Locked On Hawkeyes - Daily Podcast On Iowa Hawkeyes Football & Basketball - Reaction to Iowa basketball controversially falling to Rutgers in must-win situation

Episode Date: January 20, 2022

The Iowa basketball team fell to Rutgers on the road last night in one of the ugliest games I have seen in quite some time. The Iowa Hawkeyes offense couldn't muster anything, but a surprisingly strong defensive effort kept them in the game, We break it all down here,We also give a preview of Saturday's game vs Penn State before talking about Drew Tate. Could Drew Tate be eying an Iowa Hawkeye staffing opportunity?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.NetSuiteOver twenty-seven thousand businesses already use NetSuite and RIGHT NOW through the end of the year NetSuite is offering a one-of-a-kind financing program to those ready to upgrade at NetSuite.com/LOCKEDONNCAA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Hawkeyes, your daily podcast on the Iowa Hawkeyes. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back Hawkeye Nation to a Thursday morning episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes Podcast, your daily podcast covering your Iowa Hawkeyes on the Locked On Podcast Network. As always, I am your host, Andrew Wade, excited to be back for another show today, even if it is under unfortunate circumstances where the Iowa Hawkeyes did fall last night to the men's Rutgers basketball team. We're going to be talking about that game. We're also going to be talking about the upcoming game,

Iowa versus Penn State on Saturday, because we are not dropping an episode tomorrow. I have family in town. I'm going to enjoy my time with my family. Not that I don't enjoy recording this podcast, but want to make sure I'm being as engaged as possible. So no show tomorrow. So we're going to be dropping an Iowa versus Penn State preview

on this show as well. And also, could Drew Tate eventually be the quarterback coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes? I think it's everything a fan would want. We're going to be talking about that as well. Before we get to all of that, though, thank you for making the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast your first listen every single day. You can find the Locked on Hawkeyes podcast for free wherever you get podcasts at and also on YouTube by searching Locked on Hawkeyes.

It is that easy. Let's get into the game, though. As we've kind of tried to do the last couple games, we're going to break it down by a recap, get into the takeaways, and then wrap up with where does Iowa go from here? Before we get to anything, I want to quickly say that this was a must-win opportunity, and it had a very unfortunate ending. In this game, Iowa falls to Rutgers, so not exactly the result we were all looking for. Nevertheless, we must move on, go forward. It happened. There's literally nothing we can do about it at this point. Iowa falls to Rutgers 48-46 in one of the ugliest basketball games

I have seen in quite some time. Offensively, one of the worst games Iowa has had. I'll try to look up some of the numbers here, but one of the worst games Iowa has had offensively, I would argue the Fran McCaffrey era in general. Just a terrible game all around. Only one Iowa Hawkeye having an offensive rating over 100 for the Iowa Hawkeyes. In fact, only one Iowa Hawkeye having an offensive rating over 83 or 88 for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

And that was Joe Toussaint, who also wasn't exactly incredible last night either for the Iowa Hawkeyes. In this game, Iowa shot 32% from the field. Not going to win a lot of games shooting 32%. They shot 22% from three. Rutgers did out-rebound Iowa 49-38, but they turned the ball over five more times, and Rutgers had five more blocks than Iowa. Ten blocks in this game. And not just going down low and getting stuff, getting blocked on the perimeter. And a lot of that was because Rutgers is doing a phenomenal job of making sure Iowa had to hold on to the ball throughout the entire possession. Iowa got into

a position where they had to shoot the ball with one or two seconds left, and Rutgers was able to key on it. So kudos to their perimeter guys for being able to handle that. Several long droughts for the Iowa Hawkeyes in this game. Several long scoring droughts where Iowa just could not buy a freaking basket. It was seven, eight minutes in the first half, six to seven minutes in the second half. Towards the end of the game, within a minute left, I believe Iowa was two of 17 or two of 18 for their last 18 shots. I mean, that's never going to get you a win.

But the fact that Iowa was able to stay in this game is one of the big turning points for me. When you look at the takeaways from this, Iowa stepped this game up defensively. Rutgers was not able to do a lot either. It was a very physical and aggressive game. And we talked about this. Rutgers likes playing very physical defense.

