AMES -- Iowa traveled to enemy territory on Thursday night to take on in-state rival, Iowa State. The Cyclones dominated every facet of the game, taking the 90-65 victory in Hilton Coliseum.
Here are three takeaways from the blowout loss.
Outplayed Down Low, Again
The Hawkeyes have struggled at protecting the paint and getting on the boards in nearly every game to start the season. They didn't break that trend in Ames.
Not only was Ben Krikke -- Iowa's leading scorer to going into Thursday night -- held to eight points, but the Cyclones also dominated down low. Iowa Stated scored 46 points in the paint versus 18 for Iowa in the paint.
Opposing head coach T.J. Otzelberger saw opportunity to score early and often on the interior against Iowa.
"In the pick-and-roll -- the way they play the ball screen -- two guys come to the basketball," he said following the game. "So, we felt like there were some opportunities to get Rob (Jones) and Tre (King) going right away. Our guards did a great job making the reads, those guys did an exceptional job finishing and going right at the rim and I felt that like that set the tone for the whole game."
Jones and King combined for 35 points and 11 rebounds. The post play opened things up for guard Keshon Gilbert to score as well, as he led the Cyclones with 25 points, including three triples.
"They started right from the jump, they went inside and had a couple and-ones early," Fran McCaffery said after the loss. "We kind of fell in love with the three-ball at that point because we got a little bit behind. We have to do a better job collectively to limit that kind of discrepancy in the paint."
Junior forward Payton Sandfort pointed to several issues that led to easy buckets for the Cyclones.
"We missed some rotations," he said. "That was a big part of it. We need to have more pride on the ball, and ultimately that starts with me as a leader. We're just going to continue to keep working. It looks bad, but we're right there."
Shooting in General
In the loss to Purdue on Monday, Iowa shot just 38.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep, thanks to a few garbage time three-pointers. On Thursday, the Hawkeyes shot 38.6 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from three-point range.
Iowa State shot 53.3 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from beyond the arc.
"It was kind of like the other night [against Purdue]," McCaffery said. "We didn't get enough movement -- whether it be ball or people movement. You have to give your opponent credit, they were working hard. We just kind of moved it side-to-side and somebody shot it at the end of the clock. We need more activity to challenge the defense in a better way."
As he said following the loss to the Boilermakers, Sandfort pointed to the early deficit making it difficult for the offense to get in a rhythm.
"I think it starts with the fact that we're getting down so bad in the games, it's hard to shoot when you're down and everybody is screaming at you," he said.
"We've got to come out with more fight to make it more of a back-and-forth game. I think the offense will click. There are some technical things we can do, but it starts with the defense. If we figure that out, we'll be alright."
Point guard Dasonte Bowen says he and the rest of the guards will continue to see what they can do to improve the offense, and their inability to score.
"That's what we're trying to figure out right now, man," Bowen said following the game. "We're trying to get back to scoring at a high clip against tough opponents. We'll watch film tomorrow, get into practice, and see where we can improve with that."
Youth or Experience?
The freshmen crew has been a bright spot in a season that has included its struggles to start -- particularly Owen Freeman and Brock Harding. Freeman finished the night with 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Though Harding didn't fill the stat sheet, he kept composed in a game that would have thrown off most freshmen in the country.
"I have confidence in those guys, McCaffery said. "We're going to need them, and they were really good in the second half, in particular."
Conversely, in Josh Dix's first start at Iowa, he played just under 12 minutes. In the first 3:37 of the game, he turned the ball over twice and was called for two fouls. Ladji Dembele also went scoreless in 13 minutes, shooting 0-for-3 from the field.
Youth would be easy to blame in the back-to-back losses Iowa has experienced this week. But there are plenty of veterans on this roster, too.
Three players were repeatedly referenced by McCaffery to start the season as pivotal members of the roster in 2023-2024. For Iowa's head man, it all starts and ends with Tony Perkins, Sandfort and his son Patrick -- a junior and two seniors.
Sandfort led Iowa in scoring with 14 on 4-of-9 shooting, and he also grabbed six rebounds.
Patrick went scoreless, shooting 0-for-3 from the field, while Perkins finished 2-of-7 from the field for six points. He also had three turnovers in the game.
"They weren't great tonight," McCaffery said. "Payton hit some threes -- you make four threes, that's pretty good. He made some early to keep us in the game. He was in a tough spot playing a bit out of position."
"Those guys need to be better than they were tonight, and they will be."
On the bright side of it all, the CyHawk battle hasn't determined the outlook for an entire season for either team in recent years.
"It's not the first time its happened to either of us," McCaffery said. "We'll stay positive with our group, believe in them and we'll keep grinding."
Sandfort recognized the previous losses and sees a bright future ahead for the Hawkeyes as well.
"We've just got to stick together, and I know we will," he said. "We've got a lot of really good guys in that room. We've played in three of the toughest environments in the country and we've had to learn at that -- we're young. We've got a lot of good guys and good players. I'm excited for how we're going to stick together. It starts tomorrow in practice, it's just back to the grind. We're going to be alright."
The Hawkeyes (5-4) will look to get back at it against Michigan (4-5) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday (3:30 PM CT, BTN).
