NEW YORK – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell, 74-62, to No. 15 Duke in the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. Iowa moves to 6-2 on the season.
Redshirt junior Patrick McCaffery and freshman Dasonte Bowen led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 12 points, apiece. Bowen’s points came on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor, while McCaffery added four rebounds and an assist against the Blue Devils.
Duke led for 37 minutes of game time, though Iowa kept things close throughout. The Hawkeyes halved a 12-point lead during the waning minutes of the first half. Iowa also went on an 8-0 scoring run to bring the deficit back to single digits with 1:11 left to play in the game.
Nevertheless, the Blue Devils ultimately converted a pair of free throws and a transition score to stymie the late run.
Fifth-year Filip Rebraca pounded out 10 points down low and led Iowa pulling down eight rebounds in the contest. Junior Kris Murray added eight points and seven rebounds to the Hawkeye effort.
Iowa earned 22 points off the bench, shooting 25-of-63 (40 percent) as a team. The Hawkeyes shot 3-of-16 (19 percent) from 3-point land and lost, 35-45, on the glass.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“I’ll be honest with you, I though our offense was pretty good. We got good shots. Yeah, they are physical. Yeah, they work. I think they’re connected. You’ve got to give them credit for that, but we got it to the front of the rim. We got open threes. We moved the ball. I do think that if you miss 38 shots, you’ve got to get more than nine [rebounds] back. It’s hard when you shoot 3-of-16 from three. I don’t remember a really bad three. Sometimes, it is bad because it is early in the possession, maybe, but we do that anyway. So that’s no big thing to us. If you are open, shoot it. We have good shooters that didn’t make shots tonight. I thought we moved the ball and shot open shots, and they didn’t go in.
Give them credit. They made seven [threes]. Jeremy Roach was on fire. Give him credit. Good player. I thought there were some really good things. We played hard. We did good on Kyl [Filipowski]. You know, he is a lottery pick. We really fought him. Our rebounding in the second half wasn’t what it needed to be. The first half was pretty much even, they only got one offensive rebound. In the second half, they got us. Give them credit for that.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- Patrick McCaffery and Dasonte Bowen led Iowa in points (12) and Filip Rebraca led the Hawkeyes in rebounding (8).
- True freshman Dasonte Bowen posted personal bests in scoring (12) and field goals made (5), all in the second half. Bowen scored eight straight Hawkeye points late in the second half.
- Duke held Iowa to a season low in points (62) and 3-pointers made (3).
- Tonight was the third of three games against ACC opponents over a span of 12 days (Clemson, Georgia Tech, Duke).
- Tonight was Iowa’s first appearance in the Jimmy V Classic.
- Iowa’s next four games will be at home (Iowa State, Wisconsin, Southeast Missouri State, Eastern Illinois).
UP NEXT
Iowa (6-2) returns to competition on Thursday against No. 20 Iowa State (7-1) in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:01 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
