The Iowa men’s basketball team opened its west coast trip with a wire-to-wire loss on Tuesday night against USC in the Galen Center. The Hawkeyes fell to the Trojans, 99-89, dropping to 12-5 overall and 3-3 in Big Ten competition. Iowa has yet to win a road game this season.
“There’s a lot of good teams in this league. It’s not going to be easy on the road,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said postgame. “So you try to protect home and stay in the fight. We made a nice comeback. We had a chance, just didn’t get it done. On to the next.”
Second-year center Owen Freeman led the Hawkeyes with a career-high 23 points and six rebounds, followed by senior forward Payton Sandfort with 20 points. Senior guard Drew Thelwell rounded out the effort with 16 points, 13 of which game in a late comeback effort in the second half that fell short.
The Trojans featured three players with at least 20 points. First-year guard Wesley Yates III chipped in a career-high 21.
After trailing by double digits since the final three minutes of the first half, Iowa cut the lead to nine with 6:25 to play after a Pryce Sandfort corner three marked the latest bucket in a 16-6 Hawkeye run. A fast-paced offense led by Thelwell produced multiple driving layups that cut the USC edge to five, but a pair of free throws and a dunk gave the Trojans a more comfortable advantage.
Iowa did its best to make it close late with shots from beyond the arc, but its defense couldn’t muster sustained stops against a USC offense that constantly found the open man when a Hawkeye defender chose to help out on a drive, resulting in an easy layup. The Trojans scored a season-high in points and shot 65 percent from the field, another season best and the highest percentage Iowa conceded this season. They finished the contest with a 67 percent mark from deep.
“We got off to a bad start. They got comfortable,” McCaffery said. “I thought our defense was not what it needed to be.”
The Hawkeyes’ offense was played as well as its had all season, shooting 53.3 percent from the floor and 45.8 percent from beyond the arc. Tuesday’s loss was their first when shooting at least 50 percent from the field, per Iowa Athletics. Another 80-plus point performance marked the team’s 11th straight game with such an output, two away from the tying the record set in the 1988-89 season.
The Trojans made seven of their first 10 shots to jump out for an early 16-8 lead. Yates, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week, scored 10 points in the first 10 minutes, missing only one shot. His four makes from long range highlighted USC’s hot first half from beyond the arc. The Trojans knocked down 7-of-11 triples compared to the Hawkeyes’ 4-of-10 mark. The seven first-half threes were a season-high for USC, which averaged six triples per game heading into the contest.
Freeman made his first five shots before missing a hook shot in the lane. His 13 first half points led the visitors, who never led in the first half and trailed by 16 at the break. Iowa’s starting frontcourt of Freeman and Payton Sandfort combined for five rebounds as the Hawkeyes were dominated on the glass in the first half, managing 11 boards to the Trojans’ 20. The Trojans finished the contest with 17 more rebounds than the visitors.
“Tonight we were not good at all on that front,” McCaffery said. “It seemed like we were a little slow to the ball and they were quicker to the ball. Again, we’re trying to address offensive rebounding because offensive rebounding is hard. I’m not expecting you to dominate the glass, but I’m expecting more than four [offensive rebounds], and so should [the players].”
Up Next
Iowa stays in California for a Friday night matchup against UCLA on Jan. 17. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. on FS1. The Bruins are 11-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play, but are in the midst for a four-game losing skid, having surpassed 70 points just once in during that span. Head coach Mick Cronin’s squad ranks 15th in the Big Ten in terms of points per game but rank atop the conference in opponent scoring, yielding 63.4 points per game.
The Bruins are led in scoring by junior and Oregon State transfer Tyler Bilodeau, who averages 14.4 points per game.
UCLA plays its home games in Pauley Pavilion, but because of the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area, the upcoming contest against Iowa may not be played at the location. The UCLA women’s team’s game against Northwestern on Sunday was postponed, while its Wednesday matchup against Penn State will be moved to The Walter Pyramid on the campus of Long Beach State.
The UCLA men’s team has yet to play at home since its two-game road trip out east. McCaffery said the Hawkeyes will find out tomorrow where they will play against the Bruins.