Iowa Hawkeyes rally to roar past Indiana, 83-74

IOWA CITY — Iowa overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat Indiana 83-74 Thursday night in a men’s basketball game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Kris Murray came off the bench to score a career-high 29 points for the Hawkeyes, who improved to 12-4 overall, 2-3 in the Big Ten. Indiana fell to 12-4 and 3-3.

Iowa took a 59-57 lead with 9:59 left and never relinquished it. The Hawkeyes had 10 second-half steals and 15 in the game. Indiana, which had averaged nine turnovers in Big Ten games, had 23.

The Hawkeyes also blocked seven shots, with Murray getting three of those.

Indiana used first-half runs of 12-0 and 11-0 to build a 48-41 halftime advantage. The Hoosiers shot 58.1 percent from the field in the half, scoring 28 points in the paint.

Murray kept the Hawkeyes afloat in the half with 17 points, matching his career-high for an entire game. His brother, national leading scorer Keegan Murray, was assessed his second foul with 9:33 left in the half and sat out until the start of the second 20 minutes. He got his fourth foul with 10:54 left.

Keegan Murray finished with 12 points, less than half of the 24.7 he had been averaging. But he got picked up by his brother. Kris Murray also had another career-high 11 rebounds.

Iowa cut the gap to 50-49 in the first three minutes of the second half, then stayed close until finally breaking through midway through the half. Backup guards Connor McCaffery, Tony Perkins and Ahron Ulis all had big roles in much-better defense after halftime.

Indiana junior forward Trayce Jackson-Davis had 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Hawkeyes’ next game is 1 p.m. Sunday at Minnesota.