They like getting their hands in passing lanes. They're very long and lean. They're able to do that and they're able to make Iowa's life miserable. They have done this for the last couple of years for against Iowa. And the fact that Iowa was able to keep this game close despite only scoring 46 points is a testament to the Hawks. Kudos to Iowa for being able to handle that and take care of business to a degree and keep this game close despite having a very inadequate offense. I don't know if I've seen so many air balls

from Jordan Bohannon before. That was rough. Two of 10 from three for Jordan. Oh, one from the field. I had a 52 offensive rating. Just not exactly what you like to see for Jordan Bohannon. Just a rough game all around. Keegan Murray was struggling, 3 of 8 from the field, 2 of 6 from 3.

But again, takeaway here, defensively, Iowa did a pretty good job against Rutgers, a Rutgers team that is on the rise. The other thing is, as far as this game, it stinks. It was a must-needed win. And when you look at advanced metrics, you look at net ranking, you look at Ken Palm, it was a had to win game because this is a, this is not a quality loss when you look at it from a Ken Palm perspective or a net ranking perspective. However, a lot of that was things that happened prior to Geo Baker being there. Rutgers got off to a rough start without Geo Baker.

They're a better team than that. They were a tournament team last year. They returned almost the entire team. So this is still a good team. It just looks bad on paper right now, but I think Rutgers is going to show that they can beat any team in the Big Ten any given night. I think Fran has to be willing to go to some of his bench guys. We've

seen that in the past, but it was mostly when Iowa wasn't playing defense last year. He would put in the second string and see what they could do. This year, offensively, Iowa just can't seem to get it going at times. Against Rutgers, it was the entire night They couldn't figure it out. They couldn't get, honestly, that good of looks throughout the game. Last week against Minnesota on Sunday, they struggled for seven to eight minutes. Not having Connor McCaffrey there was a struggle, but they couldn't battle against that zone at all. They need to figure some things out offensively, which is weird to say. But my question is, if Jordan Bohannon is literally airballing half of his threes,

right, if we are not seeing a Phil Rocha be effective shooting the basketball, what does it hurt to put in one of the other guys? Let's try it. Chris Murray only got 11 minutes. I think Chris Murray could probably deserve a bit more time. I mean, two weeks ago, we were talking about Chris Murray as the number two guy and a guy who deserves 25 to 30 minutes. Yeah, Chris Murray gets 11 minutes in this game. Tony Perkins only got 10 minutes in this game. Now, I'm not saying Tony, I'm not an advocate for Tony Perkins getting more minutes. I'm just saying it's interesting that we're not seeing Fran go to the bench a little bit more in this game to see if we can get a bit more creative offensively.

Another takeaway from this game, flush it. That's what she can do. And the biggest thing, and we're going to talk about this now, the officiating at the end of this game was the worst officiating I have ever seen. I do not know how you call that ticky-tack foul on Keegan Murray to send Ron Harper to the line with 1.9 seconds left. That is a disgrace. Unacceptable.

Literally one of the worst calls I've ever seen. And not just Iowa fans, it was all basketball fans were pissed off about this foul. When you allowed it to be basically a full contact basketball game for the entire game. And then with 1.9 seconds left in a tied basketball game, you call a ticky tack foul when Rutgers is in the bonus and send them to the free throw line? Wow. Big Ten officiating has a problem here. Now, I will say, Iowa should not allow themselves to be in a position to have a game decided by a foul, but it is still frustrating nonetheless. It should have been an overtime basketball game for the Hawks. To make matters worse,

they even got a clean shot off. Iowa got a clean shot off with 1.8 seconds left. Connor McCaffrey checking the ball down the court. Keegan Murray was able to get an open look. But yet again, an air ball. Just a rough game for the Hawks. They only shot 54% from free throws. That's an issue I'm seeing. Iowa has not been able to deliver clutch free throws.

When they need a free throw, when they need to seal the game, they have been incredibly inconsistent from the line, which is very frustrating. So what's next for Iowa? This is a bad loss on the resume. There's no way to swing it unless Rutgers starts winning to overcome some of their bad losses earlier on in the season. This makes the Penn State game even more important.

