The Hawkeyes played in the National Invitation Tournament that season, but lost to LSU in the first round to finish with a 19–16 record. This was the first of three straight seasons that the Hawkeyes played in the NIT under Alford. They won the first two rounds of the 2003 tournament against Valparaiso and Iowa State before losing to Georgia Tech, finishing with a 17–14 record. That season, leading scorer Pierre Pierce was charged with raping a female Iowa athlete. Alford was adamant about Pierce's innocence. A plea bargain was reached where Pierce pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. He was suspended from the team and redshirted. In 2004, Iowa lost to St. Louis in the first round of the NIT to finish 16–13 despite a 9–7 conference record (the first winning Big Ten Conference record under Alford). The Hawkeyes finished 21–12 with a 7–9 conference record in the 2004–2005 regular season, but they won their first two Big Ten tournament games against Purdue and Michigan State before losing the third game to Wisconsin, 59–56. They earned an at-large invitation to the 2005 NCAA tournament as a #10 seed, where they lost 76–64 to Cincinnati in the first round. In 2005, in a separate incident, Pierce was charged with sexual assault of his ex-girlfriend, and he was dismissed from the team before charges were filed. However, Alford's reputation among Iowa fans suffered. Pierce later served 11 months in a correctional facility. During the 2005–06 season, the Hawkeyes went undefeated at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and finished in a second-place tie with Illinois with an 11–5 conference record, one game behind Ohio State. However, the Hawkeyes defeated Minnesota, Michigan State, and Ohio State to win the Big Ten tournament and finish 25–8 going into its third NCAA tournament under Alford. They were seeded #3 in the Atlanta Regional of the 2006 NCAA tournament, but lost in a first-round upset to No. 14 seed Northwestern State 64–63, leaving Alford with only one NCAA tournament win since taking over at Iowa. During the 2006–2007 season, Alford led the Hawkeyes to an 8–6 non-conference record (losing to in-state rivals Drake and Northern Iowa) and a 9–7 record in the Big Ten Conference (17–14 overall). Iowa failed to make the NCAA tournament or the NIT. It marked the first time since the 1976–1977 season that an Iowa team with a winning record has failed to make either