Although the Hawkeyes would get off to a nice start, it was all Spartans on Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, as Michigan State defeated Iowa, 71-53. The loss drops the Hawkeyes to 5-11 overall and 0-4 in conference play, while the Spartans are now 13-3 overall and 3-0 in Big Ten action.
For the game’s first five minutes, it looked as though Iowa would make this a tight game with the Spartans, and the Hawkeyes at one point lead 13-9.
However, Michigan State would go on a 12-0 run to take a 21-13 lead, and wouldn’t look back from there.
The Spartans would eventually cling to a 36-28 halftime lead, only to come out firing in the second half, scoring 12 points right away to move up 48-28.
“We turned it over a couple of times and they were able to get run-outs on us, and they were curling into the paint,” Iowa head coach Todd Lickliter said. “We weren’t picking up those curls.”
Michigan State was led by Kalin Lucas and Draymond Green, both of whom finished with 14 points. Green also hauled in 11 rebounds, four of which came on the offensive end.
Also reaching double figures in points for Michigan State were Raymar Morgan with 12 and Chris Allen with 10.
Collectively, the Spartans outrebounded the Hawkeyes, 38-22, which proved to be a big difference in the outcome on Saturday.
“That was a game-changer right there — they dominated in the paint,” sophomore Aaron Fuller said after finishing with six points. “You got to box them out and make sure they only get one shot. They capitalized on us not getting them off the boards and finishing or getting a foul.”
Iowa was led by sophomore Matt Gatens, who tallied 16 points in the Hawkeyes’ fourth consecutive loss. He was the game’s leading scorer, but the only Hawkeye player to post double-digits in points.
Meanwhile, freshman Cully Payne finished with nine points and five rebounds for Iowa.
Both Payne and Gatens described the current losing streak Iowa is enduring as “a learning experience.”
“I think we’ve learned a ton,” Payne said. “You got to play 40 minutes, which we’re struggling with right now. We had about six or seven minutes where we kind of real soft in the first half, which hurt us.”
The Hawkeyes step out of Big Ten play for their final non-conference game of the season on Jan. 12 when they host Tennessee State, who comes into Iowa City with a 4-13 mark. Tip-off is scheduled from Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 8 p.m.
Iowa’s next Big Ten game will be on Jan. 16 at 12 p.m. against Penn State, also at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The players hope this step out of the grind of the Big Ten will be beneficial to them in terms of regaining confidence it had entering conference play last week.
“It’s definitely a good opportunity to go out there and play hard, and hopefully get a win and get some confidence back for this team and these young guys and everybody in this program,” Gatens said. “We definitely need it right now.”
— by Brendan Stiles
