Cyclones Slam Iowa Basketball

Hawkeyes Suffer Most Lopsided Loss in Cy-Hawk Series

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery gestures to the officials during a game against Northwestern on Jan. 31, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

AMES, Iowa — A bruising week left another mark on Iowa.

The Hawkeyes’ 90-65 loss to Iowa State on Thursday night was a thrashing from the beginning.

Iowa (5-4) was down 47-29 at halftime, and down by as much as 32 points in the second half, before falling in what was Iowa State’s largest victory margin in the rivalry.

The calendar says it’s December, and the Hawkeyes are clinging to that. But couple this game with Monday’s 87-68 loss at Purdue, and it’s clear Iowa needs answers.

“We’ve just got to stick together, and we will,” said forward Payton Sandfort.

The Cyclones (7-2) hammered the Hawkeyes with an inside game that was pounding right from the start. Trey King and Robert Jones scored the first eight points inside, and Iowa State just kept throwing the ball into anyone close to the basket.

Iowa State finished with 46 points in the paint compared to just 18 for the Hawkeyes.

“It started right from the jump,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “They went inside and got a couple of and-ones early. We kind of fell in love with the three-ball at that point once we got a little bit behind. We have to do a better job collectively to limit that kind of discrepancy (in the) points in the paint.”

“We were missing rotations,” Sandfort said. “That was a big part of it.”

“We felt like there were some opportunities to get Rob and Tre going right away,” Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said. “The guards did a great job of making the reads, those guys did an exceptional job of finishing and going right at the rim.

“When you go in there and have success right away, it sets you up for future success. Now it opens the drive up more, and continues to open things.”

Iowa couldn’t stop the Cyclones anywhere. Iowa State shot 53.3 percent for the game overall, and 47.1 percent in 3-pointers. Inside and outside, it was a clinic of ball movement.

McCaffery lamented the Hawkeyes’ direction in Monday’s loss, calling the offensive movement more “east-west” than “north-south.”

Iowa followed that same map in this game.

“We didn’t get enough movement, whether it be ball movement or people movement,” McCaffery said. “We have to do more screening, more cutting, more penetration. We just kind of moved it side-to-side and then somebody shot it at the end of the clock. We need more activity to challenge the defense in a better way.”

That stagnation, point guard Dasonte Bowen, starts at the other end of the court.

“I don’t think it’s so much (the opposing) defense, it’s more our defense,” he said. “We’ve got to buy in on the defensive end, so that we kind of get in the flow in transition. Now we’re getting layups and the threes start to come.”

“Honestly, we’re getting down so much early in the game, it’s hard to shoot when you’re down,” Sandfort said. “ We’ve got to come out with more fight, make it more of a back-and-forth game, and the offense will click.”

Sandfort got all 14 of his points in the first half. Bowen got all 13 of his points in the second half. Owen Freeman added 11.

The Hawkeyes got just six points from Tony Perkins, who attended his grandmother’s funeral on Wednesday before rejoining the team, and no points from starter Patrick McCaffery, who took just three shots in almost 17 minutes.

“There’s a lot of stuff that goes on through life,” Sandfort said. “Some people are dealing with that right now. That’s all part of it. So we have to keep loving each other, encouraging each other.”

“They weren’t great tonight,” Fran McCaffery said of Sandfort, Patrick McCaffery and Perkins.. “Payton hit some threes — you hit four threes, it’s pretty good. Those guys, yeah, they need to be better than they were tonight. And they will be.”

Keshon Gilbert led Iowa State with 25 points. Jones had 18, and King had 17.

The Hawkeyes play host to Michigan on Sunday before heading into the finals week break.

“This has been a tough week for us,” Sandfort said. “But we’ll be all right.”