Iowa men fall at Wake Forest
WINSTOM-SALEM, N.C — Iowa junior guard Matt Gatens is used to taking big shots at pivotal times, but the circumstance he faced against Wake Forest on Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge was new to him.
After spending most of the second half on the bench, Gatens was inserted back into the game with 1 minute, 10 seconds left to play.
The former Iowa City High star missed a 3-point shot with 1:06 remaining, and he had another shot blocked near the basket by 7-foot center Ty Walker with 13 seconds left to play.
Wake Forest freshman guard J.T. Terrell then made his seventh 3-pointer of the game with four seconds remaining to lift his team to a 76-73 victory before an announced crowd of 9,086 at Joel Coliseum.
The Hawkeyes (3-4) had led by 18 points in the first half, but the Demon Deacons (4-3) chipped away in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.
Wake Forest's Gary Clark, center, is trapped by Iowa's Andrew Brommer, right, and Matt Gatens, left.
Gatens said it was tough trying to make a winning shot after spending so much time on the bench. He played six minutes in the second half after playing 14 minutes in the first.
“It’s something I’m not used to,” Gatens said. “It’s more difficult than when you are in a rhythm.
“But those guys fought back. And then coach wanted me in there to hit a late shot. I sure thought it was in. It’s just too bad, because it would have been a great win for this young team on the road.”
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said he kept Gatens on the bench for most of the second half because he liked how his team was playing without Gatens.
Iowa battled back from a 10-point deficit in the second half and led by one point twice without Gatens on the floor.
“The lineup we had was the one that was cooking,” McCaffery said. “He wasn’t in there at the time, so I went with them.
“And then I went back to (Matt) late. I thought his 3 was down.”
So did Gatens.
“It felt really good,” Gatens said. “About halfway there I actually thought it was in. But it was in and out. It’s a tough break.”
Iowa seized momentum in the first half with scoring runs of 19-5 and 13-0.
Wake Forest scored the last six points of the half to cut it to 39-27.
The Demon Deacons outscored Iowa 25-6 to begin the second half.
“We played extremely well in the first half with exception to about the last 30 seconds,” McCaffery said. “And that I think affected us a little bit.
“And then we had the stretch in the second half where it seemed like we just couldn’t make a shot. And they got comfortable. That’s the kind of thing that happens on the road.”
Iowa had no answer for Terrell. His winning shot came from 25 feet with a defender in his face.
“It was a deep shot,” Iowa sophomore Eric May said. “It was not like they got to the lane and we were fouling them.
“We’d rather them shoot that than get in the lane and have us reaching and putting them on the line. They took a deep shot, a tough shot and hit it.”
Iowa and Wake Forest both were trying to win back-to-back games for the first time under first-year head coaches.
Wake Forest improved to 9-2 in the Challenge under Jeff Bzdelik. Iowa fell to 2-8 in the Challenge.
Iowa starting point guard Bryce Cartwright played only three minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls.
He played 18 minutes in the second half and helped the comeback by scoring 10 of his 13 points then.
“I’ve just got to be smarter,” Cartwright said. “Two early fouls put me on the bench for the entire half.”
Wake Forest committed only three turnovers in the second half after having 13 in the first half.
“There was no ball pressure,” McCaffery said. “We didn’t rotate on ball screens after they made a pass. We’d done that in the first half.”
May led four Iowa players in double figures with 17 points.
Box score: Wake Forest 76, Iowa 73
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball
Tough loss, but it appears like we have a solid guy coaching the Hawks, and some exciting BB to watch this year!
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I was at the game and I disagree with the solid guy..was not impressed with his personnel choices..
leading scorer gatens doesn’t play for most of second half and then is thrown to the wolves in the last minute…
coach says they were cooking without him….sure they were..blew a 12 point halftime lead without him in, let wfu get a 10 point lead…without him..did come back, but ,maybe would not have lost lead if he had been in..or would have prevented wfu from going to a 10 point lead????
May ultimately be a good basic coach, BUT A GREAT COACH IN THE BIG 10…Don’t think so…
They should have won…but didn’t….wrong personnel choices overall…
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I didn’t see the game but if they were up 18 late in the second half.. what happened?
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Wake started hitting 3s in bunches. Got beat on a shot that would make Chris Kingsbury blush.
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I still call it a win!! Big improvement from last year, it will only get better
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Pat, i felt like I was watching “Groundhog Day” reading your article…repeating the same paragraphs..over and over…maybe spend a few more seconds proofreading your work ???
Regarding the game, I see major improvement in philosphy, pace and energy in Frans system. Good things to come!
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thanks for the correction!
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“…I see major improvement in philosphy.”
I think the word is philosophy, and one comes to mind about those who live is glass houses.
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There is hope for this team. But hey, Hawk Central, how about updating the sidebar to show the basketball schedule & standings? Football season is basically over.
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This was a great effort on our part. The scoring drought part way through the second half was hard to take but I have confidence that they can fix that. Did anyone listen to the ESPNU announcers for this game? That was the worst case of unbalanced, biased reporting I have seen in years. There was nothing but talk about Wake Forrest for the first half of the boradcast. Could they at least have some balance here?? When May made a great move to the basket with an up and under, all these lame announcers could do is lament the poor defense on the play and how so and so could correct that. ESPNU should be ashamed of itself!!
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I agree and was thinking that this is sure an amateur duo. At times they did not have a clue as to what was going on on the court. The commentator is an acc guy and was basically a homer. I was thinking where can I get their email address and ask them to be a little more fair. The announcer almost jumped out of his seat every time WF hit a 3.
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All in all, I was impressed with the team. Fran has them on the right track. Add in a couple more big guys and this team could really surprise people. Marble junior looks like the real deal and is more polished than his dad was at this stage, who was more athlete than player, and what’s not to love about May? What a pleasant surprise he has been. Excellent all-around player.
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People are very generous here and thankful for the new style of play. Wonder how long that will last. Folks seem to be content that the game was competitive, even though the Hawks gacked up a nice lead and really should have won this game.
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I was very disapointed in the game. To be up 18 and have to come back to even have a chance. I would like to see him go younger and have Marble start over Cole and I would even be happy to have Gatens come off the bench. I was disapointed in Gatens play in the game. If we are going to go young lets go young from the get go. I also thought that Cartwright did well at the point. I do like the style and think good things will eventually come.
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