Quick thoughts on a 74-68 win against Iowa:
How it happened
After not making a 3-pointer in Saturday’s loss at Illinois, the Hoosiers were red-hot from the perimeter to start against Iowa at Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers made five triples, which helped propel them to 39 first-half points and a stellar 1.25 points per possession. Mackenzie Mgbako made a pair of triples, as did Anthony Leal. Kel’el Ware also made a 3 and had 12 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in 17 first-half minutes after returning from an ankle injury. Indiana was equally impressive defensively, limiting Iowa to 27.3 percent shooting from the field and only .9 points per possession in the opening 20 minutes. At one point, Indiana held Iowa scoreless for nearly seven minutes. The Hoosiers led 39-22 with 1:27 remaining in the half before a 6-0 run by the Hawkeyes closed it to 39-28 at intermission. Indiana played nearly the whole half without Malik Reneau, who got his foot stepped on in the paint and left with a foot injury after just two and a half minutes.
By the under-16 media timeout, the Hoosiers led 44-35 after a Payton Sandfort 3-pointer, his fourth of the game, at the 16:56 mark. Another Sandfort 3-pointer brought the Hawkeyes within six at 44-38 with 15:45 remaining. The Hawkeyes tied the game at 49 with 10:37 remaining on a Tony Perkins layup and took the lead on a Josh Dix 3-point play at the 8:43 mark. But Indiana regained the lead on a Leal 3-pointer at 59-58 with 6:58 to go. A pair of free throws by Kel’el Ware made the lead four at 64-60 with 4:32 to play. But the Hawkeyes cut it to two on an Owen Freeman bucket in transition at the under-four timeout.
Six straight points from Iowa put the Hawkeyes ahead 66-64, and with just over two minutes left, Xavier Johnson attacked the rim, was fouled and came down hard on his arm, and had to leave the game. Trey Galloway made both free throws in Johnson’s place to tie the game at 66. Out of a timeout and with just 2.9 seconds left on the shot clock, Sandfort’s long 2 with 1:42 left gave Iowa the lead back at 68-66. On IU’s next possession, Gabe Cupps hit a 3-pointer to give IU a 69-68 lead. Iowa turned it over on its next possession and fouled Trey Galloway, who made one of two free throws to make it 70-68 IU. After a Sandfort missed 3-pointer, Indiana’s next possession ended with a missed corner 3 by Mgbako, but Galloway found Kel’el Ware under the basket for a bucket to make it 72-68 with 26.1 seconds to go. Josh Dix missed a 3-pointer on the next possession and Iowa fouled Leal, who made both free throws to seal the win.
Standout performers
Ware led the Hoosiers with 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots in 35 minutes. Leal scored a career-high 13 points in 22 minutes. He also had seven rebounds. Indiana was +13 with Leal on the floor.
Statistics that stand out
Indiana went 8-for-22 on 3s, outscored Iowa 15-4 on second-chance points and 32-24 in the paint. The Hoosiers also held Iowa to 68 points, more than 17 points under their season average. IU also out-rebounded Iowa 45-32.
Final IU individual statistics
Final tempo-free statistics
Assembly Call postgame show
Filed to: Iowa Hawkeyes
