QUICK RECAP: Indiana 89, Iowa 77

The state of Indiana has not been kind to the Iowa Hawkeyes this season. First came the 104-68 loss at Purdue earlier this month. Tonight came an 89-77 loss to the Indiana Hoosiers at Assembly Hall. If the state of Indiana is truly to blame, I’m scared to see what happens at next month’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

Only one player wearing the black and gold uniform made an impact tonight, and his name was Luka Garza, who led all scorers with 38 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks. Iowa’s second leading scorer was Joe Wieskamp, which isn’t surprising, but his output was. The sophomore finished the night with 16 points and 6 rebounds, with 13 of those coming in the second half, when things were too far gone for them to really matter. Wieskamp and Garza were the only two Hawks to score in double figures: the only other Hawk to come close was Bakari Evelyn, who had 9.

For the Hoosiers, Devonte Green was the star of the night. He finished the night with 27 points on 7-11 from deep, helping the Hoosiers hit a season-high 11 shots from deep. Iowa shot 4-14, while the Hoosiers were 11-21. That’ll do it against this team, especially when no one but Garza and Wieskamp could score. Iowa faced a double-digit deficit for more than 30 minutes of the game.

Some other thoughts...

• Indiana got things rolling in transition early but Iowa was able to jump out to a 9-5 lead early, but Indiana responded by trapping nicely on defense, causing Garza to have two early turnovers that kept the Hoosiers in the game and gave them an 11-9 lead on a 6-0 scoring run
• The teams battled back and forth for a bit from there until the Hoosiers started hitting from deep on three straight possessions and quickly jumped out to a 31-16 lead with 12:15 remaining in the half, despite Iowa getting good defensive pressure, thanks to an 12-0 run
• Turnovers were a big problem. Five turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game resulted in easy fast break points for the Hoosiers that were a big part of the early deficit. The Hoosiers had an 18-5 points off turnovers advantage in the first half alone.
• For over 10 minutes of the first half, Garza was the only Hawk able to find the bottom of the basket
• With just over 5 minutes left in the first half, CJ Frederick, who hadn’t gotten into the scoring column, went down on a non-contact lower leg/knee injury. He didn’t put any weight on it as he was carried off the floor. He was ruled out for the rest of the game and the only other thing we know is that Iowa ruled it an “ankle injury” and that he’ll have an x-ray in Iowa City.
• The lack of bodies and foul trouble meant extended playing time for Riley Till and Austin Ash, which resulted in some pretty horrendous basketball. Garza was able to draw the game within 10 points on his own, but the Hoosiers hit a few field goals, including a 3 at the buzzer, to go into halftime with a 49-34 lead
• From there, it wasn’t much different. Indiana kept scoring while every player in black and gold not named Garza struggled. Indiana’s lead got as large as 20 while over 15 minutes left of game left. The damage was done.
• Wieskamp finally got things going late in the game, but it wasn’t enough. Iowa was able to get the lead down to as few as 11 multiple times, but each time, the Hoosiers responded with a quick FG on the other end of the floor, and that’s all I have to say about that.

This sucked. Is it a February fade? Unclear. Road wins are extremely difficult in the Big Ten this year. But boy, this was rough to watch.