Iowa basketball: No shame in loss to San Diego State Aztecs

The Iowa basketball team dropped a close game to San Diego State last night, but there is no shame in losing that one to the Aztecs.

Heading into last night’s game versus San Diego State, the Iowa basketball team was considered an underdog despite taking down a top-25 team in Texas Tech. And while it looked like the Hawks may be able to pull off the “upset” for the second night in a row, they ultimately fell short as the San Diego State Aztecs mounted a comeback in the second half to secure the 83-73 win.

And if we’re being honest, there is no shame in this loss.

San Diego State is a good team. They missed out on the NCAA Tournament last year, but they returned several key younger guys and brought in multiple graduate transfers, and as of now they are 8-0 after defeating the Hawks and winning the Las Vegas Invitational.

According to KenPom, they are now the 39th ranked team in the nation, and they are projected to go 23-5 this season, which should secure them an at-large bid if they don’t win their conference tournament.

Guard Malachi Flynn is an athletic guard who transferred from Washington State and is now averaging 16.1 points per game to go along with 5 assists, and the Hawks had no answer for him.

But again, no shame in that because I actually the Iowa basketball team did a solid job defensively against the Aztecs. There is still room for improvement, but the switching they are doing on defense is heads and toes better than last year, and despite the second unit logging more minutes than typical last night, the Hawks hung with the Aztecs the whole way.

Keep in mind as well, the Iowa basketball team is still figuring out how to play without Jack Nunge, and they’ve been without top-100 recruit Patrick McCaffery. Bohannon is still working his way into form, and according to reports, Joe Wieskamp may have been dealing with an illness last night.

While it would have been great to get the win last night, this isn’t a bad loss. Prior to the tournament, had you told me the Hawks would go 1-1, I would have taken it. And they did.

Now, let’s get healthy, regroup, and prepare for Syracuse.