Penn State men’s basketball drops 2nd straight road game after Iowa pulls away in second half
Penn State lost its second straight road game Saturday afternoon, falling to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 77-68, at Carver Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The program dropped to 21-8 overall with the loss and 11-7 in the Big Ten.
The contest was tight early on Saturday afternoon. Each team made five 3-point attempts in the first half to fuel the scoring in a fast-paced game.
The Nittany Lions were led in the opening 20 minutes by freshman forward Seth Lundy with 14 points. He made four of PSU’s five shots from beyond the arc in the first half and was the only player to score in double figures in the half.
Iowa came out of halftime with much of the same offensively, making 8-of-12 shots from the field to open the half. The same couldn’t be said about Penn State, which trailed 35-34 at the half.
It took the Nittany Lions five minutes to make their first field goal of the second half. They allowed the Hawkeyes to build a double-digit lead and never came back from there.
Iowa extended its lead to 17 points late in the game, and that sealed it.
Senior center Luka Garza led the game with 25 points, while senior forward Lamar Stevens led the Nittany Lions with 20.
Sophomore guard Myreon Jones returned to Penn State’s rotation after missing six straight games but was not a major factor. He scored four points on nine field goal attempts and missed all three of his attempts from beyond the arc.
The Nittany Lions and Hawkeyes split the season series with each other, with Penn State winning their previous matchup at the Palestra in early January. The two teams could potentially meet again in the Big Ten tournament.
Player of the game
Iowa C Luka Garza: The senior center was dominant in the second half after a poor first half, and that made the difference for Iowa. He came out of the gates slow with only seven points in the first half on 16 field goal attempts, but his dominance in the second half allowed the Hawkeyes to close it out. He scored 18 points in the second half on 12 field goal attempts to finish with 25 points in the game. Tack on his 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end, and its easy to see why he’s the front-runner for Big Ten player of the year.
Turning point
Iowa goes on a 9-0 run to pull away: Penn State kept lingering after giving up the lead just before the half, but the Hawkeyes went on a run that began with just over five minutes left in the game to close it out. They scored nine straight points to extend their lead from eight to 17 and seal the victory. Iowa’s run was a necessary one since Penn State made three 3-pointers in the last two minutes of the game to cut it to single digits.
Stat of the Game
Penn State shoots 5-of-17 from 3-point range in the second half: The Nittany Lions were hot from deep to start the game but fell apart in the second half in Saturday’s loss to the Hawkeyes. They only made 5-of-17 attempts from beyond the arc in the half, good for 29.4%. Their inability to make those looks, especially the ones that were open, made it almost impossible for the Nittany Lions to respond when Iowa went on a run of its own. Penn State can win without making a high percentage of its 3-pointers, but it’s tough to do so when the opponent can push the pace and the scoring like Iowa can.
Quotables
Penn State head coach Pat Chambers on his team’s strategy against Luka Garza:
“We just wanted to mix things up. Sometimes we were going to double him, sometimes we weren’t. Sometimes we were going to dig, sometimes we weren’t. Just trying to keep him off balance. I thought Mike (Watkins) and John (Harrar) ... did a noble job on him for most of the game. I really do.”
Up next
Michigan State: Penn State’s next contest will be its senior night game. The Nittany Lions will take on the Michigan State Spartans on Tuesday night at the Bryce Jordan Center. The Spartans are the No. 7 team in Ken Pomeroy’s KenPom rankings.
The Hawkeyes will stay in Iowa City for their next game. They’re set to take on the Purdue Boilermakers in their final home game of the season Tuesday night. The Boilermakers are the No. 25 team in KenPom’s rankings.
This story was originally published February 29, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
