Hawkeyes hammer Hoosiers
The struggles of the Iowa basketball team on the road this season have been well documented. But, on Tuesday night they turned into a distance memory as the Hawkeyes flipped the script and hammered Indiana on their home floor to the tune of a 90-68 victory.
With the win, Iowa moves to 19-11 on the season and 11-8 in league play. The Hoosiers fall to 20-10 overall and they are also 11-8 in Big Ten play.
Iowa has not gotten off to good starts in recent road games, but they did on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall. The Hawkeyes jumped the Hoosiers to the tune of an 8-0 start, led by a pair of three point field goals by Kris Murray. The junior forward paced the Iowa attack with a team high 26 points, including 5-8 from three point range.
The Hoosiers eventually started to chip away at the Iowa lead in the middle of the first half. After a put-back by star forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana pulled to within four at 24-20 with 9:57 left. But, Iowa then put their foot on the gas once again and extended the lead back to double figures.
Payton Sandfort knocked down a three and that led to a 10-0 run for the Hawkeyes. Tony Perkins was in the middle of that run as well with four points and Iowa stretched the lead to 34-20 with 6:30 left in the half. Perkins, who is from Indianapolis, nearly had the first triple double in Iowa basketball history. He finished this game with 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists.
The lead was pushed to 17 after another three by Murray before the Hoosiers closed the first half on a 10-4 run to make it 47-36 at the half.
Coming out of halftime the Hoosiers were determined to make a run and Assembly Hall was there to help start the rally. Indiana opened with a dunk by Jackson-Davis, who had a team high 26 points in the loss. But, the Hoosiers could never gain any momentum. After Indiana pulled to within ten after a bucket by Race Thompson, Iowa essentially put the game away with an 11-0 run to push their lead to 61-40.
From that point on, the Hawkeyes were in control. The lead grew to 25 at the very end, shortly after Sandfort sank a three and blew kisses to the Hoosier student section, which drew a technical foul.
Iowa will wrap up their regular season when they host Nebraska on Sunday afternoon at 1 pm. The game will air on the Big Ten Network.
