Here’s a little more on how the Hawkeyes got it done:

(First) half good, half bad

To some surprise, it was the defensive end of the floor where the Iowa basketball team really stood out in the early going.

(Both the Hawkeyes and Utes entered the night averaging more than 86 points/game.)

Up 7-2 at the under-16 TV timeout and 16-8 following the under-12, Iowa had done an excellent job both contesting shots around the rim and limiting open looks for the likes of Utah leading scorer Gabe Madsen (19.8 points/game).

Things would unravel quickly, however.

Trading buckets eventually turned into a Utah run. And by late in the half some of Iowa’s best (few) defensive plays came thanks to walk-on Carter Kingsbury – who checked in at the 5:27 mark.

The Hawkeyes particularly struggled to contain Mason Madsen (twin brother to Gabe), who knocked down many of his game-high six three-pointers in the opening 20 minutes of action.

To make matters worse, the final note before intermission was especially disheartening.

Leading by two with the final seconds ticking away, Utah ran a simple pick-and-roll and found big man Lawson Lovering for two of his career-high 25 points on an uncontested dunk to take a 40-36 advantage into the locker room.

(Second) half bad, half (very) good

In many ways the second half was a mirror image of the first.

And that almost assuredly meant quite a bit of angst for Iowa fans in the early going.

Not only did Utah score another uncontested dunk to open the half, but it quickly jumped ahead 47-36 thanks to a 7-0 run that was assisted by a pair of questionable decisions with the ball by Iowa point guard Brock Harding.

Owen Freeman did his best to stymie the momentum by converting a couple of plays through contact at the rim (one on a breakaway dunk) – only to miss the subsequent free throw each time.

It wasn’t until the after the under-16 timeout that the tide really started to turn back in favor of the Hawkeyes.

A pair of buckets by Ladji Dembele (including a three-pointer) help to trim the deficit to just two. Shortly thereafter Iowa found itself in the bonus with more than 12 minutes left to play in the half.

More back-and-forth ensued with Iowa never able to pull even, until Payton Sandfort hit an acrobatic left-handed transition layup through contact to knot the score at 63-apiece.

Moments later, a fourth foul on Owen Freeman could’ve proved costly – as Fran McCaffery put his leading scorer on the bench with 10:30 remaining (where he’d stay for the rest of the game).

It just so happened that a couple of Freeman’s teammates had no intention of letting this game slip away.

Closing kick

Back-to-back threes by Harding and Pryce Sandfort helped the Hawks to regain and then re-regain the lead – and the boys in Black & Gold would never look back.

75-all would be the final tie of the contest, as Iowa mixed in a bit of zone defense after the under-eight timeout to give the Utes a different look.

From there, Iowa was brought home by some incredible individual efforts from a few of its best players.

On consecutive possessions Payton Sandfort drove to the hoop for clever finishes.