Hawkeyes men’s basketball team couldn’t come all the way back, falls 83-79 at Penn State

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A halftime hole a little too large to escape sent the Iowa men’s basketball team tumbling to a second Big Ten loss in four days.

The Hawkeyes fell 83-79 at Penn State Sunday after a rally from an 18-point halftime deficit was a bit short. Iowa had a chance to tie or go ahead when it got the ball with 12.9 seconds left, trailing 81-79.

Seth Lundy of the Nittany Lions poked the ball from Iowa’s Tony Perkins with six seconds left, was fouled after his steal, and made two free throws to secure the win.

“(Perkins) was trying to find Kris (Murray),” said Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery. “We were down two. I think he was looking for Kris to hit the 3, but we just needed to tie the game and he got poked.

The Hawkeyes are 0-3 in the Big Ten, 8-6 overall. Penn State is 2-1 and 11-3.

Iowa shot 56.3 percent and scored 53 points in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to offset the first-half damage. Penn State had a 44-26 lead at the break, shooting 63 percent to Iowa’s 32.6.

“We got off to a decent start (leading 8-6 at the first media timeout), but really didn’t play well in the first half,” said McCaffery. “The last possession hurt us. We had a chance to take the last shot, shoot a rushed shot, and they (Myles Dread) hit a 3 at the buzzer.”

Penn State led 76-64 with 4:26 left and 79-72 with 1:40 remaining, but a Murray tip-in with 16.5 seconds left drew the Hawkeyes within 81-79. Andrew Funk missed the front of a one-and-one four seconds later, but Lundy’s steal and free throws took care of matters.

Murray had a career-high 32 points, 22 in the second half. He played all 40 minutes and had a game-high nine rebounds. Perkins had 17 points after going scoreless in Iowa’s 66-50 loss at Nebraska last Thursday.

Senior guard Jalen Pickett had a season-high 26 points for Penn State. Funk made five 3-pointers and scored 20 points, 16 in the first half.

Iowa’s next game is at home against Indiana Thursday at 8 p.m.