NFL
By: Zachary Draves
A packed crowd of yellow and black filled Carver Hawkeye Arena as the Iowa Hawkeyes took on their Big Ten rival Penn State in what was the first sellout home game of the year.
Both came into this game 3-4 in conference and while Iowa came into this contest 11-1 at home and Penn State 2-4 on the road.
In the first half, both teams were on even kill as they duked it out for control of the game.
The largest lead during the first half was at the beginning when Iowa jumped out to a 14-7 lead.
It was a constant back and forth with Iowa getting into transition and getting off good shots to Penn State following up in the same fashion.
Iowa’s sixth year phenom Jordan Bohannaon was cool at the beginning but towards the end he managed to do what he does best and nail three 3 pointers.
Meanwhile, Patrick McCafferey, one of Coach Frank McCafferey’s two sons that play for him led the way with 8 points in the first.
Penn State’s leading scorer Seth Lundy, who was unsure at the beginning if he was able to play due to an injury, led his team with 6 total points.
The Nittany Lions were also superb from the offensive glass as they managed to grab 8 offensive rebounds whereas Iowa had only 1.
At the end of the first, the Hawkeyes were up 30-25.
In the second half, that back and forth dynamic didn’t relent at least for a short while.
However, Iowa was able to take command of the game to a much larger extent than they did the first as they took a 38-31 lead at the 15:45 mark.
Jordan Bohannaon hit his fourth three of the game to bring him to nine points.
Another three from Patrick McCafferey increased their lead to ten at 41-31 and clearly the Hawkeyes had everything going for them at both ends of the floor as their defense held Penn State steady.
But Penn State would not go without a fight as they managed to claw their way back to make it a single digit game courtesy of Jalen Pickett who reached twelve points.
The effort put forth by the Nittany Lions proved not to be enough as they weren’t able to convert on crucial shots and Iowa had the fortune of holding onto the ball for much of the period and adding to their lead.
A crucial three pointer by Iowa’s Keegan Murray with 2:02 to go put the Hawkeyes up 64-49 and from there it was just a matter of playing until the final whistle blew.
In the end the Hawkeye faithful went home safe and happy as their guys rolled to a convincing 68-51 win and put them at an even 4-4 in conference play.
Afterwards, Bohannaon spoke of how vital this win was to Iowa as the move forward in conference play.
“You need to build off of every win in the Big Ten conference” he said.
“It is important for us to stack wins because that is what gets you ahead in the conference.”
Iowa (14-5, 4-4) will be back at home against #4 Purdue (15-3, 4-3) on Thursday, January 27th at 8:00pm CST
