Iowa men's basketball was already facing an uphill battle to return to the NCAA Tournament, and that hill just got a lot steeper. Leading scorer Owen Freeman will miss the remainder of the season with a finger injury, head coach Fran McCaffery announced on Monday.

Freeman, a 6'10 forward, was averaging 16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game — all team highs — while shooting 63.8% from the field. He scored in double figures in every game he appeared in this season.

“After discussions with Owen, his family and our medical staff, surgery is the best course of treatment in terms of proper healing and rehabilitation,” McCaffery said in a statement. “We expect Owen to make a full recovery. He has the full support of his teammates and coaches during this entire process.”

Freeman's injury leaves the Hawkeyes even thinner in the post, where the team was already undersized. Iowa ranked 11th in the Big Ten in terms of average height, per KenPom, and Payton Sandfort is the only major player above 6'7. Ladji Dembele, whose playing time has decreased significantly since he began the season in the starting lineup, will no doubt be thrust back into a bigger role.

Freeman has missed two games this season, both buy games and easy wins against South Dakota and New Hampshire. A sophomore, he will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Iowa basketball enters a make-or-break stretch

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The Big Ten can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, the Hawkeyes are 13-8 with a 4-6 record in the conference. That's not good enough for Iowa to avoid back-to-back years of missing the tournament. On the other, almost every game that Iowa plays the rest of the way will be a chance at a quality win.

Losers of four of their last five, Iowa next plays at home against Purdue on Tuesday night. The Hawkeyes host Wisconsin after that before an east coast road swing against Rutgers and Maryland. All four of those games count as Quad 1 opportunities and the Hawkeyes have yet to notch a Quad 1 win this year.

While the tournament may be a long-shot, Hawkeye fans are growing impatient and are looking for any path they can to the field of 68. McCaffery has been at the helm since 2010, and despite seven NCAA Tournament appearances — including as a 2 seed in 2021, Iowa has not made the Sweet 16 in that time.

Now without Freeman, Iowa's already bleak tournament chances have grown even dimmer.