PISCATAWAY -- After dropping six of their last seven games, Iowa (14-10, 5-8), earned its first road win of the season on Wednesday night, using a big second half to earn an 84-73 win over Rutgers (12-13, 5-9) in Jersey Mike's Arena.

Between a big scoring night from Josh Dix and the effort of the entire squad to battle back during a rough stretch of the season, the Hawkeyes have their first Quad 1 win and road win of the 2024-25 season.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

Dix played some of his best basketball of the season, putting up 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting and adding four rebounds and two steals to lead the Hawkeyes against the Scarlet Knights.

"Josh was phenomenal," Payton Sandfort said on Iowa's postgame radio show. "He's so fun to play with -- the way that he makes big shots down the stretch."

Dix played as aggressive as he had all season, particularly in the second half, scoring 16 points over the final 20 minutes.

"He was unstoppable," McCaffery added. "Boy, he was shooting that fall away jumper. We kept saying, we've got to get him rest. ... But he played 39 minutes."

Dix played nearly the whole game, and looked like a pro doing it as he was routinely creating his own shot, getting to the rim and scoring with a Rutgers defender in his face.

Sandfort chipped in 20 points as well, hitting one of the more clutch shots of the season for the Hawkeyes, burying a triple with 1:38 left to give Iowa a late, two-possession lead. He also hit back-to-back free throws with 33 seconds left to extend the Iowa advantage to 80-73 and hold off the Scarlett Knights.

"I felt like I was in rhythm the whole night," Sandfort said. "Off the hand, every shot felt great -- except for maybe a couple -- and they all looked good. ... I love playing in this gym. I've hit big shots here before."

Once the dagger of a three-pointer shot left his hand, he was somehow even more confident than on his prior attempts.

"I knew it was good right away," Sandfort said. "And then we just kept making plays."

Despite a nine-point second-half deficit, the Hawkeyes rallied back to get their first road win and Quad 1 win of the season. They were previously 0-5 in true road games.

As mentioned previously, it's been a difficult season for the Hawkeyes in a myriad of ways -- between injuries and stacking up losses, Iowa has had their fair share of troubles.

"It's tough. Losing sucks," Sandfort said after the victory. "This league's a grind. You look at the schedule and you're playing a team that's near the bottom of the league with two of the best players in America, who are going to be top three picks."

Iowa not only took the road win, but they defeated a Rutgers team that expects to have two of their freshman, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, be selected within the first three picks of the coming NBA Draft.

Sandfort continued to reflect on what's been a difficult journey of a season.

"I'm so proud of everybody. We're down a lot of guys. Everybody who's playing is hurt. Everybody's sick," he said. "I'm just so proud of the fight. I mean, it's been tough. We've been getting scrutinized. We've been going through hell and back. I'm so proud of how everybody stepped up. With Drew (Thelwell), with Owen (Freeman) out -- that's a team win. I'm so proud of these guys."

A team win, indeed. Though Sandfort and Dix provided a large portion of the scoring effort for the Hawkeyes, their scoring was supplemented by the play of Brock Harding, Ladji Dembele, and Pryce Sandfort, as well as important plays by Carter Kingsbury and Riley Mulvey.

With Thelwell out due to injury, Harding started for the first time after being sent to the bench in each of Iowa's last two contests. He finished with 13 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.

""Brock was terrific," McCaffery said. "Tonight, arguably, he was the best guard on the floor. He played better than anybody, and that's saying something with who Rutgers has out there."

Dembele, who also got the start for the first time in over a month, racked up nine points and four rebounds.

"Ladji was so good," McCaffery added. "I thought Ladji, in the second half, was remarkable."

The younger of the two Sanforts chipped in 10 points and two steals as well. Two of those points came on a layup with 52 seconds to go that sparked an 8-0 run that sealed the deal for the Hawkeye victory.

"Pryce coming in, getting big layups, getting that steal," his older brother said. "It took a collective effort. And everybody off the bench was great."

Kingsbury contributed key defense on Bailey, forcing one of the future lottery pick's three turnovers on the evening, while Mulvey added four rebounds (including three offensive boards) and a block that he fired into the first row of Rutgers fans.

McCaffery got emotional in the postgame interview with Andy Katz on Big Ten Nework.

"There are times in your career when you're really proud of your team," he said, his voice quivering. "The way we fought was really impressive."

Payton continued to heap praise on his team, clearly feeling as though a weight had been lifted off his and the team's collective shoulders.

"What we've been going through with the injuries and with sickness and with stuff going on outside of basketball -- we've rallied around the coaches, we've rallied around each other and that's a culture win," he said. "We made big play after big play in a really hostile environment and they got, you know, they got some studs over there. So that's a big time win. That's a great start and hopefully we can use this to get something started."

NEXT: Iowa will travel to No. 25 Maryland (18-6, 8-5) and face off with the Terrapins at 4 pm CT on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

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