Cam Manyawu had the game of his life, but foul trouble doomed the Hawkeyes on Senior Night.
After suffering a bad loss at Penn State on Saturday, there wasn't much optimism around Iowa basketball's fanbase.
Thursday's home finale against No. 3 Michigan only increased the concern, but the Hawkeyes (20-10, 10-9) responded by playing one of their best games of the season.
The Wolverines (28-2, 18-1) managed to escape Iowa City with a 71-68 victory, but it had to battle Iowa for all 40 minutes to do so.
Hawkeye head coach Ben McCollum isn't one to declare a game a moral victory, sporting a frustrated look in his postgame press conference, but there was one word McCollum used to describe this loss - proud.
"More proud and more enjoyment of coaching," McCollum said. "That's more what it is than like a like, 'Oh, we're close. I don't like that.' That doesn't mean you can't be proud, because there is a process component to this."
Here are three observations from Iowa's loss:
Manyawu has the game of his life
Iowa did many things right in this game, but no Hawkeye had a better night than Cam Manyawu. The junior hasn't been a major scoring threat this season, but he chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds on 7/13 shooting.
On a night where Bennett Stirtz struggled to get going, finding a backup scorer was very important for Iowa. Manyawu scored eight of those 14 points in the first half, and it came at a crucial juncture where Michigan threatened to jump out to a sizable lead.
He cooled off for awhile in the second, but played tremendously down the stretch, but bounced back to tie the game on two separate occasions in the final two minutes of regulation.
"I just tried to come out here and bring as much energy and effort as possible, and things kind of just started getting going and rolling early on, and just was able to carry that throughout the game, and just bring that energy and bring my teammates along," McCollum said.
Foul trouble dooms Iowa
Iowa fans complained about the officiating both during and after Thursday's game. There were some calls that didn't go the Hawkeyes' way, but they also hurt themselves with some costly fouls (some bad reach-ins) to put Michigan in the bonus with 12:02 remaining in the game.
That's not a great recipe to win any game in the Big Ten, and the Wolverines made Iowa pay, going 17/22 from the charity stripe. The Hawkeyes did reach the free throw line 12 times, but committed eight more fouls than Michigan (22-14).
"You're always gonna be frustrated with a few calls," McCollum said. "I didn't think it was horrible, based off of what I remember. It was well-officiated for the most part."
Carver-Hawkeye was rockin' again
Iowa men's basketball has lacked a good atmosphere in Carver-Hawkeye Arena for some time, but McCollum's first season has brought more energy to the building. That showed on Thursday, as this crowd -which included a packed student section - was buzzing from the start, and it carried over to the game.
Tavion Banks' slam early in the game brought this crowd to life, and The Athletic's Scott Dochterman reported the decibel level reached 116 at one point in the contest, a sign that McCollum has things moving in the right direction.
Michigan head coach Dusty May even opened his press conference by commenting on the raucous crowd.
"I want to give a shout out to the Hawkeye faithful. What a great college basketball environment. It was loud, it was intense," May said.
Aside from winning basketball games, McCollum's goal was to rebuild the fanbase, and there's plenty of reasons to believe Carver-Hawkeye will return to its place as one of the Big Ten's loudest venues.
Could it happen in 2026-27? McCollum sure hopes so.
"[I] enjoyed the crowd. I appreciate the crowd the whole season. You can see it's trending the right direction. We just got to keep building, the right way."
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