Victories away from home remain elusive for Iowa men’s basketball. The Hawkeyes lost their fifth consecutive road contest, dropping an x decision to Ohio State on Monday night at The Schottenstein Center in Columbus. A narrow first half deficit ballooned to as many as 25 as Iowa fell to 13-8 overall and 4-6 in Big Ten play.
Iowa has lost four of its last five games while Ohio State picked up its first home victory of the month after dropping its previous three decisions.
Senior guard Drew Thelwell led the Hawkeyes with 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, but he was one of just six scorers as the team shot 39.3 percent from the floor. Second-year center Owen Freeman finished second with 14 points while forwards Payton Sandfort and Seydou Traore pitched in 13 apiece.
Fifth-year guard Micah Parrish paced the victors with 18 points while teammates Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Buckeyes led, 30-26, at the break before starting the final frame on a 24-6 run. They shot 56 percent from the floor in the second half. Iowa’s rebounding struggles reared its head again, as the Hawkeyes were outperformed on the glass, 43-31.
After the torrid Buckeye run, the Hawkeyes never got within single digits. A press proved ineffective against Ohio State, which scored six fast-break points and 42 points in the paint, including this an alley-oop dunk from Thornton and this putback slam from Evan Mahaffey.
The Hawkeyes shot poorly in the first half, connecting on just 11 of 32 field goal attempts, including a 3-of-14 mark from long range. The Buckeyes led by as many as 10 points in the opening frame before an 8-2 Hawkeye run to close out the half cut the lead to 30-26. Coming off scoring his 1,000th career point in Iowa’s last game against Penn State, led the visitors with 11 points and all three triples. Iowa would make only x more threes for the rest of the contest.
After entering the game with best three-point percentage in the Big Ten at 39.1 percent, Iowa has shot a combined 32 percent over its last three games.
Up Next
Iowa has a week off before returning to Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a matchup against No. 10 Purdue on Feb. 4. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Peacock. The Boilermakers are 16-5 overall with an 8-2 mark in Big Ten play and rank second in the conference. Purdue ranks third in the Big Ten in opponents points per game and team field goal percentage as well as second in three-point percentage. Junior forward Trey Kaufman-Renn leads the team with 18.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while guard Braden Smith leads the Big Ten averaging 8.9 assists per contest.