illinois with Iowa's total being nine, what would you have said? I would have said Iowa by at least six.

BUT...shooting 16-54 from the floor...ouch.

 

[burky247]

Live by the 3, die by the 3.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

that Iowa would have outshot Illinois by 7, go +9 on the offensive glass and have two fewer turnovers than Illinois with Iowa's total being nine, what would you have said? I would have said Iowa by at least six.

BUT...shooting 16-54 from the floor...ouch.

7-18 from 3 in the first half and finishing 8-28 didn't help either. There was also a stretch in the 2nd half where Iowa got 6 straight stops and didn't get any points out of it.

 

[hawks23]

Wow. That is hard to stomach. Good defense and ball control. I would have guessed we won by 10. Cully had some good looks, but needs to finish. I love that he is going to the hole and putting pressure on the defense.

Got to hit the shots. Especially in your own building. Minus the ugly orange crush.

 

[hawkeye12345]

We shot 3 fewer times than Michigan, had 2 less turnovers.

We shot 2 fewer times than OSU, had 10 turnovers.

We shot 6 fewer times than MSU, had 1 less turnover.

We had 2 more shots than MSU, had 2 less turnovers.

All of those resulted in losses. It's not the shots, but the shot selection. It's not the turnovers but the turnovers that lead to points and our inability to convert their turnovers in to points.

 

[jparmley3]

We shot 3 fewer times than Michigan, had 2 less turnovers.

We shot 2 fewer times than OSU, had 10 turnovers.

We shot 6 fewer times than MSU, had 1 less turnover.

We had 2 more shots than MSU, had 2 less turnovers.

All of those resulted in losses. It's not the shots, but the shot selection. It's not the turnovers but the turnovers that lead to points and our inability to convert their turnovers in to points.

It's the coach.

 

[hawks23]

We shot 3 fewer times than Michigan, had 2 less turnovers.

We shot 2 fewer times than OSU, had 10 turnovers.

We shot 6 fewer times than MSU, had 1 less turnover.

We had 2 more shots than MSU, had 2 less turnovers.

All of those resulted in losses. It's not the shots, but the shot selection. It's not the turnovers but the turnovers that lead to points and our inability to convert their turnovers in to points.

I hope that next year we will try to take advantage of other teams turnovers. All our shots are in half court set. I like your last point. A couple of times we had numbers to push and at least get a wide open 3 which should be okay with our shooters.

 

[JonDMiller]

It's not the shot selection, and it is. The sad reality is that Iowa's backcourt is the weakest in the league, and the slowest in the league, and teams overplay because they know Iowa cannot make them pay...and far too often, Iowa has to settle for bail out shots.

 

[2good2btru]

Live by the 3, die by the 3.

I agree. Iowa takes way to many 3 ponters. They need serious help inside and more help at the point. Badly.

 

[webguy96]

I recall a couple of forced attempts but overall we actually had several open looks that just didn't drop all within a couple steps from the 3pt line. Iowa also had two more driving layups by Payne toward the end of the game that could have been the difference (eerily similar to the Ohio St loss) along with his "and one" layup that helped them get it back to within 3 I believe. Gatens had a very uncharacteristic turnover late in the game trying to feed Fuller down low who seemed to lose a bit of his offensive aggressiveness after getting blocked early in the game on one trip and then felt he should have gotten a foul call on another a bit later. Matt also attempted perhaps his first tear drop runner that I have seen in his two years at Iowa which came up short but just goes to show me that everyone on this team is still working on improving their overall game so hang with them.

 

[BeerZaux]

it's always something- 2nite defense and ball control, few fouls, rebounding and hustle was good but lack of shooting % killed the team- interchange those around per game and nothing ever flows- there is not enuff talent on this team for "nothing ever flows" and still win consistently-

Is that the fans fault, players, coaches, a.d, boosters ??????

 

[HawkeyeNTexas]

It's not the shot selection, and it is. The sad reality is that Iowa's backcourt is the weakest in the league, and the slowest in the league, and teams overplay because they know Iowa cannot make them pay...and far too often, Iowa has to settle for bail out shots.

This high screen and "roll" offense doesn't work. Cole or whoever makes the screen never "rolls" and gets the ball thrown to him. It's a pointless screen. Iowa doesn't really have any playmakers either who can beat a guy off the dribble and put up a high percentage shot. Not much athleticism on this team. Sad.....

 

[webguy96]

I'm not defending the offense but "never" is a bit strong as Cole rolled down low after setting a screen midway through the first half tonight and got a nice feed but missed the dunk which ultimately swung momentum back to IL. Throughout several games he and Fuller have rolled to the bucket on multiple occasions but our guards are not seeing it soon enough to deliver the feed which is one of the things Lickliter was hinting at in last Saturday post-game comments.

 

[IowaFanSince82]

We don't have an offense. Did anyone watch the illini? They were moving constantly and setting screens AWAY from the ball and trying to get guys open off of screens AWAY from the ball. Iowa all we ever do is ball screen, ball screen, ball screen! Seriously TL, set up some plays were the guys away from the basketball are moving. It is seriously a joke to watch Iowa on offense, I bet they could not even beat a High School team right now, it is so sad. TL needs to go!

 

[NewMexHawk]

We seriously lack size in the middle and in almost every Big 10 game it has shown. In the Big 10 you need a big man 6 10, 6 11, 7 0 because almost every team does.

