Bennett Stirtz started slow but didn’t stay cold too long as he turned it on in the second half finishing with 20 points as Iowa outlasted several late Rutgers runs to beat the Scarlet Knights 68-62. After trailing 5-0 to start the game, the Hawkeyes responded with seven straight points over a three-minute stretch. The Iowa defense held Rutgers scoreless for more than four minutes while holding them without a field goals for more than five minutes.
The game stayed close, with neither team leading by more than five before the Hawkeyes ended the first half on a 13-3 run to take a 31-24 lead into the break.
Stiritz played all 40 minutes dishing out five assists along with four rebounds. Freshman Tate Sage had a career high 17 with four three pointers and clutch free throws as the game wound down.
Rutgers opened the second half on a 9-0 spurt, erasing its seven-point halftime deficit and taking the lead. With 10 minutes remaining, the Scarlet Knights had a three-point lead. Over the next six minutes, the Hawkeyes outscored Rutgers, 15-8, as they protected a six-point lead with under five minutes to play.
Iowa would protect its lead the rest of the way as a pair of free throws from freshman Tate Sage in the final seconds iced the win. Stirtz led all scorers with 20 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals. Sage marked a career-high 17 points to go along with four 3-pointers. Banks rounded out Hawkeyes in double-digits with 12 points, while sophomore Isaia Howard led Iowa on the glass with a career-high eight rebounds.
Iowa forced 19 turnovers turning them into 21 points. Head coach Ben McCollum knew the defensive pressure helped make up for the cold shooting by the Hawkeyes. “To be able to win consistently, you have to win games when you’re just not clicking. It wasn’t clicking for us tonight. I did think we did actually came ready, I thought our effort was actually pretty good. I thought our concentration was poor and that was the difference in what it was, just our concentration our execution with that stuff. But our effort was there, and we did come ready.
The concentration probably stems from us trying to figure out, hey, this is the Big Ten, and what are they, 2-5, or whatever. A 2-5 team in the Big Ten is a good team. They are good and they can be a lot. We need to make sure that we are consistent, the part of it is we’re probably tired with a bunch of games in a row and that sickness for a little bit. We need a break and we need to get back to practice and have some really good practices for a few days, not tomorrow though.”
Next up for Iowa is USC on Jan. 28th at Carver Hawkeye Arena. You can hear the game on AM 860 and FM 95.1 KWPC and follow the Hawkeyes all season long here, brought to you by Meineke Muffler, Ed Morse Chevy Buick and GMC, Community Health Care Dental Clinic and Muscatine Power and Water.
