Murray brothers take over in the second half to give Iowa 68-51 win over Penn State
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IA – Saturday afternoon the Iowa Hawkeyes (13-5, 3-4) hosted the Penn State Nittany Lions (8-7, 3-4).
The first and only Saturday home game for the Hawkeyes this year brought out its first sold out crowd of the year, as the Hawkeyes looked to capture its fourth conference win of the year.
After a tough loss to Rutgers 48-46 on Wednesday, the Hawkeyes looked to turn things around offensively.
They started out hot, building a 10-2 lead at the 15:43 mark, which would end up being their biggest lead of the half.
Unfortunately they continued their woes on that side of the court.
A positive for the Iowa offense going forward is that Patrick McCaffery started the game with eight points in the first ten minutes.
Iowa has been looking for someone to step up as that second option and Patrick has the chance to do so.
He led all scorers at the break with the Hawkeyes leading 30-25. Another huge number that stood out in the first half, the Nittany Lions out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 22-10
The Hawkeyes need someone to step up in the second half to close this game, both on the glass and on offense.
Lucky for them they have the best brother duo in the country with Kris and Keegan Murray. They absolutely took over the second half of this one.
After putting up eight points combined in the first half, the duo doubled that and then some, finishing the game with 28 points(Keegan with 15 and Kris with 13).
Penn State never took back the lead at any point in the second half, as Iowa turned around their rebounding struggles and continued to have an impressive defensive display.
With just over two minutes to play, Keegan Murray channeled his inner Jayson Tatum by hitting a side step three to put the Hawkeyes up 15 and closed the door on the game. Murray brothers alone scored 18 of the Hawkeyes last 24 points.
After a poor rebounding first half, the Hawks finished the game with a 37-34 edge over Penn State. A fifteen rebound swing in a half just shows the resiliency of a team.
Iowa won the game 68-51, capturing their fourth big ten win of the season and moving to 14-5 on the season.
Watch what the players and coaches had to say after the game: