By Hawk Fanatic

The Iowa men’s basketball team often lives and dies by the 3-point shot, and that was certainly the case in Friday’s 77-69 loss to Utah State in Kansas City.

Iowa only made a 5-of-26 shots from 3-point range, and nobody struggled more than senior forward Payton Sandfort, who made just one of his 13 shots from 3-point range.

Payton Sandfort is widely recognized as one of the top 3-point shooters in the Big Ten, but the Waukee native, who explored the NBA draft process this past spring and summer, just couldn’t find his rhythm or range in Friday’s loss.

He still finished with 14 points, but it took him 18 shots to do it.

Iowa fell to 5-1 on the season.

Sophomore point guard Brock Harding led Iowa in scoring with a career-high 19 points, while his former Moline, Illinois High School teammate Owen Freeman, a 6-foot-10 forward, finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Utah State entered Friday’s game in Kansas City averaging 104 points per game to lead the nation.

That just shows that Iowa’s problems weren’t on defense.

Iowa missed its first nine shots from 3-point range and only had only scored 13 points midway through the first half.

The Hawkeyes continued to struggle from behind the arc in the first half, but they found other ways to score, and took a 37-31 lead on an alley-oop dunk from Harding to high flying transfer Seydou Traore with less than one minute to play in the first half.

Iowa was solid on defense throughout the first half, especially when Traore was in the game.

The Manhattan transfer and New York City native had four rebounds, two blocks and one steal in the first half, which ended with Iowa leading 37-33 against a team that entered the game averaging 104 points per game.

Freeman led Iowa with 10 points in the first half on a 5-of-7 shooting from the field, and with five rebounds.

Iowa scored 24 points in the paint in the first half, but only had two fast-break points in the half.

The Aggies only shot 36.4 percent from the field in the first half, making just 12-of-33 attempts.

So, at least for one half, the offensive shootout that was expected didn’t materialize.

It also didn’t happen in the second half as Iowa continued to miss 3-point shots, while the Aggies erased the four-point halftime deficit and then protected the lead down the stretch.

Utah State seized the momentum, and the lead with a 9-0 scoring run in the second half, and then Iowa just couldn’t make enough shots to get over the hump.

Many of the 3-point shots attempted by Iowa were open.

They just didn’t fall.

The Hawkeyes (5-1) return to Iowa City to host USC-Upstate on Tuesday inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The game will begin at 7 p.m. (CT) and be televised on BTN.