MADISON, Wis. – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to No. 24 Wisconsin, 84-71, inside the Kohl Center.
Iowa got off to a hot start, building a 19-11 lead after opening the game 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range, including six straight makes. Wisconsin responded with a 10-0 run to take its first lead, 24-21, at the midway point of the first half.
The Hawkeyes answered with a 7-0 run to reclaim a 28-24 advantage and either led or were tied for the remainder of the half. Iowa shot 14-of-25 (56 percent) from the field and 5-of-11 (45.5 percent) from 3-point range over the opening 20 minutes. The Hawkeyes also went 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line to take a 41-40 lead into the break.
Senior Bennett Stirtz led Iowa with 12 first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting. Seven Hawkeyes scored in the opening half, with the bench contributing 13 points.
Wisconsin opened the second half on an 11-3 run to take a 51-44 lead as Iowa went scoreless for nearly three minutes. Trailing throughout the half, back-to-back baskets from Stirtz trimmed the deficit to three, 64-61, with eight minutes remaining. The Badgers answered with a 10-0 run to push the lead to 11 with three minutes left, and Iowa was unable to cut further into the deficit down the stretch.
Head Coach Ben McCollum pinpointed his teams trouble’s on defense. “I didn’t think we did a very good job defensively, and honestly, I thought we were really poor at executing a lot of our stuff, but part of that had to do with just Wisconsin and what they do offensively. I was disappointed in our transition defense and disappointed in our ball screen coverage. Offense was actually fine, but then we started pressing in that second half from an offensive perspective. That’s where those low percentages come in, you just kind of press because you’re not getting stops consistently. So, you know, you have to be better than that to beat them here, and we weren’t.”
Stirtz paced the Hawkeyes with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting. Freshman Tate Sage added 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds. Junior Alvaro Folgueiras also scored 11 points, while senior Tavion Banks rounded out Iowa’s double-digit scorers with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Iowa finished shooting 28-of-59 (47.5 percent) from the field and 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from 3-point range. The Hawkeyes did not attempt a free throw in the second half, finishing 8-of-11 (72.7 percent) at the line. The Hawkeyes move to 19-8 overall and 9-7 in Big Ten play.
