IOWA CITY — Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger mentioned early and often in his postgame news conference that Iowa's small-ball gameplan had the Cyclones on their heels for 35 minutes Thursday night.
Unfortunately, games last 40, and Iowa couldn't keep up the juice for what would have been a sterling upset, falling to the No. 3 Cyclones, 89-80, at a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
McCaffery threw a pregame curveball at the Cyclones, starting point guard Drew Thelwell for the first time this season — not to replace Brock Harding in the starting five, but forward/center Ladji Dembele.
It worked — until it didn't. Iowa staked a 13-point lead in the first half, had it as high as nine in the second half, but faltered down the stretch during a 23-4 run to the visiting Cyclones in the second half. The Cyclones collected eight of their 18 offensive rebounds during that stretch, leading to seven second-chance points and numerous missed opportunities for Iowa to develop its own transition game.
"They spaced us out so well. They had such a great plan. They had us back on our heels for the first 35 minutes. That's a huge credit to them. We play relatively well against good teams, and they were relentless. The last 4-5 minutes we were a little better guarding the dribble, we were a little better contesting, and finishing plays on the glass, and that allowed us to get out in transition."
Thelwell responded to his starting nod with a spirited 10-point, four-assist performance in 36 minutes of court time, but his shot — like his teammates — ran cold near the end, and even as the team's leading rebounder, he (and his teammates) couldn't keep the Cyclones from extending plays down the stretch.
"Being in position to rebound was extremely important," said Otzelberger. "Tamin [Lipsey] being able to track down and keep possessions was important. Rebounding, there's a skill piece to it, but so much comes down to heart, determination and effort."
"We went small, so you run the risk of that happening," said McCaffery. "I thought our small lineup was really good. We had two turnovers in the second half. Plenty of shot opportunities to win the game; we made a bunch, then didn't make them. I could go big and get more rebounds, but then who knows what would happen on the other end?"
It's a fair question, especially with Iowa State's host of dangerous perimeter performers. But losing a game by 9 after being outscored on second-chance points 20-10 suggests a certain answer.
Indeed, even though Dembele was moved out of the starting lineup, he still earned 10 minutes of run in the first half, knocking down a pair of three-pointers and energizing the crowd. In a back-and-forth rivalry defined by great individual performances, it looked as if the "Ladji Dembele Game" would be a surprising next chapter in the series.
McCaffery left Dembele on the bench for all but 4:21 of the second half, and though the Malian sophomore center still made his only three-pointer of the second half, he wasn't able to re-establish his presence on the glass — not that starting center Owen Freeman did either against the Cyclones' bevy of bigs, finishing with just five rebounds.
"[Thelwell] was our leading rebounder," said McCaffery. "And that's good, except somewhat disappointing. We've got to do a better job across the board."
Dembele strictly rotated with Freeman on Thursday, so the two never shared the floor together. And while Dembele's turn as a stretch-five off the bench seems to suit his skill set better than a middling run starting next to Freeman while Seydou Traore has been out — Traore returned to the rotation Thursday — one can't help but wonder whether the Hawkeyes could have managed the stops they needed to maintain the lead with some extra size out there.
"I'm really proud of [Dembele]," McCaffery said. "I told him, 'Come off the bench, play with confidence.' He was getting a little tentative, and he wasn't tentative at all tonight. He was great, and he should've played more. That's on me."
At a minimum, these rotation mistakes are easier to swallow in early December than the Big Ten season — to say nothing of March, if Iowa can make it back to the Big Dance. And make no mistake: beating the No. 3 team in the nation would have gone a long way to legitimizing this dessert cart of a non-conference slate (the Hawkeyes' current KenPom SOS rating: 311th out of 364, with two more cupcakes and Utah yet to face).
But even though it won't improve their resume, the Hawkeyes gave a no-doubt top-five team 35 minutes of hell Thursday night, and now it's up to McCaffery and the team to build off this lesson, painful as it may be.
