IOWA CITY, Iowa — Indiana’s slow start was nearly forgotten after a spirited comeback, but a series of turnovers and missed opportunities in the second half left the Hoosiers with an 85-60 loss to Iowa on Saturday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hoosiers fell behind early. An already sloppy opening five minutes saw an overthrown pass from Oumar Ballo that sent Luke Goode fumbling for a ball already out of reach. That turnover, Ballo’s third of the game, continued to fuel an 11-0 run by Iowa, putting the Hoosiers on their heels.
Indiana responded though, using an 11-0 run of its own to take a brief 24-23 lead, sparked by a layup from Jalen Rice and capped by a fast-break dunk from Bryson Tucker that forced Iowa into a timeout.
However, the Hoosiers momentum quickly fizzled. Iowa answered with another 11-0 run that stretched into the second half. Indiana never fully recovered, ultimately falling by 25 points.
"When you go out on the road in the Big Ten, you can’t turn it over, you’ve got to rebound against your opponent, and you’ve got to make shots," said head coach Mike Woodson. "We failed in all three areas tonight."
The 16 turnovers on Saturday were highly uncharacteristic for the Hoosiers, especially considering their recent performances. Indiana committed only six turnovers against USC, despite being down by 10 at halftime.
“It’s just hard to play defense when you turn the ball over a lot. They have a lot of advantages. We turned the ball over a good amount tonight, so they were able to get out, like [Woodson] said, we spotted them points,” said Rice.
A loss at Carver-Hawkeye isn’t a new experience for the Hoosiers, though. Indiana hasn’t won in Iowa since 2021. The opening five minutes felt eerily similar to past Hoosier performances, which is why the comeback seemed promising for a new chapter in Mike Woodson’s history against the Hawkeyes.
However, the sloppiness and offensive inefficiency that followed sent Indiana spiraling until the hole was nearly 30 points deep. Only two of Indiana’s points came from fast breaks, and just nine came from offensive rebounds.
"During the five-game stretch, we’ve been playing really good basketball, holding onto it, and I think tonight we just got a little bit outside of ourselves,” said Rice. “We started off slow, and it was kind of like an avalanche a little bit. One thing led to another, and it kept on going all night."
This game was one of 11 Quad 1 matchups on the schedule for Indiana in the coming weeks. No. 13 Illinois will come to Bloomington on Tuesday, fresh off a loss to unranked USC, looking to bounce back against an Indiana team that suffered its own setbacks over the weekend.