The one-game lead Iowa held in the Big Ten title race vanished Wednesday night at the hands of an unlikely opponent.
The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes suffered a 79-75 loss on the road at a Penn State team they beat by 24 points just two weeks ago.
A 19-5 first-half Penn State surge fueled by five 3-pointers helped the Nittany Lions take a seven-point lead into halftime. Iowa closed to within two with less than five minutes remaining, but the Hawkeyes could never gather enough momentum to regain the lead despite attempting 35 free throws.
Allowing a potential victory to slip away could prove costly for Iowa (20-6, 11-3) as it looks to nail down the Big Ten title and a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Hawkeyes will be tied for first place in the Big Ten with Indiana and Maryland if the Hoosiers can avoid an upset against Nebraska on Wednesday night and the Terps can dispatch woeful Minnesota on Thursday.
If Maryland wins the Big Ten outright, coach Mark Turgeon should send Penn State's Patrick Chambers a thank you card. The Nittany Lions are just 13-13 overall and 4-9 in the Big Ten, but they've upset Indiana and Iowa in their last two home games.
Why did the Hawkeyes become Penn State's latest upset victim? It's tempting to say they overlooked the Nittany Lions or they were lulled to sleep by the sluggish atmosphere at the the half-full Bryce Jordan Center, but that doesn't tell the full story.
Iowa could not get into any semblance of offensive rhythm because the Nittany Lions committed so many fouls. Peter Jok scored 28 points and Jarrod Uthoff had 19, but the Hawkeyes only shot 41.2 percent from the field as a team and sank four of their eight 3-pointers in desperation mode in the final 90 seconds.
In their previous meeting two weeks ago, Iowa held Penn State to 1-for-20 3-point shooting. The typically cold-shooting Nittany Lions caught fire Wednesday night by their standards, hitting 7 of 14 from behind the arc in the first half and finishing 10-for-28 for the game.
Forward Donovan Jack led Penn State with a career high 19 points off the bench. Guard Shep Garner and forward Brandon Taylor scored 18 apiece on a combined seven threes.
Iowa's path to a Big Ten title is now considerably tougher given its remaining schedule. The Hawkeyes final four regular season games include home games against Wisconsin and fellow contender Indiana and road games at Michigan and Ohio State.
No comments:
Post a Comment