Iowa men’s basketball vs. Maryland

IOWA CITY — Sometimes, a loss generates a brighter spark than if everything went according to Iowa men’s basketball’s plan.

After a disheartening performance in the Big Ten opener at No. 7 Michigan State, Iowa guard Tavion Banks said the Hawkeyes all recognized how the gut-wrenching loss weighed on the team. Still, he added his team needed to make sure that feeling wouldn’t linger — but instead get channeled into Iowa’s game plan.

“We didn’t overact to what it was,” Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said. “But we correct.”

There was no evidence of the Tuesday loss lingering with the Hawkeyes by Saturday afternoon. This is the version of Iowa men’s basketball the Hawkeyes fans want a lot more of.

The Hawkeyes had a 25-point lead over the Maryland Terrapins early in the second half, providing Iowa plenty of cushion to pick up McCollum and co.’s first Big Ten win of the season with a 83-64 victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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“After going to Michigan State and getting beat like that, it was important for us to have a game like that,” Hawkeye forward Cam Manyawu said. “We executed everything at a high level.”

All five Iowa starters scored at least five points, recorded at least one rebound and dished out an assist. Guard Bennett Stirtz led Iowa with 25 points and two assists, with guard Cooper Koch following with 11 points, two rebounds and an assist. Manyawu added another 12 points, led Iowa with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The only player to reach double figures for Maryland was Pharrel Payne, who finished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

But if there’s any reason to recognize the Hawkeyes’ adjustments after their trip to East Lansing, it was the takeaways. Iowa forced 18 turnovers against Maryland, scoring 21 points.

“Just the intensity of defense, we bring it every night,” guard Tate Sage. “I feel like we should get that amount of turnovers every game.”

It wasn’t just the Hawkeyes’ starting five racking up steals — although all five recorded at least one. Nearly the entire Hawkeye squad collected at least one, all while relinquishing seven turnovers to the Terrapins.

The bounce-back performance from Iowa helped provide one bit of glaring evidence — the Hawkeyes can still play their style of hoops. The matchup against Maryland was a bit more favorable than against Michigan State, but Iowa played the way McCollum wanted Iowa to play.

“I thought we came out with good energy, specifically offensively,” McCollum said. “I thought our defense was solid for the most part, too.”

The rebounding was better, although Maryland won that statistical category. Shot selection worked. The Hawkeyes went on staggering — and in the early second half, debilitating — runs to set themselves up with a 20-point lead for almost the entire game.

Iowa travels to Ames on Thursday to face Iowa State — fresh off a dominating road win over top-ranked Purdue — for the annual Cy-Hawk battle at 7 p.m.

“The morale and confidence we came out here, got our first Big Ten win, and now we're going to a really good environment,” Manyawu said. “So now the preparation for that starts, and we just continue to try and get better.”

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