Hawkeye men go icy in Ohio, shoot 39.3 percent in 82-65 loss to Buckeyes

(This story was written in Cedar Rapids.)

The nation’s No. 4 scoring offense in men’s basketball was ineffective Monday, to put it kindly.

Iowa, which came to Columbus fourth nationally with 86.8 points per game and third in field goal shooting at 50.5 percent. Neither statistic applied at Value City Arena in the Hawkeyes’ 82-65 loss to Ohio State before a crowd of 11,261.

It was a season-low in points for the Hawkeyes, who fell to 13-8 overall, 4-6 in the Big Ten. Ohio State is 12-8, 4-5. Iowa shot 39.3 percent from the field, also a season-low. It made 7 of 25 3-pointers.

The Buckeyes, meanwhile, made 56.7 percent of their second-half shots in turning their 30-26 halftime lead into a runaway, leading by as much as 25 points at one point.

Iowa is 0-5 in Big Ten road games, having lost the last four of them by 10 or more points.

Only three Hawkeye starters scored. Junior guard Josh Dix, who came in averaging 16.5 points in Big Ten play, missed all seven of his shots and was scoreless in 25 minutes.

“I thought every shot he took was going in,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said on the Hawkeye Radio Network’s postgame show. “Not one of them did.”

Drew Thelwell had a game-high 20 points for Iowa. Owen Freeman added 14. Guard Micah Parrish led the winners with 18.

The rebounding was even in the first half, but Ohio State finished with a 43-31 advantage. Iowa had zero offensive rebounds in the second half.

“We have to do a beter job on the road when the other team goes on a run,” McCaffery said. “We have to be able to manage that situation better. We need some leadership there. And we’ve got to be able to get stops when the ball’s not dropping.”

The Buckeyes used a 10-2 run for a 28-18 lead in the first-half, but Iowa drew within 30-26 by halftime.

Freeman and Thelwell had 11 points apiece in the first half, scoring all but four of Iowa’s points. Reserve forward Seydou Traore, playing almost the entire second half, scored 13 points.

The Hawkeyes don’t play again until Feb. 4 when they host No. 10 Purdue.

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