As we talked about before the new year started, Iowa needed to go 5-1. Well, the best they can do is 4-2 now for the first six games. They need to win against Penn State. There are not a lot of easy wins in this conference, but you need to be able to beat the teams that you are more talented than. Carver is sold out on Saturday, so it should be a huge game for the Hawks. Fans need to get up and support them. Give them a home court advantage so Iowa can come away with a W here. And you gotta flush it.

Flush this game. There's not a lot to take away from this game other than it was one of the ugliest basketball games I've seen in quite some time. Coming up, we're going to talk a bit about the Iowa-Penn State game. What does Iowa need to do to win that basketball game? Before we do that, though, this is it. The putt to win the tournament. If you sink it, the championship is yours. But on your backswing, your hat falls over your eyes.

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I appreciate you all listening in. We are not dropping an episode tomorrow. We will be back on Monday. And on Monday, we're going to be talking about Iowa versus Penn State in the recap of that game because Iowa has a big game against Penn State, a team that, like Rutgers, has shown the ability to win or at least play in close games. Penn State suffered quite an exodus this offseason.

It's been an interesting time to be a Penn State fan. Basketball has never really been the forte for Penn State, but nevertheless, we are here. Coming on to a new season with a new coach, Micah Shrewsbury in his first season has Penn State at 8 and seven to this point, 68th ranked according to Kempom. And their losses are kind of interesting. They lost Ohio State by five points on Sunday. They lost to Purdue at home by seven points. They got blown out against Michigan State on the road. They lost to Ohio State at home by 12 points. They lost a close game to LSU by five points in overtime.

They beat Indiana 61-58. They beat Northwestern 74-70. It's tough to make out what this team can do. Now, that being said, I think Iowa has a few opportunities here. If they can stop Penn State's perimeter offense. Now, when you look at Penn State, the majority of their points are coming from the three-point line. All right, they are 71st in three-point distribution, which means they like to get their points accumulated by shooting the deep shot.

And they have several guys who can shoot very well. Starting with Sam Sessons, who's shooting 46% from three. Miles Dredd shooting 39% from three. And Seth Lundy shooting 35% from three. So three guys shooting the ball very well. They have a couple other guys who haven't gotten hot yet. But again, shooting the ball really well. Penn State, kind of a balanced team.

Again, 68th in Ken Palm, 87th on the offensive side, 62nd on defense. Turnover percentage, though, leaves an opportunity for Iowa. 216th in offensive turnover percentage. They turn the ball over a lot more than most teams. 347th in defensive turnover percentage, which means they don't force a lot of turnovers either. They're not a great offensive rebounding team either, 177th. But defensively rebounding, they're not bad. They can get to the boards. They are good at ending the possession for the opposing team.

Not a ton of size, and they like to keep a short bench. They only really have a seven-man rotation consistently. Now, what's also interesting about this team, only two guys in their starting five actually started their careers at Penn State. That's Seth Lundy and John Herrera. We know who John Herrera is. He's a guy who had a very good game against Iowa last year, had a 150 offensive rating versus Iowa, was just dominating on the boards, doing a great job of cleaning up the glass for Penn State. Now, I think he's a guy that Phillip Bracha should be able to handle. Roughly the same size,

different games, but Phillip Bracha has shown an ability to handle whatever is really thrown at him to a degree. I think this is going to be a game where Phillip Bracha has a breakout game. He's been kind of on the bubble, having really good games, showing some consistency. I think this is a good game for him to break out. Penn State hasn't a good game for him to break out. Penn State hasn't played a game in a week. That's something to watch out for as well. They have not played a game since Sunday against Ohio State.

Minnesota got postponed. So they're kind of, they're fresh a little bit, but they're also haven't had a real live game and they haven't been on the road for a week. So going up against Iowa at Carver is going to be huge. So the keys of this game, there's three main keys in my opinion, get out and run. Iowa likes to play transition basketball. They like to get out, run, push the tempo of the game. When you look at Penn State, they are not a high tempo team. They are 352nd in possession length on the offensive side of the basketball.

Iowa needs to get out and run. When you have a limited bench, a limited rotation like Penn State does with seven guys consistently, they don't like to get those guys out of the game. That means Iowa has an opportunity to tire them out, win the game in the fourth quarter or in the last 10 minutes by kicking their butts the first three 10-minute intervals and running and running and running. They need to defend the perimeter. I think Phillip Obracha is going to be fine down low at John Harar. I think man defense is really where you need to be at in this game. You cannot allow them to rotate the ball around the perimeter to find an open look at the three-point line. You cannot allow them to rotate the ball around the perimeter to find an open look at the three-point line.

Nothing is more frustrating than seeing Iowa in zone and watching a team patiently and methodically rotate the ball around the perimeter until they get a guy who is absolutely wide open. That is how a team like Penn State beats you. They hit the three ball. You stop the three, you beat Penn State. That is going to be their MO. They're going to try to get open looks on the perimeter. I think Iowa needs to be in man in this game more consistently than they have been in the past. I don't feel like Penn State has the athletes to beat

us consistently off the dribble, so stop them at the perimeter. And then finally, if you're going to Carver on Saturday, you need to get into that game. Just like we did Iowa versus Penn State, the football game. It won't be as electric as that, but it needs to be electric. It's the only home game Iowa has at Carver on a Saturday. Most people are complaining about the fact that they can't make a Thursday night game because they're not going to be home until 1230 a.m. I understand that. So show up and show out for this game against Penn State at Carver. Get up. Make it a tough environment for Penn State. Get Iowa that W so we can move on and start tackling the rest of the basketball season. That's my preview for Iowa versus Penn State. Right now, Ken Palm has it as a nine-point game for Iowa.

Iowa favored by nine points against Penn State, according to Ken Palm. Typically, the lines come out around that, maybe give or take a point. Given the crowd, it's a tough one. I don't think I'm going to bet on this one, but I would take Iowa to cover if I were. Now, what is a little bit more interesting to me is the over-under. I think this is really going to be one of two games. Iowa's either going to blow out Penn State, at which point they would hit the over, which by my projections looks like it'd be 145, I think. projections looks like it'd be 145, I think. If Penn State does hit the three ball, I think it's going to be a high scoring game, which they still hit the over in this game. So 145, I'm taking the

over on that. I'm also taking Iowa to cover, but I would prefer to take the over before the cover. Coming up, we're going to talk about Drew Tate. Could he be in line to be the next quarterback coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes? We're going to be talking about all that here in a few short moments. First, though, BetOnline.ag would like to wish you a happy new betting year as we continue our march to the playoffs and beyond. BetOnline remains the number one spot for all the best sports wagering action for 2022. With a new year and a new updated desktop and mobile website, you can sign up today and receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit.

All you need to do is use the promo code LOCKEDON, that's L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N, to get started. From football, basketball, hockey, boxing, and UFC, right to your favorite Vegas casino games, don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for 2022. BetOnline is the fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. BetOnline.ag fastest and the easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. BetOnline.ag, where the game starts. All right, y'all, let's get into it. Drew Tate posted an interesting

cryptic picture on Twitter yesterday with a UNI Panda logo, which I can only take to mean Drew Tate is the next quarterback coach for the Northern Iowa Panthers. That's an interesting move for Drew, getting closer and into the state of Iowa. And I believe this is a step to what could be the next step as the quarterback coach of the University of Iowa. But let me tell you why. He's been steadily working his way through the ranks. 11 seasons as a quarterback in the CFL. Very impressive. And honestly, kind of revolutionized how he played the game. He changed a bit. He moved to more of a running quarterback versus where he was at at Iowa. He then was a defensive assistant at Coastal Carolina,

moved on to a quarterback coach in the CFL, worked a little bit for the fan-controlled football league, and last season was a quarterback coach at UT Martin, an FCS school. He now makes the jump to UNI for what I can assume is to be the quarterback coach for the Northern Iowa Panthers, one of the better teams in FCS. Now, when you look at the quarterback position for Iowa, they have had some struggles

as of recent. Spencer Petras has not gotten it done. Alex Padilla has shown some flashes, but at this point has not separated himself as the guy. This offensive system takes one to one and a half years to just somewhat master. And prior to that, Nate Stanley was a very good quarterback for the Iowa Hawkeyes, but always struggled with accuracy. Now we mentioned before, Brian Ferenc talked about the fact that they are going to look at the offense coming into next season and make some changes.

