Iowa men’s basketball survives late push from USC after sluggish first half

IOWA CITY — It was the worst start for Iowa men’s basketball this season, and nearly the worst first half of the season, too.

It boded well for the Hawkeyes that basketball games are 40 minutes long and not 20.

Staring down an 11-point deficit midway through the first half, the Hawkeyes’ found a way to a double-digit lead. Only after relinquishing it to USC’s Kam Woods’ 17-straight made field goals in the second half, a pair of clutch free throws by guard Bennett Stirtz secured a 73-72 win over USC.

“I don't know if it was just the days off that started we slow, but we started slow, and then I think I had to just go back to my (Division II) days and just go crazy for a while,” Iowa head coach Ben McCollum said. “And that seemed to work.”

Iowa started the game trailing 10-0, with the Trojans completely disrupting the Hawkeyes system. It took nearly seven minutes before Iowa scored its first point of the game — a free throw by guard Tate Sage — and nearly nine minutes before the first field goal — a triple by Cooper Koch.

The Hawkeyes shot just 28-percent from the floor, and the only triple made was the three by Koch. They were getting out-rebounded, were beaten in nearly every statistical category.

“We were a little rusty, but we still got to come out ready to play at the end of the day,” Stirtz said. “Just try and not let that happen again.”

In the final two minutes of the first half, Iowa flipped a switch, scoring nine points to make it a one-point game at halftime.

It carried over into the second half, with the Hawkeyes using a 17-2 run over the course of 3:45 to take a double-digit lead.

Stirtz, who scored eight points in the first half, ended the game with a team-high 20 points and three rebounds.

Guard Tavion Banks, playing against his former NJCAA teammate Chad Baker-Mazara, fouled out of the game with just over three minutes to play after also scoring 20 points and seven rebounds. It forced Iowa to put Koch back in the game while the Trojans tried to close in, making it as close as a one-score game.

Iowa forward Alvaro Folgueiras also reached double figures for the Hawkeyes, scoring 14 points and five rebounds in 27 minutes.

“I need that for him more often,” McCollum said. “I thought he got to the rim better today. I thought he just didn't settle and just float around. He actually got to the rim, he cut and he defended at an elite level..”

Baker-Mazara scored 13 points for the Trojans and turned the ball over seven times. Woods finished the game with a season-high 33 points, making all but three field goals in the second half.

“We tried putting different guys on him, it didn’t work,” Stirtz said of Woods’ second half performance. “I think he had 25 points on the season and he had 33 tonight. So it’s a credit to him.

The Trojans made it a one-point lead inside the final minute, nearly securing the victory by forcing Stirtz into a double team along the scorer’s table. When USC was called for a foul, it sent Stirtz to the line. Everyone wearing Hawkeye apparel knew Stirtz could win it right there.

“I didn’t have any doubt that he wasn’t going to make it,” Folgeuiras said.

The Hawkeyes travel to the West Coast for a pair of games against the Pacific Northwest foes, beginning with Oregon on Feb. 1 and Washington on Feb. 4.

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