Sparty vs. Iowa Basketball
Iowa just hit 5 threes to tie it. They were down 13 with less than 2 minutes to go.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Insane ending of regulation… Iowa was down 12 with 1:16 to go and managed to tie it. The Fran stare down with the ref was extremely bizarre
February 25th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
I was so uncomfortable. Then they replayed it!
February 25th, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
And MSU was 12/14 from FT in the final 1:34. Everything about this was totally bonkers.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:36 PM ^
Needed to go 13/14....
izzo will be pissed 😡😭
February 25th, 2023 at 3:16 PM ^
But Sparty also traveled, gave up a couple of ORebs, and played zero defense at all during that stretch.
Also, they didn’t foul when up 3 at the end.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:47 PM ^
Fran had that "Go ahead, make my day" look...love it!
February 25th, 2023 at 6:32 PM ^
Yep, I had MSU +5.5 in my bet and felt great about. And then the last two minutes happened. Then I thought MSU would play it close in OT, which they did, but not close enough. That last free throw miss by MSU was the nail in the coffin.
That game was probably the worst bad beat of my betting "career".
February 26th, 2023 at 8:45 AM ^
Fran is a child who is never punished by the league for his childish behavior
February 26th, 2023 at 10:10 AM ^
we love bitching about out-of-control refs, trying to make themselves the stars…but that should’ve gotten a T, and probably an ejection. he’s clearly trying to intimidate him. letting it go is really bad, no matter what the game situation.
February 26th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
I agree with the sentiment--Fran was showing up the ref, though silently, which was clever and extra disrespectful, ironically.
I think the ref should have not T'd him up but rather turned his back or ostentatiously walked away. That would be responding in (childish) kind.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
This is hilarious!
February 25th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
When it happens to somebody else, sure.
There's something strange in corn country.
February 25th, 2023 at 8:03 PM ^
You have to embrace it to win there.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:21 PM ^
And Iowa started getting officiating reminiscent of what we get at home...i.e. bullshit, especially for homecourt.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:23 PM ^
After two really bad calls in a row against Iowa, McCaffrey called a timeout and just stared at the ref for a good ten seconds, then took a couple steps towards him and continues staring until he was pulled away. It was like a wild west showdown.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
Looking to see if any dollar signs were in his eyes. That's all I can explain some of the horrid calls these guys make.
February 25th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^
McCaffrey is such a child.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
I feel like I have seen this show before.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
iowa up 5 with 1:05 left in OT. glorious.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
One of the most epic collapses you'll ever see in college hoops. Wow.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:30 PM ^
And the thing is, they didn't even play that badly / collapse. They shot 12/14 from FT in the last 1:34!!! Sure they turned it over once, maybe twice during that stretch but this was Iowa making a comeback more than Sparty collapsing in all fairness.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
True, and I know hot is hot, but damn -- you'd think State could do SOMETHING to maybe prevent Iowa from putting in 17 THREES. (Of course, on the other side of the ball, MSU shot 73% from three, which is just...insane).
February 25th, 2023 at 3:43 PM ^
Iowa scored on its last nine possessions. Wild.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
How does a team shoot 60/78/87 and LOSE A GAME?
February 25th, 2023 at 2:42 PM ^
Iowa had 10 extra possessions (+4 rebound margin, +6 turnover margin) and made 6 more 3s, but yeah, that’s bizarre.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
These are not the Izzo teams of yore. They’ve grown soft.
February 25th, 2023 at 9:38 PM ^
OSU soft thats how
February 25th, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^
Sparty No!
February 25th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^
This took a while. I thought maybe Sparty No had been banned.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
Sparty has now collapsed in the last two minutes of two consecutive games. Izzo losing his edge?
February 25th, 2023 at 2:31 PM ^
They just beat IU in their last game didn't they?
February 25th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
You are correct:’ Two consecutive road games’
February 25th, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^
Izzo should have had his guys foul up 3 with under 10 seconds.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
Down goes Sparty!!! Glorious!
February 25th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
At risk of getting negged, don't we need Sparty to win?
I mean, I'm not gonna complain if they end up losing, especially in the fashion that they did.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
We don’t need it. What we need is to win our own games. If we lose tomorrow, a Sparty win today would be worthless.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:48 PM ^
I was low key rooting for Sparty only because of the bubble guide, but deep down this is so much better. To choke that game away was epic.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
That is one of the No-iest Sparty’s ever. Unreal.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^
I obviously enjoy the Spary loss, but this does not help our Tournament resumé.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
It does help our big ten tournament seeding. Win 2 out of the next 3 and we are in the big dance regardless imo.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:38 PM ^
The stare down with no words is what did it.
Scroll down on the link.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
That was pretty cool to see live. It lit a fire for the Iowa team. I'd like to see more of that and maybe Juwan and Harbaugh can take a page out of that.
February 25th, 2023 at 2:57 PM ^
Yes! Juwan is notoriously lacking intensity.
February 25th, 2023 at 3:09 PM ^
Jim’s also a very stoic guy as we all know.
February 25th, 2023 at 5:00 PM ^
I mean, except whenever we lose... well, whenever we've lost "since the 2016 OSU game." Then he's deeply stoical and "just doesn't want it enough."
February 25th, 2023 at 2:58 PM ^
Fran gets a T every game (did in this one, a missed Sparty free throw off it was the difference). Got tossed last week against Northwestern.
February 25th, 2023 at 3:34 PM ^
I don't think any of our coaching staff should copy anything Fran McCaffery does, ever.
I think someone earlier compared him to a child - that is an insult to the child.
February 25th, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
I don't know, I feel he has much to teach about ... championship defense.
https://www.amazon.com/Fran-McCaffery-Building-Championship-Defense/dp/B00NAKA0YS