IOWA CITY -- After a close first half, Iowa pulled away late in the second to come out on top of the Penn State men's basketball team 68-51 Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as the Nittany Lions played their second of three-straight road games.
After a close first half in which the Nittany Lions dominated the boards with a plus-12 rebound margin, the Hawkeyes came out of the locker room and turned the rebound margin in their favor to control the second half and come out with the victory.
Senior Jalen Pickett led Penn State with 14 points and added three rebounds, three assists and two steals to his stat line. Senior Myles Dread had nine points behind a trio of 3-pointers. Senior Greg Lee had a team-high eight rebounds and added six points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a 2-2 tie 30 seconds in, Iowa went on an 8-0 run to jump out to the early advantage. The Hawkeyes led, 14-7, at the first media timeout, a score that would also carry into the under-12 timeout as both teams had nearly three-minute scoring droughts.
- The Nittany Lions clawed back on an 8-2 run to get within one, 16-15, with 7:41 remaining in the opening stanza. The defense held Iowa to just one field goal in seven minutes during that stretch.
- Penn State took a brief 25-23 lead, its first of the day, on a 3-pointer from Seth Lundy before Iowa closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 30-25 advantage into the locker room.
- Both teams were even at 13-13 in the second half to keep it a five-point game at the under-12 media timeout.
- The Nittany Lions then got within three, 44-41, at the 11:13 mark, but Iowa answered with a 7-1 run to make it 51-42 to force Penn State to call timeout.
- The Nittany Lions got within six with seven minutes remaining in regulation, but Iowa closed out the game converting from the charity stripe for the 68-51 final score.
GAME NOTES
- Penn State's defense held Iowa's high-scoring offense to 68 points, 15 points below its season-scoring average of 83.9. Penn State has now held 10 of its last 13 opponents at least 10 points below their season scoring average.
- The defense held the Hawkeyes' leading scorer and the nation's second-leading scorer, Keegan Murray to 15 points, well below his season average of 23.3 points per game.
- Senior Jalen Pickett recorded his ninth-straight game with double-digits, finishing with a team-high 14 points.
- The Nittany Lions held a 22-10 edge in rebounds in the first half, including an 8-1 advantage on the offensive glass. Iowa flipped the script in the second half, controlling the boards 27-12 with a 10-3 edge on the offensive glass.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Micah Shrewsberry
- "Hats off to Iowa. It's a hard place to play, it's a great environment, the fans were into it like they always are, and those guys did what they needed to do to win. We hung around, we kept it close in the first half, we talked about transition and rebounding being keys to the game and we were doing that in the first half. They flipped it on us. They really punished us on the glass in the second half and that's when they're tough to stop. They're getting offensive rebounds, they're getting easy baskets, they're getting to the free throw line, now they're getting going, threes get falling, and everything else. They were the tougher team tonight. They showed their makeup in terms of who they are and what they needed to do to win and respond from the loss to Rutgers so hats off to them."
UP NEXT
- Penn State remains on the road Wednesday when the Nittany Lions travel to Indiana. Penn State won the season's first matchup with the Hoosiers, 61-58, on Jan. 2 in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions and Hoosiers tip off at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night on the Big Ten Network.
The 2021-22 Penn State men's basketball season is presented by Highmark Health.