NBA News NBA News, Match Reports and Updates
The Iowa Hawkeyes (15-5, 5-4) showed grit coming back from a 10-0 deficit to build a 17-point second half lead. Yet they let their foot off the gas and the USC Trojans (15-6, 4-6) capitalized on it to get a 1-point lead inside of a minute. Two Bennett Stirtz free throws gave Iowa the lead with 4.6 remaining and they avoided catastrophe when Kam Woods’ last second three was off the mark in a 73-72 win to eclipse .500 in conference play.
Stirtz and Tavion Banks, who is now 4 FTs away from tying Chris Street’s record of 34 straight makes, led the team with 20 points each. Alvaro Folgueiras had his best Big Ten game as a Hawk with 14 points and two key makes down the stretch.
Advertisement
The way the first half went, it felt like we were headed for a slugfest in the 50s or 60s. The Trojans came out firing – they’re now 3-2 on the road in conference play – behind Chad Baker-Mazara to get the 10-0 lead in just under 3 minutes of gameplay. Felt like maybe one of those nights where rust beats out rest after 8 days off. But Iowa dug deep with their defense & rebounding despite missing shots and turning it over on the other end.
Cooper Koch hit Iowa’s first basket to cut the lead to 14-6 but the Hawks still struggled to string positive possessions together. Defense sprung Iowa, with Banks having a layup & dunk back-to-back followed by a Folgueiras transition layup to cut it to 4.
Baker-Mazara quickly hit a pair of 3s to stretch USC’s lead back to 10 with 5:31 remaining in the half. But the defense kept grinding & held the Trojans to just 2 baskets the rest of the way while Iowa went on a 9-0 run capped off by a Koch steal/assist to Stirtz for a breakaway dunk for a 1-point lead.
USC got a basket on their final possession of the half to get the lead back in their favor but a 28-27 deficit felt like a solid outcome considering the start. The Hawks forced 10 turnovers during the frame & held them to only a pair of free throws despite the Trojans’ reliance on them (as Eric…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/hawks-overcome-slow-start-hang-032344524.html
Author :
Publish date : 2026-01-29 03:23:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
