With 3-point barrage in first half, Iowa runs away from Ohio State
Ohio State scored 41 points in a home loss to Michigan State last weekend, its fewest points in a game since 1996. Then, on Thursday night at Iowa, the Buckeyes gave up 92 points, the most they’ve allowed in a game this season, in yet another defeat.
Head coach Chris Holtmann’s team kept pace with Iowa — the top-scoring squad in the Big Ten — for the first 17 minutes of a first half that saw 12 lead changes.
That’s when everything changed.
The Hawkeyes rattled off four consecutive 3-pointers, each from a different player, to close the opening frame on a 12-0 run and turn a one-point deficit into an 11-point lead at the break.
It was an evenly distributed scoring attack for Iowa, which finished with 23 assists. Fran McCaffery’s Hawkeyes had five players in double figures before the midway point of the second half. Connor McCaffery was the architect of the fluid offense with a career-high 13 assists.
Even though Ohio State eclipsed the 90-point mark when the teams met on Jan. 21 — the Buckeyes’ only win in their last 13 games — they didn’t have the firepower to flirt with that scoring total this time.
Iowa (17-9, 9-6 Big Ten) rolled to a 92-75 win, and Ohio State (11-15, 3-12) lost its seventh game in a row.
Holtmann opted for the same starting five he went with against MSU. That meant Ohio State started three freshmen for the fourth time this season.
Forward Brice Sensabaugh came into the night having averaged just 9.8 points game over his last four contests. Sensabaugh surpassed that mark with 16 points against the Hawkeyes. The problem was, he committed a season-high six turnovers, including three in the first four minutes of the first half.
Interestingly enough, Sensabaugh registered three giveaways in the opening 81 seconds of the teams’ first meeting this season, a game in which the Orlando native mounted a season-high 27 points.
Ohio State, as a whole, posted nine turnovers in the first half Thursday. Iowa, meanwhile, coughed up the ball only three times in that span. The Hawkeyes rank 53rd nationally in adjusted tempo and 16th in average possession length (15.8 seconds), according to KenPom. That speed was on full display against the Buckeyes.
The game’s first timeout didn’t arrive until more than six minutes in, and that was the only interruption during what was an otherwise back-and-forth scoring clinic. At that juncture, Iowa was up, 19-12, in part thanks to six quick points from center Filip Rebraca. Although Rebraca dealt with foul trouble most of the night, he did still chip in 10 points in 17 minutes. The 25-year-old big man set the tone for Iowa’s 44-point paint performance.
Ohio State didn’t let the game get away from it that early, though. The Buckeyes strung together an 8-0 run to take a 20-19 lead, courtesy of two 3-pointers from Sean McNeil and a drive and score from Justice Sueing. When all was said and done, McNeil was perhaps the lone bright spot for Ohio State in Iowa City. He scored 20 points off the bench on 7-of-7 shooting.
McNeil accounted for four of the Buckeyes’ seven 3-pointers. Of those seven triples, five came in the first half. The Buckeyes were also 11-of-11 from the charity stripe in the opening frame yet didn’t attempt a single free throw in the second half.
Ohio State and Iowa traded blows throughout the back half of the first period. Ultimately, turnovers — prompted by the Hawkeyes’ changing formations — and poor defense from the Buckeyes, who were biting on far too many ball fakes, tipped the scale.
After Sensabaugh connected on a 3-pointer to give his team a 36-35 advantage with 2:56 remaining in the first half, Iowa orchestrated its game-changing flurry of 12 straight points. It was raining triples in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Connor McCaffery, Payton Sandfort, Kris Murray and Tony Perkins all cashed in from beyond the arc. The latter two, Murray and Perkins, were second and first on the team with 20 and 24 points, respectively.
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On the other end of the court, Ohio State missed its final three shots of the period and found itself staring at a double-digit hole at halftime.
It didn’t matter that the Buckeyes shot 64.3% from the floor in the second half. Because so did Iowa.
For a game that appeared defense-optional at times, there were a lot of bumps and bruises. It was a particularly rough opening sequence to begin the second half for Ohio State.
Freshman guard Roddy Gayle Jr. rolled his ankle and had to sit for six-plus minutes. Junior center Zed Key re-aggravated his left shoulder sprain, which he suffered against Purdue on Jan. 5, not once but twice. The second time was the dealbreaker. Key subbed out with 15:46 to go and didn’t return.
Connor McCaffery stole the show in the second half. The 24-year-old grad student entered the matchup leading the country with a 3.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He improved on that in a big way against Ohio State. McCaffery didn’t turn the ball over once while recording his 13 feeders, eight of which came in the second half.
McCaffery whipped a pass to his younger brother, Patrick, for a right corner 3-pointer. He delivered a bounce pass to a cutting Perkins. Heck, he even launched a quarterback-like toss downcourt to a striding Murray on the break.
While Ohio State matched Iowa’s field goal percentage in the second half, the Buckeyes didn’t come close to rivaling the Hawkeyes’ ball movement. Holtmann got creative with his lineups in the second period, at one point rolling with Tanner Holden, Eugene Brown III, Isaac Likekele, Sueing and Gayle.
Scoring wasn’t the problem. Defense was, and no combination of Ohio State players succeeded in that effort Thursday night. The Buckeyes trailed by double digits the entire second half.
It’s been the story of the New Year for Holtmann’s squad. Something’s an issue in a one game and not the next. But in that next game, another problem sprouts.
Last weekend against Michigan State, Ohio State couldn’t score. Midweek at Iowa, the Buckeyes couldn’t buy a stop.
And, so, the losing continues.