In games where we match up inside with other teams we have no trouble going inside and we do fine scoring inside. The last few games we couldn't go inside and when we tried we had a great deal of trouble so we end up taking 30 three-point shots or more. We take more 3's than we do 2's. The percentages just aren't there when the other team is shooting inside the arc and we are shooting outside the arc, although Illannoy shot a lot 3's also.

If we are going to play possession ball we simply have to shoot a high percentage when we shoot that is all there is to it. If we don't it is like the poster said...live by the 3 die by the 3, which will make us a .500 team in the Big 10 even with experienced players. The three is just not a high percentage shot game after game, IF that is all you shoot, unless you shoot 50 or 60 a game (like the team from California a few years ago). You have to be able to pound it inside that is all there is too it and unless we have big guys inside we won't be able to do that. This is the Big 10, not the Horizon League.

 

[iahawk20]

It's not the shot selection, and it is. The sad reality is that Iowa's backcourt is the weakest in the league, and the slowest in the league, and teams overplay because they know Iowa cannot make them pay...and far too often, Iowa has to settle for bail out shots.

How many times have we seen Iowa throw up a desperation shot with under 5 on the shot clock? Far too many!

How many times do we have a breakdown on defense and allow an easy hoop. Again, far too many times!

 

[talkinhawks]

Iowa has won the turnover battle a few times against good teams, but we don't capitalize on the turnover's we create. We had two less turnovers than MSU but I think they outscored us like 16-2 on pts off turnovers. We turn the ball over 9-10 times and the other team is getting layups/dunks off of those turnovers. Iowa is forcing turnovers but we get maybe one to two fast break layups a game. That right there is a 10-15 pt difference. It seems like it is happening almost every game.

Points in the paint is a ridiculous stat. I'm going to guess that Iowa has less pts in the paint this season than about 90% of Division I teams.

I realize Lick's system revolves around the 3 point shot but there has to be a little bit of balance. Fuller is the only Iowa player that is any threat at all on the block. We don't give him the ball on the block either, he has to get offensive put backs in order to get pts in the paint.

Frustrating.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

It's not the shot selection, and it is. The sad reality is that Iowa's backcourt is the weakest in the league, and the slowest in the league, and teams overplay because they know Iowa cannot make them pay...and far too often, Iowa has to settle for bail out shots.

Exactly. I've stated the past couple years that Iowa's problem is that they don't have athetes (or very few) that can create space with the defender. When one cannot create space & only settle for 3 bombs, the team is one-dimensional. Bawinkle is completely one-dimensional. To have a player that only takes 3's & not too tough to guard. A guy can play off him about 12 ft & sag in the lane to spy on Gatens or Payne driving. Then can have enough time to go out on Bawinkle if they pass him the ball, & well, you know that Bawinkle will never pump-fake & drive. That will never happen. Can't he add this to his arsenal to go along with his stellar D. Not to harp on Bawinkle, prob a good kid. But my point is that Iowa is too slow & easy to defend because do not create space. They don't utilize the dribble well because they don't go to the hoop. I'm sick of seeing this lackluster O with the guards dribbling at the top of the key laterally to pass. The spacing flat out sucks. For geez sakes, watch UNI & just freeking copy them. They seem to get spacing & pass more than dribble & when they dribble, they actually drive to the hoop & maybe dish. They do this with mid-major players. They seem to be able to find an open shot when they need to. I never intended to rant, but might as well get it off my chest. Another problem is that Iowa doesn't utilize the big men. I watch them & they never work the post or try to establish position, why, because that is not in Lick's interest. Watch them. They pretty much are just flowing with the O to spread the floor & don't really try to establish position on the block. When is the last time Cougill posted up & got the ball down low & took a shot? Why get the ball down low. Have to go down low in the Big 10 to at least try & get some fouls on the opponents big men. When is the last time Iowa fouled out an opponents big man? Iowa is a team that has to go to the line to get points due to lack of athleticism. Have to at least try to go inside to keep the D honest & put a little pressure on them. But no, Iowa's centers/forwards are always at the top of the key trying to set the pick & roll to free up a 3 bomb. They actually only get a couple assists on a good roll a game. What is wrong with this? The whole damn O is always out of continuity & many times is a big CF of confusion. Then, someone launches a 3 bomb because the shot clock is down to 2 sec & now the big men are up at the top of the key & not in rebounding position because they were up there to try to pick. Oh, when the 3 is missed, will prob lead to a transition bucket the the opposing team. The only way this current system will work if the team can has 4 guys on the court that can hit the 3 at least 35-40% of the time & that will not consistently win you games, especially in the Big 10. You may pull a shocker 1-2 times a year, but will not win consistently. Jared Cole has regressed more every year has been in the program. Go back to Cole in his freshman year & remember how athletic he played & how he took it to the rack with authority prior to his injury. We only get to see glimpses of it a game now. I'm pretty sure it's not him but the system that he is playing in that limits him. They have to establish some kind of consistent inside game. Get the guys on the block & teach them how to establish position instead of just standing there to provide spacing for the offense. USE THEM!! Get fouls on the D's centers/forwards. For GEEZ sakes, MAKE THEM GUARD YOU!!!! Make the offense more dimentional. Sorry for the rant.