Poor-shooting second half buries Gophers men's basketball in 71-59 loss at rival Iowa

IOWA CITY – Luke Loewe and his Gophers men's basketball teammates ran off the Carver- Hawkeye Arena floor celebrating Sunday after his buzzer-beating half-court shot put an exclamation on their inspiring first-half effort at Iowa.

The way the Gophers silenced a hostile crowd early was reminiscent of road wins earlier this season.

Not being able to finish games, though, has been the trend for Minnesota in Big Ten play with Sunday being another example with a poor-shooting second half in a 71-59 loss against the Hawkeyes.

"To have the momentum coming out of halftime, I thought we played pretty good basketball on both sides," Gophers coach Ben Johnson said. "I thought [Iowa's] aggressiveness on defense translated into really good offense. They were playing downhill. And for whatever reason we were on our heels."

The Gophers (11-9, 2-9) lost for the eighth time in the past nine games. But Johnson's team started off as the aggressor after having confidence carry over offensively from the U's second-highest scoring game in conference play in an 88-73 loss Thursday against No. 4 Purdue.

Loewe, who scored 11 of his team-high 19 points before halftime, intercepted a pass at midcourt in the waning seconds of the first half. The 6-4 senior then launched a two-handed heave that banked in as the clock expired.

"Just made a play on the ball and got lucky that it went in," Loewe said.

But the Hawkeyes (15-7, 5-6) held the Gophers to 23% shooting in the second half. They used a 19-4 run to snatch the momentum and seemingly their opponent's will to fight back.

Iowa was desperate for a win to stay in NCAA tournament contention with three losses in four games coming into the weekend's border battle.

Keegan Murray's 24 points and 15 rebounds helped the Hawkeyes get back on track Sunday playing without coach Fran McCaffery, who was out because of COVID-19 safety and protocols.

"They were riding the crowd and playing very well," Loewe said. "They turned it up a little bit on us. We just didn't handle it well. We kind of just let it get out of hand. We got to tighten up, especially in the second half."

BOXSCORE: Iowa 71, Gophers 59

Back-to-back shot clock violations from veterans Eric Curry and Payton Willis when it was still a two-point game midway through the second half was a sign that the crowd and Iowa's defense was rattling the Gophers.

Leading scorer Jamison Battle also struggled to find his rhythm while dealing with foul trouble. Battle, who finished with just two points on 1-for-12 shooting, tried to chase down Ahron Ulis on one possession after the ball was stolen at the top of the key.

Battle nearly picked up his fifth foul hustling to contest Ulis' layup, but he still couldn't stop the transition basket for a 64-51 Iowa lead.

A minute later, the Gophers seemed to let up defensively on Murray inside before he threw down an emphatic dunk. And Patrick McCaffery, who finished with 18 points, capped a 12-1 run when he scored on a putback for a 16-point margin with just under five minutes to play.

Big Ten men's basketball standings

All of Minnesota's nine losses have come to teams in the top 30 of the NCAA's NET rankings. The Gophers arguably have had the toughest schedule so far in the Big Ten, but Johnson expected them to handle adversity better than they did late Sunday.

"I don't think they didn't want to win," he said. "But I think there's a difference between effort and mental execution. There's a difference between effort and mental toughness."