The Iowa men’s basketball team dropped its first game of the season to Utah State on Friday, 77-69. The Hawkeyes were plagued by inconsistencies from the three-point and free throw lines, resulting in a dismal defeat.
Despite the loss, second-year point guard Brock Harding posted the best game of his career, collecting 19 points, five assists, and one rebound to lead the team. Fellow second-year center Owen Freeman also chipped in 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Iowa began the game slowly from three-point range, missing their first five attempts of the game. Most of the looks were wide-open and came from hot-hands Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix, but they still didn’t go down. Utah State took advantage, grabbing an early 9-6 lead at the first media timeout.
The next few minutes of the contest featured a block party between the two teams, as Seydou Traore recorded two blocks for the Hawkeyes, while Freeman followed with one of his own in transition. Drew Thelwell knocked in Iowa’s first triple of the game, and some tough Hawkeye defense kept the Aggies lead at one point.
As they have done most of the season, Traore and Thelwell seemed to provide a spark on the offensive end of the floor, and Iowa began to run its offense through Freeman in the paint. The sophomore center recorded a pair of buckets, and the transfer tandem of Traore and Thelwell each logged nifty layups in traffic to give the Hawks a 26-22 lead.
And it was Traore who had the highlight of the first half. As the sophomore forward waited near the rim, Harding saw him in the corner of his eye, and lobbed a beautiful alley-oop to Traore. The pair barely missed connecting in the first half, but Traore didn’t miss this one, resulting in a loud roar from the Hawkeye faithful.
SEY SLAM! @iamseydou35 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/txfJy3oetv
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) November 23, 2024
Iowa continued its stingy play on defense to maintain its narrow lead over the final few minutes, but some missed free-throws and a few sloppy turnovers resulted in only a 37-33 lead at halftime.
The Hawkeyes began the second half just like they started it, with turnovers and careless play. Iowa jumped out to a six-point edge at one point, but Utah State took advantage of the Hawkeye errors to fight back. Despite committing a pair of costly turnovers on offense, Harding responded with a couple of shots from beyond the arc and a tough jumper from the free-throw line to give Iowa a four-point advantage.
But the bad play continued, allowing the Aggies to build a five-point lead of their own. The Hawkeyes battled back with a dunk from Freeman, but he ran gingerly after the play, and left the game grabbing at his leg.
Freeman would return to the game, but a wild Utah State three-pointer to beat the shot clock seemed to spell the end for Iowa. The Hawkeyes attempted to fight back, but were plagued by missed free-throws and three-pointers.
A Freeman layup sliced the Aggie lead down to two, but Iowa went cold from the floor after that, and Utah State coasted to a victory. In all, the Hawkeyes went a disappointing 5-of-26 from distance and 8-of-16 from the charity stripe.
Up nextÂ
The Hawkeyes will return to action on Nov. 26 for a contest against South Carolina Upstate at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. on Big Ten Network.