CHICAGO, Ill. — Without added context, Brendan Hausen’s 3-point attempt with less than eight seconds to go in Iowa’s loss to Ohio State looked like a wild decision.
With Iowa trailing by three points in the Big Ten Tournament, Hausen caught the ball near the sideline, turned over his right shoulder and heaved a 3-pointer that was not even close to going in.
But after the game, Iowa coach Ben McCollum was complimentary of Hausen’s decision, calling the shot a “vet move.”
Iowa, which trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half, came roaring back to make it a tightly contested finish. Since Iowa was down by three, the Hawkeyes were preparing for Ohio State to foul in order to avoid giving up a potentially game-tying 3-pointer.
“We knew we were going to have a tough time getting Bennett (Stirtz) open, and then if we did get him open, they were just going to foul him right away,” McCollum said. “So you run him off that side. Ran Brendan (Hausen) off the other side and then Tate (Sage) in the middle. We were just getting ready for them to foul us, anyway, for the most part. And then if they reached in, we were going to try to get a shot off and try to get three free throws.”
Hausen felt that a foul should have been called on his 3-point attempt.
“He fouled me,” Hausen told reporters after the game. “They said they were going to foul coming out of the huddle. I heard them say it. Grabbed me. Unfortunate. The ref probably had a bad angle on it.”
Iowa got another chance to tie the game after Hausen’s miss. Ohio State missed a free throw and then fouled Alvaro Folgueiras. After Folgueiras missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Iowa got the rebound and Isaia Howard put up a 3-pointer, but it didn’t drop.
Ohio State came away with a 72-69 victory, ending Iowa’s run in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament.
While it would be easy to question Hausen’s shot selection in the moment, there was more than appeared on the surface.
“It looked worse than it actually was,” McCollum said. “You’ll see the kid reach and kind of shove him. And so, he shot it knowing that he was going to get fouled. So it was actually a pretty crafty move.”
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Why Ben McCollum calls Brendan Hausen’s shot vs Ohio State a ‘vet move’
Reporting by Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
