, who won their fourth straight and ninth of 10.Josh Reaves and Rasir Bolton scored 16 points apiece for the Nittany Lions (7-11, 0-7), who led for most of the second half but lost their fifth straight.Mike Watkins chipped in 11 points and and 11 rebounds and Myles Dread scored 14 points for Penn State which scored the first eight points and led 45-40 at halftime.After the teams swapped the lead five times in the final six minutes, Garza put Iowa ahead for good with a free throw that made it 83-82 with 1:36 to play. Bohannon added a 3-pointer moments later to put the game out of reach.THE BIG PICTUREIowa: Coming off arguably their best game of the season, the Hawkeyes came back to earth a bit. They struggled to keep up with Penn State's speed, especially early when the Nittany Lions posted nine of of their first 11 points on fastbreaks.Penn State: The early portion of the Nittany Lions' conference schedule has been brutal with five losses to Top 25 teams already. It eases up a bit as their next three opponents are a combined 8-9 in conference play so far.UP NEXTIowa hosts Illinois on Sunday.Penn State visits Minnesota on Saturday.)
Jan 15, 2019Iowa, after a lackluster loss to Purdue early in January, is trending in the right direction.The No. 23 Hawkeyes have won three consecutive games heading into Wednesday's contest at Penn State in Big Ten Conference play. Iowa (14-3, 3-3) defeated No. 24 Nebraska in Iowa City, knocked off Northwestern in Evanston and handed visiting No. 16 Ohio State a 72-62 loss on Saturday.Penn State (7-10, 0-6) is looking for its first conference victory.Iowa has won eight of its past nine games, although the status of junior forward Tyler Cook is a concern. Cook suffered an ankle injury late in Saturday's game. He had missed the Northwestern game to a sore knee.Cook is averaging team-highs in points (17.1 per game) and rebounds (8.3).Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said Cook's status won't be known until close to game time. Cook became the first Hawkeye in 25 years to total at least 15 points and five rebounds in 10 straight games. Cook and Duke star freshman Zion Williamson are the only players from a Power 5 conference to accomplish the feat 10 consecutive times this season.Cook did not practice Monday. On the positive side, McCaffery said Tuesday that Cook's injury is not as severe as the ankle injury that kept forward Luka Garza out for three games last month."We'll see how it goes," McCaffery said.If Cook is unable to play, either Nicholas Baer or Ryan Kriener would get the starting nod.The Hawkeyes are hoping junior guard Jordan Bohannon can get back on track.Stuck in season-long shooting slump, Bohannon was 1 of 7 from the floor against Ohio State. But he showed signs of a possible breakout with his all-around play, finishing with eight assists, four rebounds and two steals. Bohannon also passed the 1,000-point mark for his career in the second half.The 6-foot-1 Bohannon is averaging 10.8 points and 3.1 assists per game."I thought he was great," McCaffery said. "He pushed the ball." Iowa, which lost its first three league games this season, is also getting increased production from Kriener. After scoring in double figures once in the first 13 games, Kriener has tallied double figures in three of Iowa's past four games.Penn State is certainly struggling to score points. The Nittany Lions are the only team to average fewer than 60 points in conference play, and they shot only 36.7 percent from the field in a 71-56 loss against No. 6 Michigan State on Sunday.Penn State has not scored more than 64 points during their four-game losing streak."I want to play fast, I want to score 70-plus points a game," Penn State coach Pat Chambers said after the Michigan State defeat. "We did that last year. We had a nice scoring average last year. Obviously, it's not the same team, but I'm going to put the guys out there who are going to compete at the highest levels." --Field Level Media
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