Video: Iowa survives late free throw woes in 76-75 win over Penn State
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Coaches will tell you that every game you play is a “must win”, but after losing three straight games, Friday night’s matchup with Penn State was absolutely one for the Hawkeyes.
The Hawkeyes came into tonight’s game 12-7 overall and just 3-5 in the Big Ten. With their backs against the wall they were able to pull out a gritty win and put themselves back in the mix in the Big Ten. Even though the Hawkeyes led for over 33 minutes in this game, the late game execution turned this one into a nail biter.
It was not pretty, but a win is a win. See how it happened here.
1st half: The Hawkeyes averaged 87.3 ppg coming into tonight, which leads the Big Ten. Penn State on the other hand is right behind them at over 84 ppg. Two of the best offenses in the country and they showed why early.
At the 12 minute mark, we were tied 19-19 and both teams had already knocked down seven shots from the floor. Three different Hawkeyes tallied two assists early in this one as they assisted six of their first seven made shots.
A lot of the early scoring for the Hawkeyes came from the hands of Owen Freeman. With 7:31 remaining in the half, Freeman has nine points on 3-5 shooting from the field and 3-3 from the line as the Hawkeyes led 30-23, their largest lead of the game at the time. The Hawkeye defense also did its part, as they held Penn State scoreless for over three and a half minutes.
Momentum from that run carried on throughout the rest of the half as Iowa held a ten point lead at two different points and held Penn State without a field goal for four of the last six minutes in the half. A couple of late baskets by the Nittany Lions cut the lead to just five at the break.
2nd half: Drew Thelwell has quickly become a favorite in the Hawkeye sports world and tonight he once again showed why. Thelwell surpassed one thousand career points in the second half as he led an early surge that gave Iowa a ten point lead 60-50.
Iowa kept the game in that 5-10 point range for almost the entire game it seemed. The Hawkeyes took control of the momentum multiple times, but struggled to pull away as we entered the later quarter of this game.
After Penn State cut the lead to five with under six minutes to play, the Hawkeyes got back to back threes from Drew Thelwell and Pryce Sandfort, leading 74-65 at that point.
The game got even more interesting late after a couple bad Hawkeye possessions on offense let the Nittany Lions cut the lead down to just three as Iowa led 76-73 with 1:19 to play. Iowa’s Brock Harding missed a free throw, the fifth miss of six tries for Iowa in the half, which gave Penn State a chance to tie with less than a minute left to play.
After a couple Penn State free throws, Iowa was fouled once again with less than three seconds on the clock, leading 76-75. Drew Thelwell stepped to the line and missed the one and one free throw, making the Hawkeyes 1-7 from the line in the half. Thankfully for Iowa, Penn State failed to get a shot off before the buzzer.
Hear what the Hawkeyes had to say postgame here: