[Herky] McCaffery still eyeing improvement

[Sue Bailey]

IOWA MEN'S BASKETBALL

McCaffery still eyeing improvement

By Scott Dochterman,The GazetteIOWA CITY - Iowa men's basketball coach 
Fran McCaffery saw something different in Tuesday's loss to Indiana from 
what he viewed in the Hawkeyes' previous defeats.

The loss was the No. 15 Hawkeyes' fourth straight and fifth of their 
last six games. But within the losses, he sees improvement, which is 
important with the postseason starting next week.

'Our execution was a lot better,' said McCaffery on the eve of his 
team's regular-season finale at Michigan (20-10, 10-7 Big Ten) today. 
'You can still miss shots. But you've got to get yourselves into a 
position where you have those shots and then you have a chance to win. 
We did that perfectly in the Indiana game. We didn't do it at all in the 
Wisconsin game.

'We were pretty good in the Ohio State game. The last play we ran, we 
couldn't run any better and we ran a play before that, we had a shot 
opportunity. I feel like we've really improved in that area, which is 
critical.' Iowa (20-9, 11-6) has struggled to close out close games this 
year. In the five games where the Hawkeyes have an opportunity to win or 
tie with shots in the final four seconds, they are 0 for 6. Against 
Indiana, the Hawkeyes had two cracks at tying the game. Anthony Clemmons 
missed a 3-pointer from near the top of the key with three seconds left. 
After an Adam Woodbury rebound, Peter Jok missed a wide-open 3-pointer 
from the corner.

At Ohio State, the Hawkeyes trailed by two points with 7.5
seconds left. Point guard Mike Gesell sprinted up the floor toward the 
basket but had his shot blocked. Iowa missed on three other chances in 
non-conference play.

Indiana forward Max Bielfeldt (center) is called for traveling as Iowa 
forwards Dom Uhl (left) and Nicholas Baer (right) defendTuesday at 
Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

The lack of late-game execution is part of an ugly trend for Iowa the 
last three years. Iowa has played 15 games (4-11 record) with an 
opportunity to tie or win in the final 11 seconds. The Hawkeyes have 
taken 15 shots and made only two. Both were hit last year by Jarrod 
Uthoff, including a game-winning jumper at Minnesota and a 3-pointer 
that sent a game into overtime at Northwestern.

McCaffery said the team practices end-ofgame situations but variables 
like foul trouble and opponent defenses are difficult to predict. He 
also discussed the mental approach with his team last week after the 
Wisconsin loss, and the team made strides afterward.

'As a coach, I'm not going to go in after the game the other night and 
start ripping everybody, because they dideverything we asked them to do. 
The shot didn't go at the end,' McCaffery said. 'The shot, we ran a set 
play. Uthoff made a perfect read, he didn't make the shot (with about 30 
seconds left). He wasn't trying to miss. But if he went the wrong way or 
he read it wrong and the play got jammed up and we turn it over and they 
go down and dunk it, well that's a problem.

'If you execute the play, and the shot doesn't go in and (Indiana guard) 
Yogi (Ferrell) pulls up from24 feet and shoots a contested 3 and makes 
it, there's nothing we cando about that.'

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