IOWA CITY – No Roy Marble Jr. was too much of a loss for the Iowa Hawkeyes as they dropped a close game to the #22 Michigan State Spartans Thursday night, 62-59.
Marble, Iowa’s leading scorer, sprained his ankle in practice this week. Senior Eric May started in his place.
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said without Marble, scoring the ball was more difficult for his Hawks.
“It was tough offensively to get the kind of rhythm we needed,” McCaffery said. “You know, they’re a very physical team defensively, and you need a guy who can break his man down and get to the rim and get to the free throw line.”
Iowa had a shot at the victory, leading by double digits for much of the first half and opening with a 7-0 advantage. Later, Melsahn Basabe’s bucket gave Iowa a 4-point lead with 2 minutes to go.
But, with the game tied 56-56 with one minute to go, the Spartan’s Keith Appling made play after play to keep Iowa at bay.
Iowa shot 45% from the floor as Zach McCabe and Basabe went a combined 11-14 on FG attempts. Coach McCaffery praised their play. “Melsahn and Zach were fabulous. Did exactly what we need them to do.”
McCaffery wasn’t exactly thrilled with his team’s overall play.
“Didn’t play with any toughness… and that’s disappointing. Offensively we played with no toughness whatsoever. Defensively, we did. On the glass, we did. But you have the other end of the floor, okay? Can’t turn the ball over 18 times. They don’t change defenses. They don’t press. You can’t turn the ball over 18 times, because when you do, it’s dunks and lay ups.”
Iowa held a 31-12 advantage in bench points.
Iowa falls to 0-3 in Big Ten Conference play and 11-5 overall.
Iowa returns to action Sunday, meeting Northwestern in Evanston.
