About that "bad loss" @ Minnesota . . .

[DukeSlater]

#10 Michigan State just lost . . . by 3 . . . @ Minnesota last night. Bad loss?

Of course, when Iowa did the same thing, the flu was running through the Hawkeye squad. Not sure how MSU's health was last night, but I imagine Mr. Izzo wasn't feeling great when that game was over.

So maybe drop the "bad loss" narrative about Iowa. It never was a bad loss.

 

[Buffalo43]

#10 Michigan State just lost . . . by 3 . . . @ Minnesota last night. Bad loss?

Of course, when Iowa did the same thing, the flu was running through the Hawkeye squad. Not sure how MSU's health was last night, but I imagine Mr. Izzo wasn't feeling great when that game was over.

So maybe drop the "bad loss" narrative about Iowa. It never was a bad loss.

They also beat Indiana at home and lost to Wisky on last second shot

 

[Rifler]

Still a bad loss,.. but the Barn is not an easy out.

 

[RoseBowlorBust]

Still a bad loss,.. but the Barn is not an easy out.

No it was a missed opportunity.

 

[Rifler]

No it was a missed opportunity.

I agree,.. but the Barn can be the Barn

 

[HawkBall23]

To think that would be a Q1 win for Iowa it they complete that comeback ....

 

[TampaHawkFan]

Still a bad loss,.. but the Barn is not an easy out.

It's a quad 1 game as of now. No such thing as a "good" loss but it's not a resume killer by any stretch.

 

[PinkShizzle]

Minny is 11-12 and 4-8 in conference, so, it looks bad on paper. As posters have stated, they beat #10 MSU and came up just short against solid teams. How does the selection committee view it?

I wish the Hawks had another shot at them because I think the final score would be much different this next time.

 

[HawksRule25]

 

[Franisdaman]

It never was a bad loss.

I feel that this is directed at me.

I put parenthesis around "bad" for a reason; not many on here were happy for losing to the rodents.

Any way, my apologies for the outrage I have caused you and any others on this forum.

I am guessing Michigan State fans are NOT putting parenthesis around bad when they characterize losing to the Gophers last night.


Current B1G Standings:

	CONF	GB	OVR
Illinois	11-1	-	20-3
Michigan	10-1	0.5	20-1
Nebraska	9-2	1.5	20-2
Michigan State	9-3	2	19-4
Purdue	8-3	2.5	18-4
Wisconsin	8-3	2.5	16-6
UCLA	8-4	3	16-7
Iowa	7-4	3.5	17-5
Ohio State	6-5	4.5	14-7
USC	6-6	5	17-6
Indiana	6-6	5	15-8
Washington	4-8	7	12-11
Minnesota	4-8	7	11-12
Northwestern	2-10	9	10-13
Rutgers	2-10	9	9-14
Maryland	1-9	9	8-13
Penn State	1-10	9.5	10-12
Oregon	1-10	9.5	8-14

 

[2D]

We were the better team and favored to win, Minnesota has a losing record and will more than likely not make the tournament. It was a bad loss.

 

[Franisdaman]

We were the better team and favored to win, Minnesota has a losing record and will more than likely not make the tournament. It was a bad loss.

We opened as a 6.5 point favorite.

We only scored 24 points in the 1st half.

But, hey, everyone in the game thread was still thrilled & saying that it was not a BAD loss at all!

Minnesota 70-67 Iowa (Jan 6, 2026) Final Score - ESPN

Game summary of the Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. Iowa Hawkeyes NCAAM game, final score 70-67, from January 6, 2026 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

 

[BigOHawk1]

That's like Deacon Hill level of unbelievable stats just in the bball world...

 

[BigOHawk1]

And that guard from MSU was up to his old dirty tricks and Izzo doesn't like it...like Grayson Allen level stuff...

 

[Franisdaman]

Here are some examples from the game thread of what posters felt after losing to the lowly rodents.

I definitely have full perspective lense they overcame a lot tonight but still need to win that. Oh well beat the Illini.

Going to be sitting home in March if this **** keeps up. This is the kind of loss that makes it where you're sitting at home.

The reality of the situation is after the next 3 games, Iowa's record could be 12 - 06 and 2-6 in the Big Ten, a real possibility.

Yay!!!! Proud moral victories for the “top 20” team against the scrappy NIT hopefuls.

Disappointing. That’s not a good team.

*****Iowa vs Minnesota Game Thread***** - Page 14 - Forums

7pm BTN Iowa -6.5 O/U 129.6 The Hawkeyes (12-2, 2-1) travel north to take on the Gophers (9-5, 2-1). Minny is fresh off a win at Northwestern. This isn’t a great gophers team but they are historically tough to beat at home in the barn. I think Vegas knows what’s up. This will be a low...

www.on3.com

 

[83Hawk]

Here are some examples from the game thread of what posters felt after losing to the lowly rodents.

*****Iowa vs Minnesota Game Thread***** - Page 14 - Forums

7pm BTN Iowa -6.5 O/U 129.6 The Hawkeyes (12-2, 2-1) travel north to take on the Gophers (9-5, 2-1). Minny is fresh off a win at Northwestern. This isn’t a great gophers team but they are historically tough to beat at home in the barn. I think Vegas knows what’s up. This will be a low...

www.on3.com

Emotions are always high in game threads.

