Two teams battling through star-crossed seasons meet on Wednesday night when Iowa visits Rutgers for a Big Ten Conference clash in Piscataway, N.J.
Both are coming off weekend losses in winnable games against Top 25 opponents. The Hawkeyes dropped a 74-63 home decision Saturday against then-No. 21 Wisconsin, while the Scarlet Knights fell 90-81 Sunday at then-No. 18 Maryland.
Iowa (13-10, 4-8) led 59-58 with 7 1/2 minutes left and then went cold, getting outscored 16-4 down the stretch and managing only two points in the last 4:29.
“We have to play a little better towards the end,” Hawkeyes coach Fran McCaffery said. “It was a two-possession, three-possession game with four to five minutes to go. We were rushing and we were fouling; you can’t do that.”
With leading scorer Owen Freeman (finger surgery) out for the year, Iowa can’t afford to have its top remaining players freeze up against ranked opponents. Payton Sandfort did so at a bad time, hitting just 2 of 11 shots from the field and finishing with seven points against the Badgers.
Sandfort remains the team’s top active scorer and rebounder with 15.9 and 5.8, respectively, while Josh Dix scores 13.9 points per game.
Meanwhile, Rutgers (12-12, 5-8) has endured one of its most disappointing seasons in Steve Pikiell’s nine years on the job. Signing five-star freshmen Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey led to Top 25 rankings in the preseason but the team simply hasn’t displayed the consistency of past Pikiell squads.
Injuries and illnesses haven’t helped. Bailey and his team-high 19.4 points per game sat out most of the loss to the Terrapins due to illness. He managed only four points on four shots in 24 minutes.
“The same thing all these guys have had,” Pikiell said of Bailey’s malady. “He’s been sick and couldn’t go. Really tried; love him for the effort.”
Harper tried to take up the slack with 20 points and is averaging 19.1 per game.
This is the only meeting of the teams this year. The Hawkeyes own a 13-3 lead in the all-time series.
–Field Level Media
