By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IOWA – Carver-Hawkeye Arena was host to a Midwest battle Tuesday night between the Owen Freeman-less Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Dakota Coyotes.

Freeman’s 15 ppg and over eight rebounds were missed in the Hawkeyes 96-77 victory. Thankfully, it was the play of guys such as Josh Dix and Seydou Traore that helped the Hawkeyes prevail. Iowa has now won 92 of its last 98 non-conference home games, dating back to 2012. Here is how it happened.

1st half: As expected, the Hawkeyes had a hard time adjusting to their post presence on both sides of the ball. They gave up eight offensive rebounds in the half and struggled to score inside as well, scoring just 16 of their 36 points in the paint in the first half. They started the half knocking down four of their first six attempts from three, but finished the half four for their next 14 attempts. 40% from three is not a bad mark at all, especially when your offense is so predicated on the deep ball (averaging over 40 3PA per game).

Josh Dix led all scorers with 12 and looked comfortable from all three levels on the court. The focus going into the half for Iowa was clear, get yourself more easy looks inside the arc and bring in the rebounds when you force misses.

2nd half: Josh Dix continued leading the charge in the second half as he knocked down two threes immediately to start the second half. Pushing his total points to 18 points on just seven shots.

The Hawkeyes put together a 13-1 run in the beginning of the half to stretch the game from single digits to almost 20. After putting up 42 first half points, Iowa scored 25 points in the first eight minutes of the second half. They knocked down 13 of their first 16 shots.

20 minutes of an absolute offensive masterclass is the only way to sum this half up. Iowa finished the half shooting 22-34 (64.7%) from the field in the latter half.

Check out what Josh Dix, Seydou Traore and Head Coach Fran McCaffery had to say about the win after here: