Hawkeyes Fall to No. 3 Iowa State

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to No. 3 Iowa State, 89-80, on Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes move to 7-3 on the season.

The Hawkeyes came out strong to start the game, making five of their first six shots. Iowa pushed open a six-point lead in the first five minutes before Iowa State would come back and tie it. Iowa responded with a 13-2 run to take a 28-17 lead with just over 11 minutes to go in the first half.

Iowa was able to withstand multiple Iowa State runs and create its biggest lead of the game, 39-26, with just over four minutes to go in the first half. The Cyclones cut into the Hawkeye lead before the break. After 20 minutes, Iowa led Iowa State, 44-37.

The Hawkeyes shot 17-of-29 (58.6%) from the field and 7-of-13 (53.8%) from deep in the first half. Iowa was led by sophomore Owen Freeman with 10 points while senior Payton Sandfort added seven. Sophomore Ladji Dembele created a spark off the bench, scoring eight first half points and grabbing four rebounds while not missing a shot. Iowa led for 18:19 of the first half while the Cyclones never had the lead.

Iowa was able to open its lead to eight in the first five minutes of the second half. The game would stay within two possessions most of the way, before Iowa State was able to tie the game at 66-66 with just under eight minutes remaining. After a pair of free throws from graduate Drew Thelwell and sophomore Seydou Traore, Iowa pushed its lead to 70-66 with seven minutes remaining.

The game would stay within one possession for the next four minutes as Iowa State took its first lead of the game, 76-74, with three minutes remaining. The Hawkeyes were never able to get the lead back as the Cyclones ended the game on a 17-6 run over the course of four minutes.

After a hot shooting first half, the Hawkeyes struggled in the second half shooting 11-of-34 (32.4%) from the field and 4-of-15 (26.7%) from deep. Freeman finished as the leading scorer with 16 points while sophomore Josh Dix finished with 14 points, nine of them coming in the second 20 minutes. Payton Sandfort added 13 points and Dembele tied a career high 11 points. Thelwell and sophomore Brock Harding each added 10 points.

Iowa State was led by Curtis Jones with 23 points while Joshua Jefferson added 19 points.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“I’m really proud of [Ladji]. I told him, come off the bench, play with confidence. He was getting a little tentative, he wasn’t tentative at all today. He was great. Should’ve played more, that’s on me.”

“We went small. It was a small lineup. So, you run a risk of [getting outrebounded]. I thought our small lineup was really good, we had two turnovers in the second half. We had plenty of shot opportunities to win the game, we made a bunch and then didn’t make them. I could go big and get more rebounds but then who knows what would happen on the other end.”

GAME NOTABLES

•  Iowa State overcame a 13-point first half deficit and a nine-point second-half deficit to down the Hawkeyes, 89-80, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
•  The Cyclones snapped a four-game losing streak in Iowa City and it was just the fifth win in the last 25 meetings by the visiting team in the series.
•  The loss was Iowa’s first home defeat in seven games this season.
•  Thursday’s game was the first game decided by single digits in the series since 2017.
•  Iowa had six players finish in double figures: Owen Freeman 16, Josh Dix 14, Payton Sandfort 13, Ladji Dembele 11, Drew Thelwell 10, Brock Harding 10
•  Payton Sandfort scored 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting with three 3-pointers.
•  He has made three or more 3s in five games this season and 28 games in his career.
•  Dembele finished with 11 points, tying a career-high. He made all four of his field goals, including a career-high three 3s.
•  Sophomore Brock Harding had six of his game-high eight assists in the first half.
•  He also finished with 10 points and one steal.
•  Graduate Drew Thelwell made his first start as a Hawkeye (66th start of his career).
•  He finished with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.
•  The Hawkeyes made 11 3-point field goals in the game, including seven in the first half.
•  Iowa has made 10 or more 3-pointers in five games this season.
•  It was the team’s first loss when making 10+ 3s.
•  Iowa made 13-of-15 free throws to shoot a season-high 86.7 percent.
•  Iowa State outscored Iowa, 52-36, in the second half, shooting 53.3 percent from the field.
•  Iowa made 10 of its first 15 shots, including six 3-pointers to open the game to build a 28-17 lead.
•  The Hawkeyes led by as many as 13 points (39-26) in the first half and took a 44-37 lead into the break. Iowa shot 58.6 percent (17-of-29) and made 7-of-13 3-pointers (.538) in the opening 20 minutes.

UP NEXT
Iowa returns to action Sunday, hosting New Orleans at 1 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will begin at 1 p.m. (CT) and be televised on BTN.