The Iowa men got back on the winning track defeating Indiana, 74-57, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday afternoon in a game in which they never trailed. The Hawkeyes improved to 13-5 on the season and 3-4 in conference play.
The Hawkeyes opened the game on a 10-2 spurt as the Hoosiers started the game just 2-of-13 from the field. Iowa continued building on its lead, as a layup from Tate Sage gave the Hawkeyes their biggest lead of the half at 24-13 with under eight minutes remaining. After the cold start for Indiana, the two teams would combine to make 15 straight shots over a five-minute stretch as Indiana cut the lead to five.
Iowa responded, pushing its lead back to double digits to end the half. After 20 minutes, the Hawkeyes led the Hoosiers, 38-28.
Bennett Stirtz paced Iowa with 14 points, four assists and two rebounds, while playing all 20 minutes in the opening half. Tavion Banks added nine points and four rebounds. The Hawkeyes shot 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) from the field and 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.
After an 8-2 run, Indiana cut the Iowa lead to four with 11 minutes remaining, but Iowa dominated to the finish. Over the next seven minutes, Iowa used a 21-5 run, to push its lead to, 70-50. During that span, the Hawkeyes didn’t allow Indiana to make a field goal for more than eight minutes. After Indiana cut it to four, the Hawkeyes outscored the Hoosiers, 25-8, the remainder of the game.
Iowa head coach Ben McCollum compliment the Hoosiers, “Indiana is a well-coached team, they have a lot of seniors, so we knew we were going to have our hands full. The atmosphere here is unbelievable. We were fortunate enough to come out and execute our game plan pretty consistently from the start. I thought Bennett did a great job dictating the tempo. Tavion obviously had a big-time game. I thought this was [Alvaro’s] best game in the second half. Not necessarily from an offensive perspective but from a defensive perspective he was making winning plays which we need to continue to build on. Certainly, proud of our effort and, obviously, on to the next.”
Stirtz led Iowa with 27 points and five assists, while Banks netted a season-high 26 points. The two Hawkeyes combined to score 53 points, shoot 15-of-25 (60 percent) from the field, 4-of-6 (66.7 percent) from 3-point range, and 19-of-20 (95 percent) from the free-throw line. Banks also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The Hawkeyes shot 23-of-46 from the field and 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from 3-point range. Iowa shot 21-of-23 (91.3 percent) from the free-throw line. Iowa forced nine Indiana turnovers, turning them into 17 points. The Hawkeye defense held Indiana to a season-low 57 points, while also holding them to just 20-of-52 (38.5 percent) from the field and 6-of-24 (25 percent) from 3-point range.
