Iowa basketball: Takeaways from Hawkeyes' road loss to Maryland on Sunday

Iowa basketball: Takeaways from Hawkeyes’ road loss to Maryland on Sunday

Posted by author February 17, 2025 Basketball

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Iowa men’s basketball played one of its best halves of the season Sunday at Maryland, especially given the circumstances.

Without Owen Freeman, Drew Thelwell and Riley Mulvey, the Hawkeyes put on an inspired first-half performance. Seydou Traore scored 14 points. Pryce Sandfort had 13 off the bench. At halftime, the Hawkeyes led by four against a Maryland team with only one loss at home all season.

But that was going to be difficult to sustain for a short-handed Iowa team. And the Hawkeyes weren’t able to as Maryland dominated the second half to pull away with a 101-75 victory.

The second half quickly unraveled for Iowa. Maryland went on an 8-0 run out of halftime, all scored by Terrapins guard Rodney Rice. Just like that, Iowa’s four-point lead turned into a four-point deficit.

Maryland went on to outscore Iowa by 30 points in the second half.

It fit a similar narrative to the Purdue (Feb. 4) and Wisconsin (Feb. 8) games. Iowa was in the game for the first half but ran out of steam in the second. Sunday’s performance was even more drastically inadequate.

With Sunday’s loss, Iowa drops to 14-11 overall, including 5-9 in the Big Ten.

Maryland’s video game offensive numbers

There wasn’t a lack of offense for Maryland in College Park on Sunday.

Maryland came out of the gate scorching-hot, making its first seven shots from the field, four of which were 3-pointers. Iowa slowed Maryland down from that improbable pace, but not by enough.

Maryland finished the game shooting 58% from the field and 46% from deep. Each of the Terrapins’ five starters scored at least 16 points. Rodney Rice and Ja’Kobi Gillespie commanded the game, combining for 44 points. Gillespie was 11-of-14 from the field.

Iowa put up 51 points in the first half against Maryland in an impressive offensive display. Much like the game itself, it was a tale of two halves for Iowa’s offense.

1st half: 57% (field), 57% (three), five turnovers
2nd half: 30% (field), 0% (three), six turnovers

After a scintillating first half, Iowa’s offense fell off a cliff while Maryland was able to still have success.

Iowa has now allowed more than 100 points to each Wisconsin and Maryland on the road. The Hawkeyes also gave up 94 at UCLA and 99 at USC.

Problems in the paint

Iowa was already set to have its hands full with Maryland’s frontcourt of Julian Reese and Derik Queen. But the fact that Riley Mulvey was unavailable on Sunday due to illness made that an even steeper challenge.

Mulvey had been playing limited but consistent minutes, including two starts, since the recent news that Owen Freeman was done for the season after having finger surgery on his right hand.

On Sunday, Maryland’s big men were dominant. The veteran Reese had 16 points and 12 rebounds. After holding the star freshman Queen to just four points in the first half, he still finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

The unfortunate reality is that the Hawkeyes are just not well-equipped to guard against the size and skill of a team like Maryland. Being without Mulvey on Sunday made matters even worse.

Pryce Sandfort and other supporting cast

The younger Sandfort brother was in double figures scoring for the third consecutive game. He had 14 against Wisconsin, 10 against Rutgers and 15 against Maryland.

On Sunday, Sandfort was 6-of-14 from the field, including 3-of-8 from deep.

Iowa got meaningful contributions from its supporting cast in the first half. Seydou Traore played arguably his best half as a Hawkeye. But he battled foul trouble after halftime and was held scoreless in the second half. Even Brauns provided some meaningful minutes. Pryce Sandfort scored 13 of his 15 in the first half.

But there wasn’t enough of that in the second half, and Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix weren’t able to carry the Hawkeyes offensively like they did against Rutgers. After combining for 46 points in the win over the Scarlet Knights, Payton Sandfort and Dix combined for just 19 on Sunday. Josh Dix finished with five points on 2-of-10 from the field.

Playing short-handed

Lack of player availability has been an important storyline for Iowa, and it was pertinent again on Sunday.

Here is a list of Hawkeyes who weren’t available on Sunday:

Owen Freeman (finger surgery)
Drew Thelwell (ankle)
Riley Mulvey (illness)
Cooper Koch (undisclosed)

Iowa’s first half showing on Sunday was even more impressive when you take into account everything that Iowa was missing. But it clearly could’ve used some of those absences during Sunday’s second-half disaster.

The effort is there. Iowa is just not a very formidable opponent considering who the Hawkeyes have available at this point in the season.

Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com