Rutgers gets swept by Iowa as Hawkeyes’ high-powered offense proves too much once again
Rutgers cannot crack the Iowa code.
The Scarlet Knights fell to the Hawkeyes for the second time this season on Sunday, suffering a 93-82 defeat at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in which they trailed for the final 29 minutes. They cut their deficit to one point with eight minutes to play, but could not string together enough stops against one of the Big Ten’s best offenses to complete the comeback, giving up a season-high in points in the process.
“They score, that’s what they do,” head coach Steve Pikiell said. “When we’ve had any success against them, it’s when we’ve done a great job defensively. We just didn’t have it there.”
The result marks Rutgers’ sixth loss in its last seven meetings with the Hawkeyes, its fifth loss in six trips all-time to Iowa City and the first time it has been swept in a two-game Big Ten series since the 2020-21 season. It brings the Scarlet Knights’ road record on the season to 2-4, its record against Quadrant 1 opponents to 4-4 and, combined with No. 1 Purdue’s dominant win over Michigan State, all but kills the Scarlet Knights’ slim hopes of earning a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
Rutgers (14-7, 6-4) now stands three-and-a-half games behind the Boilermakers at the midpoint of the conference slate, an insurmountable deficit against one of the best Big Ten teams of the past decade led by the odds-on National Player of the Year favorite.
The realistic goal in front of the Scarlet Knights becomes a second consecutive top-four finish in the Big Ten standings. Rutgers is tied with Illinois and Indiana in second place in the league standings, with Northwestern standing a half-game behind the trio.
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The Scarlet Knights were significantly better around the rim this time around, hitting 16 of their 26 lay-up attempts (61.5%). But much like in their wire-to-wire loss to Iowa (13-8, 5-5) in Piscataway two weeks ago, Rutgers could not contain the Hawkeyes on the perimeter.
The hosts shredded the Scarlet Knights from deep once again, hitting 12 of their 24 three-point attempts (47.8%) after knocking down 12 of their 27 attempts (44.4%) at Jersey Mike’s Arena, marking a combined 24-of-51 clip (47.1%) across the two meetings. Iowa scored plenty from the foul line, too, hitting 29 of their 34 free throw attempts (85.3%).
Rutgers did not help itself, turning the ball over a season-high 18 times on 76 possessions (23.6% turnover rate), 13 of which coming in the first half. The turnover troubles started early, with the Scarlet Knights giving it away five times in their first seven possessions.
They built a 10-4 lead in spite of their struggles behind a strong defensive effort, holding Iowa to one field goal, four missed attempts and three turnovers in the first eight possessions of the game. Iowa got off the mat, chipping away at the deficit by knocking down eight of its first 14 three-point attempts, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 41-24 in the final 15 minutes of the first half. The Hawkeyes shot better from three (57.1%) in the first half than Rutgers did on two-pointers (46.1%) in the first 20 minutes.
Iowa would build its lead to a game-high 13 points immediately out of the break, with star forward Kris Murray (24 points on 8-of-16 shooting) hitting a jumper to open the second-half scoring. Rutgers would chip away slowly, trading blows with Iowa until it broke the dam with a 9-0 run that brought it within one point with 8:05 to play. Forward Aundre Hyatt led the charge with three consecutive three-pointers in the span of 90 seconds, the peak of another monster second half in which he scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
But as well as he, Cliff Omoruyi (15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, eight rebounds, three blocks, four turnovers), Mawot Mag (12 points on 5-of-7 shooting) and Paul Mulcahy (11 points, 13 assists, four turnovers, two steals) played offensively, it would not be enough to overcome the struggles on the other end.
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Iowa would respond with a 10-2 run to reestablish a nine-point lead with five minutes to play, one the Scarlet Knights would not be able to close from there. Rutgers would not come within a possession of the Hawkeyes again.
Rutgers does not have time to dwell on the defeat, with arguably the biggest game remaining on its regular season schedule coming up next. Big Ten bottom-feeder Minnesota comes to Piscataway on Wednesday. It is one of the few landmines remaining on the schedule, a game that will not keep the Scarlet Knights out of the NCAA Tournament picture, but could cost them a seed-line or two come Selection Sunday.
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