Iowa Hawkeye Men’s Basketball Team Continues Strange Phenomenon

As exciting as things have been for the Iowa women's basketball team this year, things haven't exactly panned out on the men's side of things. The 2023/2024 men's program currently has an 11-8 record but has struggled since Big 10 conference play began. The Hawkeyes are 3-5 in the conference and have struggled when they've been on the road.

Wednesday, the Hawkeyes took on the Maryland Terrapins and for 2 games in a row, something very strange has happened to the Hawkeyes on the offensive side of the ball. To make this even more frustrating, Iowa is currently the Big 10's top offense in points per game, according to the Daily Iowan. The last few minutes of back-to-back games have been a headache for players, coaches, and fans.

The Hawkeyes went into halftime at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a 6-point lead. For the second game in a row, the conference's best offense failed to make a shot in crunch time. While the Hawkeyes did make multiple free throw attempts, they didn't score from the field of play. Late in the second half, Iowa didn't hit a shot during the final 5:44 seconds, according to the Daily Iowan. The same thing happened when the Hawkeyes took on Purdue last Saturday, failing to hit a field goal in the last 4 minutes of the game.

How does this happen to the conference's best-scoring offense?

In the final 5:44 seconds of the game, the Hawkeyes turned the ball over 4 times, committed three fouls, and allowed 8 points. Maryland guard, Jahmir Young, would make game game-winning lay-up, with 1.5 seconds left, to seal the victory for Maryland.

Senior guard, Tony Perkins, spoke to the media after the game and mentioned the Hawkeyes becoming stagnant during the final moments of the game. According to the Daily Iowan, he said

Honestly, I would just say movement, we started to get stagnant, At the beginning of the game we get moving, we have great movement, ball reversals, and everything. But when it gets down to crunch time, we stand still.

The highest-scoring offense in the Big 10 failing to make a shot in crunch time is one of the strangest phenomena I've seen in basketball.

In sports, there's a saying people use for athletes who perform well under pressure, "This guy/girl has ice in their veins." This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen in my years of watching basketball. Hopefully, the team hops in the ice bath and finds some 'clutch' factor, as they take on Michigan tomorrow (January 27).