Unfortunately, Iowa (18-13, 10-10 Big Ten) left a little meat on the NCAA Tournament bone following its rollercoaster 73-61 Senior Night loss versus Illinois (23-8, 14-6 Big Ten).
Junior forward Payton Sandfort frantically tried to bring the Hawkeyes back from a 21-point deficit with five made 3-pointers after halftime, but Iowa couldn’t fully get over the hump.
Sophomore guard Josh Dix and freshman point guard Brock Harding provided sparks for Iowa as well to give the Hawkeyes a chance in the second half against the Illini.
But, then-No. 12 Illinois built too big of a lead and the Hawkeyes ran out of gas.
The loss sets Iowa up as the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament where they will face No. 10 seed Ohio State (19-12, 9-11 Big Ten). The two teams have already met once this season, a 79-77 Hawkeye victory.
Senior guard Tony Perkins was the catalyst for Iowa in that win, scoring 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting.
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has effectively termed Iowa’s date versus Ohio State as a must-win. John Gasaway, one of Lunardi’s ESPN colleagues, agrees.
Gasaway listed Iowa as the lone Big Ten team with “work to do.”
In the abstract, a bubble team losing at home to Illinois by 12 is unfortunate but understandable. Bubble Watch lock Wisconsin lost at home to the Illini by 8, and no one’s booting the Badgers from their mock bracket. In this particular case, however, résumé metrics didn’t fancy what they saw from the Hawkeyes in that result. Fran McCaffery’s team dropped in strength of record and in KPI, and when this occurs, the mocks often follow suit. Although Iowa was seen as “first four out” material before the Illinois game, that status might now be under review. The Hawkeyes will open their Big Ten tournament against Ohio State, with the winner getting the aforementioned Illini. – Gasaway, ESPN.
Gasaway has Purdue, Wisconsin, and Illinois as “locks” for the NCAA Tournament out of the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Northwestern, Michigan State and Nebraska are among his “should be in” category.
Iowa plays Ohio State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
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