I would like to think one of those changes is going to be to move towards a modern offense with a mobile quarterback. Which will create more opportunities for you to do some things offensively that you haven't been able to do in the past. That gives an Alex Padilla a leg up on the competition or Joey LaBasse. Utilizing mobility to make the offense better. There is no way to cut it. Iowa's offense was atrocious this year. You cannot keep going through hoping that you have a once-in-a-lifetime offensive line so you can set up the running game. You need to be able to adapt around your players and build up an offense that can win even when you have a weak link or two on the offensive line. And a mobile quarterback allows you to mask a lot of those issues.

So here's why Drew Tate going to UNI is such a big deal. Ken O'Keefe is currently the quarterback coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Ken O'Keefe was the offensive coordinator and the quarterback coach for Drew Tate when Drew Tate was quarterback at Iowa. Ken O'Keefe is 68. He does not have that much more time left to be coaching. I would not be surprised to see him retire in the next year or two. Maybe step down and become just an assistant for the program.

He's got a great career. But it's time to kind of move aside to this point. Who would be better to step in for Ken O'Keefe than one of Ken O'Keefe's first quarterbacks for the Iowa Hawkeyes and Drew Tate? Who would be better to step in for the Iowa Hawkeyes trying to revitalize a stalled out offense with a more mobile quarterback than Drew Tate? A guy who personally has come on this show and told me, I would have loved to run the ball more. They just wouldn't let me. A guy who operated within the framework of Iowa's offense successfully

while also still being upset that he couldn't do more in that offense. Now, a lot of you don't like Brian Ferencz as an offensive coordinator. I can understand the concerns for the most part. But again, I will reiterate the fact that I think a lot of it actually comes down to Kirk Ferencz and his beliefs on offense. Kirk Ferencz ultimately calls the shots. I think what we're going to see, and Brian Ferencz has been breaking down Kirk over the last couple of years. You're seeing a lot more gadgety and gizmo type plays than we have seen in the past. I think we're continuing to see evolution.

I think this year is the biggest step we take under Brian Ferentz as an offensive coordinator. I think if you want to add Drew Tate into that picture, get a little bit younger on this team, bringing a Hawkeye alumni who put together some of the best offensive numbers in the Iowa Hawkeye offense, who understands what this offense can be like, while also understanding the modern-day principles of offensive ingenuity.

Him and Brian Ferencz together I think would be a fantastic combo, and it would be a great selling point for the Hawks. Now Ken O'Keefe has a ton of experience. He has great relationships with our quarterbacks. He's done a good job to a degree. But I think it's time to start looking at what is the future there for that quarterback position. have experience. He has great relationships with our quarterbacks. He's done a good job to a degree. But I think it's time to start looking at what is the future there for that quarterback position. And with Drew Tate moving to Northern Iowa, he's going to be developing those relationships and recruiting with the local areas. He's beginning to develop that process that he's

going to need to use at Iowa. Just a short drive for him down the road to start working for the University of Iowa. So I'm calling it. I think Drew Tate, quarterback coach, 2024 for the Iowa Hawkeyes. That is my hope. That is my call for today. That is my bet. I am going to make a prediction that Drew Tate is going to be the quarterback coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes in two years.

Ken O'Keefe will be 70 at that point. Drew Tate will have two years under his belt at UNI, understanding the layout of the Iowa recruiting market. It'll be fun. I think that'd be great, and I think it'd be beneficial for the offense as they continue to hopefully re-engineer how this offense looks going forward.

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You can get that, your boy Q and handicapping expert, Lee Sterling. And that will do it for our show today. I appreciate you all tuning in to today's episode of the Locked On Hawkeyes podcast. Have a fantastic Thursday, y'all. And we'll be back on Monday. And as always, Hawkeye Nation, let's go Hawks.