Live at Carver: Iowa drops season opener 79-69

Iowa's men's basketball dropped its opener 79-69 to South Dakota State on Sunday in Fran McCaffery's debut as Hawkeyes coach.

Iowa rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to take three different leads in the second half. However Iowa struggled at the free-throw line and defending against South Dakota's 3-point shooting. The Jackrabbits hit 10 of 21 3-point attempts.

Nate Wolters led South Dakota State with 25 points.

Eric May led Iowa with 20 points, while Jarryd Cole added 17. The Hawkeyes sank just 41.4 percent of their shots from the floor.

Iowa trails 69-65 with 3:59 left.

Below are older entries:

Iowa trails South Dakota State 62-59 with 7:41 left in the game. The Hawkeyes trailed by nine at halftime before taking a 49-47 lead midway through the second half.

Eric May has 17 points for Iowa.

After trailing by nine points at halftime, Iowa has stormed back to take a 49-47 lead against South Dakota State with 11:50 left in the game.

Devyn Marble drilled a 3-pointer with 12:13 remaining to give the Hawkeyes the lead.

Below is earlier notes:

Iowa started the second half with a 6-0 run to cut South Dakota State's lead to 38-35 with 17:50 left in the game.

Iowa scored on three straight possessions with Eric May driving for a layup, then scoring again with a reverse layup. Cully Payne also drove in for a basket.

South Dakota State finished the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 38-29 halftime lead this afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa struggled to maintain possession of the ball. On four consecutive trips late in the first half Iowa players were stripped of the ball. Overall Iowa had 14 turnovers compared to South Dakota State's seven.

Iowa outrebounded the Jackrabbits 24-17.

Iowa hit only 11 of 29 shots from the field in the first half. Eric May and Jarryd Cole each had 10 points for Iowa.

South Dakota State's Nate Wolters hit three 3-pointers and leads all scorers with 14 points.

Welcome to the debut of Fran McCaffery as new Iowa men's basketball coach. To commemorate, Iowa unveiled 500 T-shirts reading "Fran Is Our Man" for the Iowa student section. There also will be "Fran" heads floating around the arena.

Most of the players arrived around noon wearing suits. They hit the court around 12:30 p.m.

Here's a look at the student section about 90 minutes before tip-off: