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Hawkeyes get shooting eyes back, knock off Penn State at Carver, 76-75
Iowa ends 3-game losing streak after sweating out the finish in which the Nittany Lions scored the last seven points
Jan. 24, 2025 10:15 pm, Updated: Jan. 25, 2025 1:56 pm
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IOWA CITY — The Iowa men’s basketball team ended a 3-game losing streak with a 76-75 victory over Penn State Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa improved to 4-5 in the Big Ten, 13-7 overall. Penn State is 3-6, 13-7.
The Nittany Lions pulled within 76-75 with 52 seconds left, the closest they had been since 12 minutes remained in the first half. They scored the final seven points, and got a chance for a game-winner when Iowa’s Drew Thelwell missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2.4 seconds left.
Penn State’s Freddie Dilione V didn’t get a shot up in time against Iowa’s defense, however.
“No matter how you do it, you’ve got to find a way,” said Iowa senior forward Payton Sandfort.
“I thought we played really hard,” Hawkeyes Coach Fran McCaffery said. “We had some consistency defensively.”
Iowa had led 74-65 with five minutes left. It missed three front ends of one-and-ones and six of its final seven free throws after going 8-of-8 in the first half.
The Hawkeyes did make 11 of 23 3-pointers, three days after going 3-of-21 from deep in their 72-69 home loss to Minnesota.
“When you miss your free throws,” McCaffery said, “you tend to really internalize and blame yourself. I didn’t want them to do that, because to a man, those guys played really well.”
Thelwell passed the career 1,000-point mark in the second half. His first four seasons were at Morehead State.
“It just means a lot, honestly,” Thelwell said.
“I just wanted to make sure we won this one.”
The Hawkeyes led by as much as 10 points in both halves. They held a 43-38 lead at halftime after seven ties and five lead-changes. Owen Freeman scored all 11 of his points in the half in a stretch of 6:05 that saw the score go from 16-16 to a 32-25 lead.
Freeman and Thelwell led Iowa with 16 points each. Josh Dix had 11 points and a career-high eight assists.
Iowa’s next game is Monday at Ohio State (3-5, 11-8) at 7 p.m., Iowa time.
“Once you can get one, you can kind of get some confidence going,” said Sandfort. “Shots start falling and things start going right.”
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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