By Kyle Mann
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The No. 4 Iowa men’s basketball team, standing 20-5 entering a Wednesday night matchup with Penn State – had a lot of good wins so far this season, and perhaps equally as impressive – not a single bad loss.
The ensuing 79-75 loss to the Nittany Lions was a bad loss.
Iowa traveled to College Park for a rematch with Penn State, and found out early that the Nittany Lions had been waiting.
After a 73-49 Iowa victory on Feb. 3 in which Penn State shot 1-of-20 from beyond the arc, it was obvious that the game plan was to improve on that mark. Iowa jumped out to an 8-0 start, but PSU guard Shep Garner made his second three of the game to cut the deficit to 14-12.
From there, not only were the Nittany Lions a completely different team in the first half, but the game as a whole got all sorts of topsy-turvy.
One of the reasons PSU shot so poorly in the first matchup was because they are easily the worst three-point shooting team in the conference, but on this night they started by going 7-of-14. Meanwhile, Iowa’s second-best scoring offense went 39-percent from the floor, and the worst-shooting Nittany Lions shot 56-percent.
The Hawkeyes would have been being blown out at halftime if not for 12 points off 10 Penn State turnovers and nine free throws. As it was, they trailed 38-31.
Predictably, the Hawkeyes were a little better to begin the second half, and the Nittany Lions a little worse. Iowa began the half 4-of-7 from the floor, but didn’t gain any ground, still trailing 48-41 at the first media timeout. Iowa continued to make uncharacteristic mistakes, however, as 12 turnovers played a large hand in preventing the Hawkeyes from ever closing the gap.
Penn State simmered from beyond the arc, going just 3-of-14 in the second half and allowing the Hawkeyes to cut the lead to 48-45 at the second media stoppage.
The Nittany Lions had slowed down from the outside, but their offense looked as good as it has all season, and was always just good enough to keep Iowa way. Iowa trailed by six with ten minutes remaining, and again by three with under four minutes remaining before a 6-0 run distanced PSU to a 67-60 advantage with only 1:36 remaining.
Peter Jok hit a pair of three-pointers to make it close late, but Penn State ultimately pulled off the unlikely upset.
Jok had a game-high 28 points – but the x-factor in College Park, capturing the unlikeliness of the way the game played out – was PSU senior Donovan Jack. After averaging 3.9 points per game this season, Jack posted a career-high 19.
The Hawkeyes now fall to 20-6 on the season and 10-3 in the conference, and have a week off before traveling to Wisconsin next Wednesday.
