Hawkeye men climb over .500 in Big Ten with 85-60 blowout over Indiana

IOWA CITY — It was eight days later and 56 fewer points allowed.

After getting embarrassed, 116-85, at Wisconsin on Jan. 3, the Iowa men’s basketball team responded with a 97-87 overtime home win over Nebraska on Tuesday and then had a defensive masterpiece Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes beat Indiana, 85-60, stealing the ball 11 times and blocking six shots. They outrebounded a Big Ten team for the first time this season getting 37 to the Hoosiers’ 31.

“We needed to lock in on defense and get stops,” Iowa senior guard Drew Thelwell said, “and I think we showed we can do that today.”

Iowa improved to 3-2 in the Big Ten, 12-4 total. Indiana had a five-game winning streak halted and slipped to 4-2, 13-4.

Playing in his 129th college game, Thelwell had a career-high six steals. That was the most by a Hawkeye since Joe Toussaint had that total in 2021.

“He’s been that ball of energy that we see in practice, and it’s kind of amping everybody up,” said Iowa center Owen Freeman.

“I just love playing defense,” Thelwell said.

That wasn’t a statement you would have expected from a Hawkeye eight days earlier in Madison when the Badgers made a Big Ten-record 21 3-pointers in 31 tries.

“Once we realized that they were just trying to outscore us, once we realized that they were just coming in here to try and outscore us and they didn’t really care much about the defensive end, we took advantage of that,” Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee said.

“We got humbled at Wisconsin,” Iowa senior forward Payton Sandfort said.

“The way we responded to it shows what we’re capable of. A lot of people were writing us off. A lot of people kind of disrespected us.

“You’re going to get beat in this league like that sometimes and you just have to be able to respond.”

Sandfort had just two points in the first half Saturday, but his team held a 43-33 lead at the break. Sandfort had 21 second-half points as the Hawkeyes pulled away early and continued growing the lead.

Against Nebraska on Tuesday, Sandfort had a scoreless first half and ended with 30 points.

This was the Hawkeyes’ largest margin of victory in its series with Indiana since their 76-50 win here in 1996.

High school teammates/Iowa sophomores Freeman and Brock Harding had double-doubles. Freeman had 16 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Harding had 10 points and 10 assists, and just one turnover.

Freeman had four blocked shots for the second straight game, and had three steals against the Hoosiers.

“He’s locked in,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said.

The first half was a bit on the schizo side. Iowa ran off 15 straight points for a 15-4 lead. Not long after, Indiana used a 13-0 run for a 26-23 edge. Then, the Hawkeyes scored 16 unanswered points for a 41-28 advantage.

Iowa’s next games are at USC Tuesday night and UCLA Friday night. The wildfires ravaging greater Los Angeles caused the postponement of several sporting events there this weekend, and the Monday’s Minnesota Vikings-Los Angeles Rams playoff game Monday was moved from Inglewood, Calif., to Arizona.

However, two NBA games are scheduled to be played in Los Angeles Monday night.

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