Iowa 81, Maryland 67

That was a nice change of pace -- an Iowa victory that didn't require a furious late rally or overcoming a big early deficit. Iowa led the game for almost 37 minutes and kept Maryland at arm's length for most of the game, ultimately wrapping up a comfortable 81-67 victory to earn their fourth straight victory and improve to 12-6 overall and 4-3 in Big Ten play.

Maryland's only lead in the game came in the first minute, as a pair of Julian Reese baskets put them up 4-0. Iowa responded with an 8-0 run to take the lead -- and never relinquished it. Whenever Iowa put together a mini-run, Maryland responded by making a few buckets of its own to prevent the gap from getting too big. The Hawkeyes' biggest lead of the first half came with two minutes to play in the half, when they finished off a 15-3 lead to go up 37-21.

Remarkably, that entire run came with Kris Murray on the bench. Murray picked up his second foul of the game on an offensive foul with 11:20 to go in the first half and Iowa leading 12-10. He did not return for the rest of the half (until the final seconds), but Iowa still managed to out-score Maryland 31-23 with Murray riding the bench.

Filip Rebraca joined Murray in two-foul jail at the 7:26 mark of the first half; he also did not return until the second half. The fact that Iowa was able to not just keep pace with Maryland but actually build its lead with its two most consistent players (and top scorers) on the bench is truly impressive. The Terps did close the half with a 10-4 run of their own to cut Iowa's lead to just 10 points at the break, but given the circumstances, that felt like a very good position for Iowa to be in.

Unfortunately, the second half started almost exactly the same way that the first half ended -- with the Terps streaking. Maryland put together a quick 8-0 run in the opening 90 seconds behind a pair of made three-pointers and a Donta Scott hook shot; that cut Iowa's lead to just two points at 43-41.

That was as close as Maryland would get the rest of the way, though -- Tony Perkins made a pull-up to give Iowa a 45-41 lead after that Scott shot, and a sledgehammer dunk by Perkins with 14:36 left gave Iowa a 5-point lead, forcefully putting momentum back on Iowa's side.

That dunk was part of an 8-0 Iowa run that covered almost four minutes of game time. It was also emblematic of Iowa's dominance in transition in this game; the Hawkeyes outscored Maryland 15-0 in fast break points in the game.

The lead stayed at 8-10 points in favor of Iowa after that, before growing to a 12-14-point lead in the final minutes. The key figures in Iowa controlling the second half? Tony Perkins and Kris Murray, of course. Perkins was red-hot in the first half (15 points on 7/9 shooting) and that carried over into the second half; he personally scored seven points in a row after Maryland cut the lead to two points; that was part of a run in which Iowa retook control of the game for good.

Meanwhile, Murray shook off that first-half foul trouble and a brief shooting slump to carry the load for Iowa's offense down the stretch. Murray had seven straight points for Iowa (after Perkins' own 7-point run), which helped keep Maryland at a distance. He put together another 6-point run with five minutes to play to lock up the win. Up 12 with three minutes to play, the final minutes were all cruise control and Iowa rolled to a stress-free 81-67 victory.

The trend of different players stepping up and producing each game continued here, with Tony Perkins breaking out of his slump in a big way in this game. Perkins had 17 points total in Iowa's past three games, while shooting a miserable 6/28 (21%) from the floor. The dam broke for Perkins in this game, as he had a career-high 22 points on 10/13 shooting (along with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, and a steal).

What changed for Perkins today? Well, he had a renewed commitment to attacking the rim -- he didn't even attempt a three-pointer in this game (after going 1/8 from long range in Iowa's last three games) -- and that paid off very well. Perkins was able to get out in transition and finish on multiple occasions, but even in half court sets, he was able to drive the rim and either get an easy bucket or draw a foul (he went 2/3 at the free throw line). Just a really impressive display from Perkins, and one that hopefully restored some of his confidence after his recent slump. His efforts were especially vital today with Murray and Rebraca stuck in foul trouble in the first half; they played only 17 minutes total in that half and had just four points total on 2/6 shooting.

Kris Murray eventually managed to do his part in filling up the box score as well, with 19 points on 8/15 shooting (along with 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, a steal, and an assist). 17 of Murray's 19 points came in the second half. Murray looked out of sync early (he was 1/4 from the floor in the first half) and the first half foul trouble further hampered his ability to get into a rhythm... but he's too good to be kept down for too long, as he showed in this game. He was 7/11 from the floor in the second half, found his rhythm, and helped carry Iowa to a comfortable victory.

Iowa also got double-figures in scoring from Connor McCaffery and Payton Sandfort, who each finished with 12 points. McCaffery played all 40 minutes for Iowa in this game and was 4/5 from the field, including 2/3 from long range. He also had four assists and three steals and was the calm, steady leader that Iowa needed while playing nearly every position on the court in this game.

Sandfort didn't top 20 as he has in some recent games, but he was still an excellent sparkplug off the bench -- 9 of his 12 points came in the first half, as Iowa took control of the game even with Murray and Rebraca on the bench. Sandfort has turned heads lately with his scoring displays, but he does a lot of things well -- today he had a team-high 7 rebounds, too.

Finally, kudos to Josh Dix, who had five assists in 11 minutes in the first half to help keep Iowa's offense humming along, and Ahron Ulis, who had 9 points to go with four rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal in this game. Like Perkins, Ulis had been in a slump of his own of late -- he had just 20 points total in Iowa's last six games, on 7/34 (21%) shooting. He was 4/8 from the floor (1/2 from deep) in this game and had zero turnovers in 27 minutes of action, which was also key.

Iowa finishes up its current homestand with a visit from Northwestern on Wednesday, January 18 (8:00 PM CT, BTN). The Wildcats are 12-5 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten, though they've lost their last two games (against Rutgers and Michigan).