IU drops 10th straight with loss

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It all began here.

The first game of this 10-game losing streak began against Iowa on Jan. 24, but it wouldn’t end there.

IU dropped its 13th conference game Sunday, losing 73-57 on the road against the Hawkeyes.

And with a road trip to Purdue on Wednesday and a home game against Northwestern, it doesn’t look like the Hoosiers have any easy chances of ending this drought.

This loss began with Iowa getting a quick lead against IU and keeping it. But its own mistakes kept the game closer than most of the other recent blowouts.

One of the Hoosiers’ biggest weaknesses this season — their turnovers — accounted for the Hawkeyes’ early run. Iowa scored 23 points — more than 30 percent of their total — off IU’s 20 turnovers.

Even though the Hoosiers kept the Hawkeyes’ lead less than 20 points for most of the game, they couldn’t cut it to less than double digits.

While the Hawkeyes didn’t make it easy for the Hoosiers, they also didn’t present the same problems that Wisconsin did on Thursday. IU continued to make the same mistakes that has plagued them in this stretch.

There was a lack of rebounding (only three offensive rebounds in the first half), a plethora of turnovers (20 total) and bad shooting (12.5 from the three-point line).  
IU notched its 10th turnover by the 5:17 mark in the first half, while the Hawkeyes finished the game with 11 total turnovers.
Freshman forward Christian Watford — the second-leading scorer with 13 points — said the early turnovers were a major factor in IU getting behind so quickly.

“They got a great lead on us that hurt us, and it went on from there,” he said.

The Hoosiers managed to knock down the Hawkeyes’ lead to nine by halftime, despite going eight minutes without scoring.

But the Hawkeyes rebounded in the second half, shooting 56.3 percent from a first-half 40.6 percent. But it wasn’t the field goals that kept the Hawkeyes’ lead. It was the free throws. IU’s 23 second-half fouls led to 21 free-throws made for Iowa.

Iowa’s overall offensive woes helped the Hoosiers, since the Hawkeyes shot 45.8 percent from the field, worse than any of IU’s other opponents during this losing streak (except for their first matchup with Iowa). The Hawkeyes also had the worst three-point percentage (17.6 percent) in any of IU’s games in this streak.

Despite their struggles, it was still a big game for Iowa, who scored more than 70 points for the third time in their conference schedule. But Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said he could not credit his team’s win because of its offensive.
“We had a lead because of defensive effort,” he said.

The two teams continued to battle in the second half, recording 37 fouls — out of a total 55 — in the final 20 minutes. “For two teams near the bottom of the standings, that was a very hard-fought game,” IU coach Tom Crean said.