The Texas Longhorns pounded Iowa last night 85-60 in the first round of the CBE Classic. The Hawkeyes had a few good things and plenty of bad things that were very obvious during the game.
The Good
- They managed to rally in the first half. At one point in the first half, they were down by 14 but with a 3 pointer at the buzzer they ended the half tied 38-38.
- The defense had a lot to do with that run. Texas seemed slightly confused for several minutes and just ran around launching 3 pointers that failed to go in. Some of that might have just been Texas losing their motivation for a bit but the defense did seem pretty solid during that stretch.
- There was a moment were Iowa looked confidant shooting the ball and passing the ball both of which are critical for Iowa to have any chance in games this year.
The Bad
- When Texas started the second half, they committed to getting the ball inside and there was nothing Iowa could do about it.
- 15 turnovers is probably about 7 or 8 more than Iowa can handle and stay competitive. The Iowa system is so dedicated on ball control and limiting points that they cannot afford to waste the opportunities they get. Especially when a lot of the turnovers were just sloppy passing and not really Texas pressure.
- Despite having a decent stretch of shooting, Iowa still shot horrible overall. 31.7% from the field, 27% from 3 point land, and 66.7% from the free throw lines are numbers that will result in losses almost any night.
- 22 points in the second half. The long stretches of no baskets and often no shot attempts needs to end soon.
- Texas is a very, very good team. So losing to them is nothing to be embarrassed about. However, with 6 Big Ten teams currently ranked and 2 of those in the top 10 it will be a long year if Iowa continues to be so out of their league against good teams.
For the record, I have no expectations of Iowa winning a lot of games this year. I’ll be happy if they can start to make progress on limiting turnovers, limiting scoring droughts and starting to look like they can handle making the 3 point shots they are determined to shoot a ton of.
In the games I’ve seen this year, it looks like they are making good progress on defense and could end up staying in a lot of games this year just by making other teams have trouble getting any points.