By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY — Pryce Sandfort could be forgiven for the expletive.

Sandfort had come off the bench and done everything he could for Iowa on Saturday, and it wasn’t enough for the Hawkeyes to snap out of their skid.

Frankly, Sandfort said in the minutes after Iowa’s 74-63 loss to Wisconsin at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, he’s had enough of the struggles.

“Just sick of losing, that’s the mindset,” said the sophomore guard, who led the Hawkeyes with 14 points. “I want to f—ing win. Can’t do it right now. Pardon my language.”

The Hawkeyes (13-10 overall, 4-8 Big Ten) are on a three-game losing streak, and have lost six of their last seven. That’s the kind of stretch that can gnaw at any player.

Then you throw in that they played two nationally-ranked teams this week at home — No. 7 Purdue on Tuesday, and then the 21st-ranked Badgers — and were in position to have a chance to win both, and then not finish, well, let the expletives fly.

The Hawkeyes led 59-58 with 7 ½ minutes to play and scored four points the rest of the game, hitting just one of their last 10 shots. They were down 80-77 with a 3-pointer in the air that could have tied the game with 2:18 left against Purdue, and lost 90-81.

“I feel like we get a little too comfortable, and we don’t finish the game the right way,” forward Seydou Traore said.

Asked what was frustrating about this loss, Traore said, “That we competed. We were playing hard, but it wasn’t enough.”

Yet, there was a certain calmness that Iowa coach Fran McCaffery showed after the game. The Hawkeyes’ effort, he said, was there, and he appreciated that.

“As long as they keep fighting for me and showing up for practice with an incredibly professional approach, that’s all I ever ask of them,” McCaffery said. “We’re gonna try to win. They want to win. They’re putting the time in, and they’re competing. It’s our job to just try to help them get over the hump.”

McCaffery understands the roster he will have to play the rest of the season will be without his top scorer and rebounder, Owen Freeman, out for the season after undergoing surgery on his hand on Monday.

“We’re getting good play out of the ‘5’ spot without Owen, but we don’t have the scoring punch that he provides, and that’s a game changer when you’re trying to score on a consistent basis,” McCaffery said.

It was back on January 3 when Wisconsin (19-5, 9-4) handed Iowa a 116-85 defeat in Madison, the Hawkeyes’ worst loss of the season. The Badgers were 21 of 31 in 3-pointers in that game, and some of their post-game comments about what they considered was Iowa’s lack of interest in playing defense annoyed the Hawkeyes.

The Badgers were 12 of 35 in 3-pointers in this game.

“I thought we were locked in on the scout all week,” Sandfort said. “How many points did they score?”

Seventy-four, he was told, and Sandfort started to mutter another bad word before he caught himself.

“I thought we were locked in, better than the 116 or whatever it was there,” Sandfort said. “We tried to not pay attention to those comments. Obviously we know about it, and I thought our effort was there. We just came down the stretch needing to get stops, and we put them at the (free-throw) line too much.”

The Badgers were 9 of 10 in free throws in the closing seven minutes, with John Tonje, who led Wisconsin with 22 points, hitting all eight of his free throws.

“We have to play a little bit better toward the end,” McCaffery said. “I thought we got sped up today,, and I didn’t think we needed to, but I think that’s the learning process with a new group. It was a two-possession game, three-possession game with four or five minutes to go, and we were rushing and we were fouling. You can’t do that.”

If there were any doubts about Iowa’s effort, guard Drew Thelwell disproved them with what he did in the closing minutes.

Thelwell hurt his right ankle with 5 ½ minutes to play and after he was helped up, hopped on one foot toward the training room to get taped up. He was back 3 ½ minutes later, got fouled and made two free throws, and then missed a layup on the Hawkeyes’ next possession. He came out of the game with 1:15 to go, and limped back to the locker room.

“He was in a lot of pain, and he’s in a lot of pain right now, but he really wanted to go back in,” McCaffery said. “So we threw him in there. He got to the rim a couple times, got fouled. Proud of him.”

What did that say about Thelwell?

“I think it says what we already knew — he’s a character guy,” McCaffery said. “I’ve said that. as I try to categorize who he is for you guys. That dude has character.”

The Hawkeyes have a lot of those on their roster. This week, and in this current stretch, it just seemed like they could have used one or two more.

Photo: Iowa forwards Seydou Traore (7) and Ladji Dembele knock the ball away from Wisconsin guard John Tonje in Saturday’s game. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)