Written by: TJ Inman
The Indiana Hoosiers hosted the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that could have reasonably been called a “must win” contest for both sides. Only one team would exit Assembly Hall with its first Quad One victory and despite the best efforts of Tayton Conerway, Ben McCollum’s Iowa Hawkeyes got off to a strong start and withstood a run in the middle of the second half before pulling away for the 74-57 victory. This was yet another extremely ugly second half from Darian DeVries’ team and the Hawkeyes used a 17-3 run to go from ahead by only four to a commanding 18-point lead. Indiana was outscored by ten points at the foul line and made only six of 24 shots from the perimeter as they stumbled to a mostly inept offensive performance. The loss drops IU to 12-6 and significantly narrows the path to the NCAA Tournament.
The Iowa Hawkeyes jumped out to a 10-2 lead as their defense forced Indiana’s offense into poor shots. The Hoosiers finally got on-track when Tayton Conerway continuously slashed to the rim and beat his defender for layups but Indiana’s defense failed to hold up as the two teams combined for 14 straight made shots. Conerway continued to excel but Iowa extended the lead to 11 points and led 38-28 at the break. Indiana shot only 12-30 from the field in the field and they were outscored by seven points at the foul line.
The second half began with the Hawkeyes extending the lead to 12 points but IU made a run and cut the lead to just five on a Nick Dorn triple that got a loud roar from the Indiana faithful but Iowa star Bennett Stirtz hit five-straight free throws to push the lead back to ten points. Indiana had one final run as Reed Bailey hit a pair of free throws to slice the lead to just four points but Tayton Conerway injured his ankle on what appeared to be one of several Iowa moving screens and Stirtz nailed a triple. Conerway headed to the bench with the deficit at seven points and the Hawkeyes never looked back, eventually pushing the lead to 20 points and winning 74-57. Indiana finished the contest shooting just 38%, they were outscored from the foul line by ten points, made only six three-pointers and never led in the contest. Tayton Conerway finished with a team-high 16 points and Sam Alexis had a solid outing with 13 but the stars were Bennett Stirtz and Tavion Banks. The duo combined for 53 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Indiana will hit the road next week to play Michigan and Rutgers before coming home to host Purdue.