IOWA CITY -- Iowa fell to Michigan on Sunday, 90-80, dropping to 5-5 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten Conference play. Truthfully, it was never as close as the final score indicates.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Owen Freeman earned the first start of his career at Iowa on Sunday afternoon.

Freeman's first stretch of minutes looked promising. The true freshman grabbed three rebounds and two steals over the first four minutes of the game.

In his second stint of the first half, he picked up his second foul and finished the first half with just seven minutes played.

"I thought Owen brought good energy," starting forward Ben Krikke said. "Obviously, he ran into a bit of foul trouble, but he brought a good spark. He provides a bit more rim protection and rebounding."

"When you're playing a team that's built like Michigan's -- and we'll probably see more of that -- two starting posts, it moves Ben to the four spot," Fran McCaffery said following the loss. "It didn't help Owen. He picked a foul up early, and that made him a little tentative."

Freeman finished the game with five points and four rebounds over 18 minutes.

"For him, just having that experience to start, go against a veteran team, figure it out and play through his mistakes, he'll get better."

For a team that focuses so much of its energy on offense, things aren't going right to start the season.

"We're just trying to figure everything out," senior guard Tony Perkins said. "The last few games haven't been that good defensively or in rebounding. We've just got to keep working on it, especially with the young guys. They're coming in and still learning a few things. As time goes on, we'll get better. So, that's what we're focused on."

Krikke, who led Iowa with 24 points and eight rebounds, agreed with Perkins' assessment.

"We just need to flow a little bit better, just read and react," he said. "Sometimes we're moving a little too fast, and sometimes it's okay to read, assess, and make plays based on that. We're a little bit stagnant with not getting as many stops as we'd like. Things flow better when we're in our transition game and we can get going before defenses get set."

McCaffery seems to believe things did improve in terms of movement offensively.

"I thought our offense itself was better," he said. "I thought the guys were really cutting hard, screening and moving without the ball. We couldn't get anything to drop in the first half, and we went 1-of-15 to start the game from three. That's going to make things really hard. We had good shooters with open shots, and they just didn't go in. That puts all the pressure on your defense."

Those shots just don't go your way sometimes and having to fall back on your defense isn't exactly McCaffery's MO.

"We had an opportunity in the first half to get a bit of a lead with some open looks," he continued. "Our defense was pretty good to start the game. The zone was good to us for a while, but the rebounding wasn't great -- they're big and Owen got in foul trouble. He'll learn and he'll grow from that."

If Iowa's trend of blowout losses and lackluster offense tell us anything, it's that it could be a long, dark winter in Iowa City. This is the third game in a row Iowa has lost in blowout fashion -- the Hawkeyes have lost their last three games by an average of 18 points.

The story of the season isn't written, but the first few chapters haven't been a fun read.

One could've said some similar things about last season's beginning, too. With a loss to Eastern Illinois and an 0-3 start to Big Ten play, Iowa's hopes of making the Big Dance could have gone down the tubes quickly. McCaffery and company turned things around to finish with a 19-14 record and another March Madness appearance.

Of course, McCaffery was there for the thick of all the difficulties the 2022 Hawkeyes faced.

"You just have to stay positive," McCaffery added. "I'm not in there yelling at anybody. I'm encouraging guys. We've got some young guys that are talented. At times they played a little tentative today. I don't want that. I want them to just hoop -- trust your talent and go make plays. I think they'll get better at that. We were a little better today. We weren't as good as we needed to be. I think we'll get there with this group."

There's a positive vision for this Iowa team from the outside, too.

"Hang on. You're all going to be busy in March," Michigan interim head coach Phil Martelli said postgame. "It's just such an enjoyable style in terms of rushing the ball up and down the floor. They're very similar to us -- they need a breakthrough."

"You have an instant scorer. The big fella is a terrific Big Ten player. Freeman has done really well. Patrick -- like, come on. We're walking out of here knowing that Sandfort missed two free throws. That may never happen in his career again. ... They'll be busy in March."