Indiana had not seen a win in Iowa City since Jan. 21, 2021.
The losing streak in Iowa now extends to four years, as the Hoosiers once again fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 85-60 at Carver Hawkeye Arena on Saturday night.
The 25-point loss is the second-biggest point differential this season, sitting behind Indiana’s 89-61 loss to Louisville earlier this season, and marks the end of IU’s five-game winning streak.
“I think we just played uncharacteristic,” Indiana guard Myles Rice said. “During the five-game stretch, we’ve been playing really good basketball, holding onto it, and I think tonight we just got a little bit outside of ourselves. We started off slow, and it was kind of like an avalanche a little bit, so one thing led to another and it kept on going all night.”
From start to finish, the Hoosiers left much to be desired on the court.
Beginning in the first half, despite coming out with the 4-0 start, the switch flipped just over one minute into the game when Iowa’s Owen Freeman put the first points on the board for the Hawkeyes.
The dominoes began to fall as Indiana then committed seven turnovers in the next six minutes, leading to a 21-4 run for Iowa. Indiana, however, responded with a 11-0 run in three minutes to follow, to retake the lead with just eight minutes to go.
Down by one, the Hawkeyes elected to make use of its first timeout, which led to a 20-9 run to close out the half, walking the Hoosiers into the locker room back down, 43-33.
“First of all, throwing it away didn’t help, and turnovers didn’t help,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said. “Not getting back, I thought our shot selection was terrible tonight.”
The next 20 minutes of play didn’t fare to be any better for the cream and crimson. Overall, the Hoosiers shot 11-for-34 (32%) from the field, scoring just 27 points of their own, while giving up 42 total points to the Hawkeyes in the second half.
In short, the Hoosiers were simply outplayed.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes may have played some of their best basketball this season. All starters scored in double digits, 11 made 3s, 11 steals and six blocks, Iowa had Indiana bested in all facets of the game.
“When you go out on the road in the Big Ten, you can’t turn it over, you gotta rebound with your opponent, and you gotta make shots,” Woodson said. “We failed in all three areas tonight.”
Looking from the outside in, this may not have been Indiana’s worst loss of the season. But it’s one that raises much concern.
While it’s only the second conference loss of the season, it serves as a reminder of the Hoosiers’ consistent struggles on the road. The loss also continues Woodson's winless streak at Iowa in his four-year tenure.
“We gotta go back and regroup, because the Big Ten isn’t going anywhere,” Woodson said. “We’ve got Illinois coming in here soon, so we’ve got a couple of days to prepare for them, and it starts tomorrow at 5 o’clock at practice.”
The loss in Iowa City marked the start of an 11-game stretch against Quad-1 opponents for Indiana. And the Hoosiers have their best chance to bounce back.
IU will get its next big test as No. 13 Illinois (12-4, 4-2) travels to Bloomington on Tuesday. Indiana (13-4, 4-2) will look to continue its perfect streak at home, while the Fighting Illini will look to bounce back from its uncharacteristic loss to USC at home. The Hoosiers and the Illini will tip off from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at 7 p.m. on Peacock.
