IOWA CITY -- A blowout loss to UCLA, who had dropped it's last four games, was one thing for Iowa (12-7, 3-5). A loss on Tuesday night to previously 9-9 overall 1-6 in the Big Ten, Minnesota (10-9, 2-6) is something totally different.
In what's largely been a disappointing start to the new year, the Hawkeyes lost their third conference game in a row, and dropped its fourth loss in the last six games. Despite a late run to get the game within three twice in the final 1:05, the Gophers left Carver-Hawkeye Arena with their first win in Iowa City since 2015.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Minnesota? At Home?
Along with their abysmal, last-place record in the Big Ten, Minnesota has stacked up losses to mid-major programs like North Texas and Wichita State in the non-con. Iowa didn't look all that inspired to defeat what should've been a gimme win over the Gophers.
"We didn't do some things collectively that we wanted to do," Fran McCaffery said after the loss. "Yeah, that's disappointing, but I would give our opponent credit. That's a really good team. Probably as old a team as we're going to face. Everybody's a senior, except for Isaac (Asuma), who's terrific."
Except, Minnesota isn't a "really good team." They rank 96th in the country on KenPom and 121st in the NET. Iowa trailed for all but 3:36 of the contest.
Though the Gophers recently eaked out an upset over No. 20 Michigan at home last Thursday, 84-81 in overtime, Minnesota's resume is not that of a tournament team, and the stats bore that out in their win over Iowa.
As a team, Minnesota shot 41.4% from the field and 29.2% from three. Iowa outscored them in the paint, 48-30. They turned the ball over 11 times to Iowa's seven.
This wasn't about how good the Gophers are. It's about how bad the Hawkeyes played (which we'll get into, believe me).
One bright spot for the Gophers that allowed them to consistently fend off Iowa, even in the later stages of the game was Dawson Garcia.
The Marquette and North Carolina transfer, who's originally from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, put up 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
"He can go for 30 at any point in time. He's their guy," McCaffery said. "I'd like to have held him under 20, but he's a guy that, they do a good job getting him the ball. They run stuff well, and he's a veteran guy. One of the best players in our league."
Minnesota's second-leading scorer on the night was Femi Odukale, who airballed a free throw. The senior guard finished with 18 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and nearly gave Iowa the momentum they needed to nearly pull off the victory late.
Again, this wasn't about how "good" the Gophers are. It was about how atrocious the Hawkeyes played.
What Happened to the Offense?
Going into Iowa's loss at UCLA, the Hawkeyes had the No. 1 offense in the country. After Tuesday night, that's definitely no longer the case.
Between 70 points against the Bruins and 67 against the Gophers, Iowa's offense has cratered the last two contests.
"Teams have adjusted pretty well [to us]," Payton Sandfort said, who co-led Iowa in scoring along with Owen Freeman with 21 points. "We'll figure it out. Teams go through this funk in the year. The only thing we can do is stick together. ... There's a lot of basketball left, a lot of opportunities. We've just got to stay together."
McCaffery pointed to several things the Hawkeyes did themselves on the offensive end that resulted in the struggles.
"I do think we quick shot the ball again when we got behind," he said. "We were forcing some threes there. Some things might have been different with regard to those particular shots. But I would have preferred to see a little more ball movement."
In part, some of those quick shots resulted in Iowa shooting just 28-of-61 form the field (45.9%) and 3-of-21 (14.3%) from deep.
Neither Sandfort nor McCaffery were particularly happy with the officiating. McCaffery was more cautious, clearly attempting to avoid a fine from the Big Ten.
"There are some things that I would like to say with regard to [the offensive struggles]," he said, "But unless you're ready to start a GoFundMe, I will refrain."
Sandfort was a little more poignant with his word choice.
"I got fouled probably four or five times," he said regarding his 1-of-8 shooting from three. "I'm pretty upset about that."
"Outside of that, they didn't give us many looks," he continued. "That's just the way it goes. Sometimes you have nights like that. You've got to find another way to win, which unfortunately we couldn't do, but I'm very confident that we'll get that going again."
Too Little Too Late
Iowa was horrendously flat to start the game, another negative trend from this season. From 12:36 remaining in the first half to 8:44, the Hawkeyes went without scoring a single point -- nothing from the field, and nothing from the free throw line. With just ten points on the scoreboard, they were on pace to score less than 40 points for the whole contest.
"It was a tough stretch, there's no excuse for the way we started," Sandfort said. "I take responsibility. I forced a couple things early. I can't do that. I've got to be a better leader."
Despite the horrid start and what became a 11-point deficit at the 8:52 mark in the first half, the Hawkeyes cut the lead to two with 41 seconds till the break before Garcia made a layup as time expired on the first half to extend the Gopher lead to 32-28.
Things opened up again in the second half, as the Hawkeyes came out and played uninspired basketball for the first 17 minutes, looking as though they would give the game away without a fight. At the 6:15 mark, the Gophers led by 17 points.
Things quickly changed over the ensuing five minutes, where the Hawkeyes went on a 17-4 run to cut the lead to to four with 1:20 remaining. Freeman scored six of Iowa's 17 over that stretch.
"I got my hand sealed, and was just kind of able to finish," Freeman said.
Despite the run, Minnesota held Iowa off at the last second for the victory. With a three-point lead, the Gophers fouled Seydou Traore, sending the Manhattan transfer to the free throw line with ten seconds remaining. He missed the first free throw, Minnesota grabbed the board and Frank Mitchell -- who was shooting 37% from the stripe going into the game -- made both free throws to seal the five-point victory.
Freeman was evidently disappointed following the game during media availability, despite his 21 points and eight rebounds..
"I'm just frustrated. I want to win," he said. That's really just it."
Sandfort, the senior leader of the squad, chimed in with a similar message.
"There's not much to say," he added. "A lot of guys are making big sacrifices. When things like that happen, it pays off in the end. We've just got to keep believing."
NEXT: Iowa will face Penn State (13-6, 3-5) on Friday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 8 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
