Despite Bennett Stirtz’s 32 points, 6 assists and no turnovers, the Iowa Hawkeyes (18-6, 8-5) never really managed to find the rhythm of their team during a 77-70 defeat against Maryland (10-14, 3-10). This was Iowa’s worst loss of the season, with Maryland ranked 161st going into the game.
The Hawks struggled to contain Andre Mills for much of the first half as he scored 14 points on 6/8 shooting.
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Throughout the half, Iowa struggled to score, shooting just 43 percent from the field and 33 percent from deep. A big part of that was the Terps’ rim protection, especially Collin Metcalf who had 3 blocks in 12 minutes in the first half. Iowa was able to get five offensive rebounds in the frame and turn Maryland over six times, but could only turn them into 4 points as Maryland went to half up 37-32.
Stirtz was excellent, with 13 points on 5/7 shooting while Tavion Banks added 8 in the first.
The second half lost any semblance of flow as it was marred by two interminable critiques and 35 free throws. Maryland going 15/23 from the line seemed to be what held Iowa up for much of the second.
Stirtz continued to do what he started in the first half with 19 points on 8/14 shooting, but the team collectively fell for the three. 16 of their 31 attempts came from deep, and while many were nice, they seemed just a little tight.
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Brendan Hausen came in and quickly made his first two threes, but his third was more of a ‘chase’ type, which seemed to throw off his form. Just a little too deep, slightly off. Iowa missed its last 10 attempts from 3 after Hausen missed with 10:58 remaining.
On the other side, the bugaboo of fighting with the guards continued to bother Iowa. Diggy Coit had 12 points and Mills added 10 more in the frame as the two found themselves constantly in the lane getting baskets or fouls, sometimes both.
Stirtz’s layup with 9:10 left was the last time Iowa took the lead as Buzz Williams quickly called a timeout, leading Mills to foul and tie the game. That sparked an 8-0 run that Iowa was never able to escape from, although Iowa did go on/save/score with a pair of baskets from Banks and Stirtz to make it 2 with 5:31 left.
Maryland managed just one field goal the rest of the game – a 3 with 2:55 left – as their free-throw-based offense kept the Hawks at bay, finishing 12/16 from the charity stripe despite going 1/5 from the field the rest of the game.
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One of these matches against one of these opponents. This shows how difficult it can be to beat an opponent twice in a season, no matter how good they are. The Hawks have a chance to show it and Purdue comes to town on Saturday.