 

[Franisdaman]

Emotions are always high in game threads.

that's why I called it a "bad" loss.

 

[BaseBallerP27]

that's why I called it a "bad" loss.

Don’t think I said anything wrong. Minny is at best an NIT team and people treated it like a moral victory because we closed the gap late.

Now you could’ve tagged the multiple posts where I stated Iowa was nothing more than a 2 seed in the NIT. I’m happy to eat crow on that.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

Minnesota is 4-8 and 11-12 overall. It's a bad loss for Iowa & MSU.

 

[kwik44]

Not sure why everyone is so amped up about that loss. Half the contributors were sick, at the barn, relatively early in the year. Flush it & move on game in my eyes.

 

[HawkInDenver]

Not sure why everyone is so amped up about that loss. Half the contributors were sick, at the barn, relatively early in the year. Flush it & move on game in my eyes.

I agree with this. Each team plays something like 30 games a year. Once in a while you're bound to have a bad night for whatever reason.

The reason I think folks are so amped up is that while we are excited for our team, our team isn't ranked and has lost some close games. Folks are understandably worried about either being on the bubble or being an 8/9 seed (some recent projections have us there). All that said, just my $0.02 -I think we've obviously played well since this loss and we will get into the tourney and be above an 8 seed.

 

[joelbc1]

Wasn’t Sparty down by 17 or so with 5 minutes left? They got it interesting at the end.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

Not sure why everyone is so amped up about that loss. Half the contributors were sick, at the barn, relatively early in the year. Flush it & move on game in my eyes.

I agree, just because Minnesota upset MSU doesn't all of a sudden make it a "good loss". Minnesota is what their record says, 4-8 and 11-12. That's not a good loss.

 

[Palmerhawk]

Gophers lost Tyson,2nd leading scorer in BIG, for a number of those losses after Iowa win.
Take stirtz off of Iowa for 5 games in middle of BIG schedule and they become average pretty quickly. We saw that in the minny game with flu on the team.
The BIG is clearly settling into tiers.
Very top heavy with mich,ill, Nebraska, PU and MSU.
Then middle: IU,Iowa,OSU,Wis,UCLA,USC
Sub middle, wash,minny
Bad bottom:
RU, MD, Oregon,NW,PSU.
Obviously Iowa cannot lose any of 3 games left with bottom 5...that would be a real bad loss.

 

[eyesofhawk]

That's like Deacon Hill level of unbelievable stats just in the bball world...

The wins with Deacon were plenty believable.

Football fans just value the wrong things

 

[joelbc1]

The wins with Deacon were plenty believable.

Football fans just value the wrong things

Well, Iowa football fans have misplaced values as far as Kirk is involved.
With Kirk, It all starts with defense and limiting scoring opportunities for the opposition. FGs are always preferable to giving up TDs. Ball control on offense is the primary importance! No turn overs. Field position is key to the Iowa overall game plan. Special teams excellence helps control the field position battle. That and limiting turn overs.
Scoring TDs is a lower priority for Kirk and Iowa than what it is for most of their fans.

 

[MacMiney]

I consider the Minnesota loss the one "bad" loss of the season. Regardless of where Minny's NET ends up (and it may end up as a quad 3 by the time this is all over) it's still relatively bad enough to stink up the resume. Period. But lots of teams have one of them. One. And there is a reason tied to this beyond growing accustomed to the B1G road world. Sickness on the team. (Not the team's excuse, but I keep that in mind).

 

[ComradeKirk]

I agree, just because Minnesota upset MSU doesn't all of a sudden make it a "good loss". Minnesota is what their record says, 4-8 and 11-12. That's not a good loss.

Not sure why people are straw-manning "not a bad loss" into "actually a good loss." Nobody is saying that, but the rodents beating Sparty makes it less bad. That win probably keeps them at minimum a Quad 2 loss, unless the wheels fall off entirely. Like some other posters have said, it's a missed opportunity now vs potentially a resume-tanking Quad 3 loss.

 

[Bluebird1armwaitress]

I consider the Minnesota loss the one "bad" loss of the season. Regardless of where Minny's NET ends up (and it may end up as a quad 3 by the time this is all over) it's still relatively bad enough to stink up the resume. Period. But lots of teams have one of them. One. And there is a reason tied to this beyond growing accustomed to the B1G road world. Sickness on the team. (Not the team's excuse, but I keep that in mind).

Dang Sickness!

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

#10 Michigan State just lost . . . by 3 . . . @ Minnesota last night. Bad loss?

Of course, when Iowa did the same thing, the flu was running through the Hawkeye squad. Not sure how MSU's health was last night, but I imagine Mr. Izzo wasn't feeling great when that game was over.

So maybe drop the "bad loss" narrative about Iowa. It never was a bad loss.

Yeah but see............f*** Minnesota.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Yeah but see............f*** Minnesota.

 

[Franisdaman]

Minnesota is 4-8 and 11-12 overall. It's a bad loss for Iowa & MSU.

correct.

 

[HawkeyeGenius]

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

So about that loss to Minnesota not being a bad loss...............


Meanwhile, if Maryland could not carry momentum into our upcoming game, that'd be great. Thaaaanks.