The Iowa men’s basketball team fell to Minnesota, 72-67, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday. With an 8:00 p.m. tip-off 8,004 fans showed up to watch the Hawkeyes face the Gophers. Iowa came off of two disappointing road losses against USC and UCLA, but could not pull through resulting in a 12-7 season record.
Both teams had a rough start offensively, with Iowa maintaining that struggle deep into the second half. Iowa failed to catch up to the Gophers double digit lead until three minutes remained in the half when sophomore forward Owen Freeman stacked up a few points alongside Harding and Traore. During a timeout with 2:42 remaining, an Iowa cheerleader sustained a neck injury, hitting the floor hard. The timeout lasted 10 minutes and the cheerleader signaled with a thumbs up before being carried out on a stretcher. After resuming play the Hawkeyes closed out the game five points shy of the Gophers.
Iowa will play Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Friday.