Hawkeyes Fall to Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to Ohio State, 82-65, on Monday night at Value City Arena. The Hawkeyes move to 13-8 on the season and 4-6 in Big Ten conference play.

The Hawkeyes grabbed an early lead over the Buckeyes in the first 10 minutes before Ohio State went on a run of their own to take the lead. With two minutes left in the first half Iowa trailed Ohio State, 28-24. Graduate Drew Thelwell and sophomore Owen Freeman combined to score 22 of the 24 points. At half, the Hawkeyes trailed the Buckeyes, 30-26.

Thelwell and Freeman led the way for Iowa in the first 20 minutes with 11 points apiece. Thelwell shot an efficient 4-of-5 from the field including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. Freeman grabbed seven first half rebounds to go with his 11 points. The Hawkeyes shot 11-of-32 (32.4 percent) from the field and 3-of-14 (21.4 percent) from deep in the first half.

Ohio State went on a 20-6 run in just under eight minutes to open the second half and Iowa was unable to recover from the deficit. Thelwell led all scorers with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting while knocking down 3-of-4 from three-point range. Freeman added 14 points to go along with eight rebounds. Senior Payton Sandfort and sophomore Seydou Traore rounded out Hawkeyes in double digits with 13 points apiece.

The Hawkeyes finished the game shooting 24-of-61 (39.3 percent) from the field and 7-of-25 (28 percent) from deep. As a team Iowa shot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from the charity stripe. Ohio State was led by Micah Parrish who scored 18 points and pulled in six rebounds. The Hawkeyes lost the rebounding battle, 43-31.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
"We went on a pretty big scoring draught. As you know, if that happens then you need stops. But we were missing so they were running on our misses. They got going in transition, they were attacking, they have a team that can do that, a lot of different guys. So, our shot selection needs to be better. Plus, we didn’t get one offensive rebound in the second half. So, when your missing shots you have to get a couple back and we did not. We did that in the first half, we had seven offensive rebounds in the first half, pretty good number, but zero in the second half.

GAME NOTES

• Ohio State used a 16-3 run over the first 5:45 of the second half en route to an 82-65 victory over Iowa on Monday night at Value City Arena.
  • The Buckeyes outscored the Hawkeyes, 52-39, in the second half, shooting 56.7 percent from the floor.
• Iowa had four players finish in double figures: Drew Thelwell 20, Owen Freeman 14, Payton Sandfort 13, Seydou Traore 13
• Thelwell finished with a team-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting with three 3-point field goals, tying a season-high 
  • It is his second 20-point game of the season and the eighth of his career.
  • He has led the team in scoring in consecutive games and three times this season.
  • He went 4-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from long range in the first half.
• Freeman finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.  He made 6-of-13 field goals in the game.
  • Freeman has 25 rebounds over his last three games, pulling in 8+ in all three contests.
  • He scored 11 of Iowa’s first 16 points in the game.
• Traore scored 13 points, reaching double figures for the second time in three games. It’s his high point total in the Big Ten game.
  • He went 7-of-10 from the free throw stripe.
• Payton Sandfort finished with 13 points with three 3-pointers.
  • He passed assistant coach Matt Gatens for third in program history in career 3-point field goals with 240.
• Freeman and Thelwell combined for 22 of Iowa’s first 24 points and 22 of 26 in the first half.
• The Hawkeyes were held to a season-low 65 points. 

UP NEXT
Iowa will return to action Feb. 4, hosting Purdue on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be on Peacock beginning at 6 p.m. (CT).