It has been poor shooting % the last 7 games, period. Even playing some bad defense the hawks make a few more shots and we have the lead, we are milking the clock, and forcing the other teams to foul at the end.
It has been that simple.
That TN dude must have been reading the HN threads as he captured it pretty well.
Of course it's always good to make more shots. But Iowa's offense (outside of the Illinois and Northwestern games) has performed at levels close to what it was before. It is the defense that has fallen off the edge of the cliff. Iowa went from having a Top 30 defense (in terms of defensive efficiency) a few weeks ago to 125th in the country today. That is hard to do.
Here the shooting comparisons the last 6 games:
Minnesota
Iowa: 21-39 on 2's, 10-25 on 3's. Minnesota made 30-49 shots (61%), 11-19 3's (58%). The offense was plenty good enough in this game. The defense was an embarrassment.
Indiana
Iowa, 34-69 FG's, 4-19 3's. Indiana shot 30-58 FG's, 6-15 3's. Another very bad defensive performance. Indiana had the 132nd best offense this year in terms of efficiency. In other words, they weren't very good on offense.
Iowa vs. Purdue
Iowa: 28-57 FG's, 6-18 3's. Purdue made 26-60 FG's, 5-16 3's. The only semblance of passable defense, and Iowa won the game.
MSU
Iowa: 28-60 FG's, 7-20 3's. MSU: 28-48 FG's, 10-17 3's. It's impossible to beat the Spartans giving up 10-17 from the 3-point line. Losing to MSU in East Lansing isn't bad. Another in the string of bad defensive games though.
Illinois
Iowa: Made 24-54 FG's, 6-17 3's. Illinois made 25-54 FG's, 7-19 3's. A truly putrid defensive effort against the 181st ranked offense in terms of efficiency. Illinois is terrible on offense and Iowa made them look above average.
Northwestern
Iowa: 20-62 FG's, 6-24 3's. Northwestern: 23-44 FG's, 11-23 3's.
A total team collapse. Northwestern is the 312th best offensive efficiency team in the country, and it made over 50% from the field and 11 3's against Iowa. This was bad, bad, bad.
The last two games Iowa could have won with better shooting, but the defense is to a point now where it's so atrocious that Iowa has to play impossibly well on offense to compensate. Allowing those offensive numbers to Illinois and Northwestern is truly awful.