Iowa overcame poor shooting performances by its stars and persevered through a late rally to defeat Clemson, 74-71, in the semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic. Kris Murray dealt with a lid on the basket for most of the evening, finishing with 10 points and 12 rebounds on 4-of-17 shooting, and Patrick McCaffery led the way for the black and gold with 21 points in the victory.
Let's get the obvious out of the way early: the refereeing stunk, and it's going to be what anybody who watched this game will mention first. Payton Sandfort was called for a flop after being legitimately hit midair while hitting a three-pointer; thankfully, the officials let the shot stand and Clemson dutifully missed its free throw. The Tigers' 16-2 run that tied the game late in the second half was fueled in part by some dodgy and-one calls that Iowa wasn't getting on its end down the stretch, but all right — that happens. No, the real "fun" came in the last 45 seconds, which took 17 minutes of real time (we checked), including one of the most mystifying clock reviews we've ever seen, full stop.
So we had to review 500 times because these moron announcers dont know how the clocks work here?? is that what Twitter is telling me?
— Connor McCaffery (@connor_m30) November 26, 2022
Iowa was inbounding the ball with 40.1 seconds to go and a 66-65 lead, and Patrick McCaffery airballed a quick attempt. Fortunately, Filip Rebraca was in perfect position to gather the errant shot and put it back in as the shot clock clicked to zero. Officials quickly moved for a clock review, and it was close, but the ball clearly left Rebraca's hands in time. One would think that the review would have taken a minute, tops. One would think.
Big-time bucket.@FRebraca x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/V800sPkG2d
— Iowa Mens Basketball (@IowaHoops) November 26, 2022
Instead, the situation turned into a protracted discussion over the shot clock's invisible tenths of a second, accusations of clock malfunctions by the announcers (PRO TIP: mute every crew you've never heard of and listen to good music instead), and a FIVE-MINUTE stoppage of play that ground this close game to a complete halt with 36 seconds left on the clock. Both teams were confused and angry, and at one point the officials had to confer with the announcers, who had convinced themselves that something nefarious was afoot. It was weird weird.
And yes: the call eventually, correctly, went Iowa's way. But that is atrocious officiating, and something the NCAA must figure out a way to address sooner rather than later. It is referees' jobs to get calls right, absolutely. It is also their jobs to keep games moving. Barring a fight or something equally catastrophic, there is no reason at all to stop a game for five full minutes, much less with under 40 seconds to play. Nobody, not a soul on earth, watches sports for the video reviews. They do not provide a net improvement to the games, they do not make for compelling television, and they're used far too often in relation to the egregious refereeing mistakes they're in place for. And that goes for pretty much every sport outside of tennis. Make it stop. Please.
Okay, we're putting that aside and never coming back to it. Back to the game.
Kris Murray deserves credit for 35 minutes of stellar effort, even with a bevy of short-range shots bouncing off the rim. His four offensive rebounds and 12 total rebounds both led the team, and he never turned the ball over, frustrations be damned. Tony Perkins also shook off some rust coming back from his leg injury, going 1-for-6 from the field, but he was also 9-for-10 at the line and is quickly turning into Iowa's best weapon for protecting late leads.
As a whole, Iowa was just 4-for-19 from behind the arc, shot just 33% in the second half and struggled to take advantage of the 11:31 it spent in the double bonus (some of those calls were iffy too; we told you the refereeing was bad, not biased). For a game in which the Hawkeyes only trailed for 12 seconds — Clemson led 3-2, 67 seconds into the game — it sure seemed like the table was set for Iowa to blow the game.
Thankfully, the team stood tall, played mostly solid defense down the stretch, and demonstrated the value of building 14-point leads in the first place. Runs happen, you might as well be equipped to withstand them and strike back when you get the chance.
Fired up for another dub.@patrickmccaff22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/V0bohuiC0Z
— Iowa Mens Basketball (@IowaHoops) November 26, 2022
TCU awaits in the championship of this Classic, having dispatched a miserably bad California team 59-48 on the other half of the bracket. Cal is now 0-6 and frankly did not even belong in that game to begin with; this tournament does that thing where they play a "first round" where the power conference teams all get home games against rinky-dinkers, and said rinky-dinkers then get their own four-game tourney too. Well, Cal dropped its date with Southern, but the Jaguars didn't get the privilege of joining the winners' bracket. Super lame. Whatever.
The Horned Frogs will present Iowa with another defensive challenge, and they're one of the few teams that can match the Hawkeyes in both length and experience. Should be fun. Especially if it's a well-called game.
Okay, NOW we're done talking about the referees. 5-0! A holiday tourney title within reach! Guys being dudes! What's better than that?
GO. IOWA. AWESOME.
