BLOOMINGTON -- Iowa fell to Indiana 74-68 on the road Tuesday night, moving to 1-3 in its last four games.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

For the second game in a row, Payton Sandfort tied his season high with 26 points.

"Payton is playing with a lot of confidence," Fran McCaffery said post game. "We're doing a good job of getting him the ball. He wants us to do that. He's really confident in himself, and he came back and made some shots after he missed some shots. So, I love that about him."

"They were guarding pretty tough, nothing was easy," Sandfort said. "I just kind of found a groove."

Tony Perkins scored 20+ points for the fifth game in a row, finishing with 22. Most of his soring came in the second half, as he poured in 17 of his 22 over the final 20 minutes.

"We just turned him loose," McCaffery continued. "We were running some actions to get him downhill, give him opportunities and give him space. He's our guy. We went to him."

"It really helped to get Tony going," Sandfort added. "He's being hard on himself right now, but he played a really good game. He defended well and did a really good job of getting downhill and making plays for others. We can't fault him for his effort."

At one point in the first half, the Hawkeyes trailed by 17 points. Thanks to a three by Sandfort and an and-one bucket by Perkins, that lead was trimmed to 11 points.

"We didn't match the intensity level that they came with at the start of the game," McCaffery said. "You've got to credit them for that. They jumped us because they were shooting the ball well."

"The energy level in the building and the energy level they were playing with was better than ours."

Over the first ten minutes of the second half, the Hawkeyes gradually chipped away at that established lead by the Hoosiers. Behind the ferocious second-half effort of Sandfort and Perkins, the Hawkeyes gained their first second half lead, 54-53 with 8:43 left in the game.

"We got it down to a manageable number [late in the second half]," McCaffery continued. "I thought our defensive intensity and our execution was way better in the second half."

That lead went back-and-forth over the ensuing seven minutes, with Iowa gaining a two-point advantage on a Sandfort baseline jumper on an out-of-bounds play with 1:42 left.

That was the last time the Hawkeyes held the lead.

Just 16 seconds later, freshman Gabe Cupps hit his only shot of the evening -- a three-pointer -- that gave the Hoosiers a one-point advantage. Iowa was unable to score for the remainder of the contest, and Indiana took the win.

"I was really proud of their effort, and their execution -- for the most part," McCaffery said. "They just kept coming. When you're on the road and you're behind, it can get away from you. Especially in this building. We didn't let it get away from us. That's what the good teams do. Unfortunately, we didn't finish it with a few more plays, but we'll learn from that."

Sandfort and Perkins were sensational once again, but were left hanging by their teammates' performance in what was nearly a huge road victory for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa's third-leading scorer was Josh Dix, who -- according to the radio broadcast -- suffered a minor injury that limited his minutes during the game. Dix added just ten for the Hawks. Ben Krikke, Owen Freeman and Brock Harding combined for ten points themselves, including a 1-9 shooting perforance from Krikke.

Harding's four were the only bench points for Iowa on the night, and Freeman and Krikke paired for just five rebounds.

"It's not so much that [Freeman and Krikke] didn't have great games, it's that they didn't rebound," McCaffery said. "Those two guys have to rebound. If you give [Indiana] second and third opportunities, they're going to be really tough to beat."

In total, Iowa was out-rebounded by 45-32.

"It's a little bit of who we were playing," McCaffery added. "Sometimes, if they're shooting a ton of jumpers, it doesn't fall upon the bigs. The ball is bouncing long, and it's about 'Who's the first to the ball?'"

Up next, Iowa (12-9, 4-6) will take on Ohio State (13-8, 3-7) in Iowa City on Friday at 6 pm CT. The game can be viewed on FS1.