At some point in time, moral victories aren't enough to cut it. This isn't one of those times, and won't be one of those seasons...for the not cutting it part, that is.
Sure, the coaches and players won't want any talk of moral victories while they are in the midst of a challenging rebuilding year in a Big Ten conference that is as talented and deep as it's been in two decades. But sometime this spring and summer, they can look back on games like Tuesday night's 73-68 loss to the 2nd ranked team in the nation and see it as progress.
This wasn't a pyrrhic 43-36 win against Michigan State back in the Lickliter era. This was an Iowa team that led 35-29 at the break, then a team that surrendered a 29-10 run to start the second half, including a 16-0 run somewhere in the middle of the second stanza.
Iowa was down 13 points and on it's way to being another hunk of roadkill on Ohio State's schedule to date.
Yet, the Hawks didn't quit and they kept attacking. Three-point shots started to fall. Iowa came all the way back to get the game to within three points at 71-68. That's when Ohio State was somehow able to call a timeout as opposed to some kind of turnover that should have been called, and after the timeout they were able to get a point blank look and converted.
That was the game, but it was not the story.
Melsahn Basabe led Iowa with a career best 22 points, matching likely All American Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger's 24. Sullinger had 12 rebounds, Basabe had 13. Sullinger had one block, Basabe had six, including two rejections of Sullinger. On balance and on the whole, you can say Iowa's freshman Basabe outplayed Ohio State's freshman Sullinger, who has won the Big Ten's freshman of the week honor seven of the eight weeks its been awarded this year. Basable had 16 at the break; his previous career best was 14.
Jarryd Cole and Matt Gatens each scored 14 for Iowa, and Bryce Cartwright added 10 with 8 assists but also 6 of Iowa's 16 turnovers. Devyn Marble went scoreless in 24 minutes starting for the injured Eric May who did not not play; he averages 11.2 points per game for Iowa.
Iowa attempted 59 shots in this game, more than Ohio State. Again, this was an entertaining game to watch and given where this program is coming from over the past three years, that's something.
Though I was not at the game, you could feel the fans trying to will this team to a win, something that was commonplace in Carver Hawkeye Arena for 75% of my life. It's fun to see and hear that, and it's fun to watch Iowa basketball with a sense of optimism, even against the best teams in the nation.
For most of my life, I never, ever felt like Iowa was out of a basketball game until the clock showed 00:00...until the last four years.
14 games into the Fran McCaffery era, and even though Iowa is 7-7 and likely headed for another dismal season record-wise, that apathy has been washed away. I am probably an easy mark on that front, as I look for reasons to be optimistic. Heck, I even found some during the Lickliter era, but that was fool's Hawkeye Gold.
There is a long road ahead, but it feels good to feel good again related to Iowa basketball. It feels good to watch a group of players, down two of their top six performers in May and Cully Payne, take the #2 ranked team to the final buzzer, unwilling to give in.
It might be a different story when this team visits Columbus in a few weeks; I am sure it will be. But Iowa is proving that when you visit Carver Hawkeye Arena, you take off a half mentally at your own peril. That's what Ohio State did on Tuesday night; they were going through the motions in the first half, expecting their extreme talent advantage to be the difference.
They ran into a team that is still on the rise, one that is still a long way from restoring the pride this program has lost over the past decade, but one that believes in itself and the style its head coach employs.
This is easy basketball to get behind and support.
