Iowa trekked to Madison for a game with #21 Wisconsin on Tuesday night, but came up short in an 83-72 Badger win. There were some positives for Iowa in the defeat, unlike their more recent blowout losses on the road, but ultimately the Hawkeyes still fell to 0-3 in Big Ten play.

Here are three takeaways:

Iowa's fortunes this season are largely going to rise or fall based on how its veteran core -- Tony Perkins, Payton Sandfort, Patrick McCaffery, and Ben Krikke -- performs from game to game. On Tuesday night, Iowa got a monster game from Perkins -- but not enough from the other three.

Perkins was locked in and had a game-high 25 points. He was an efficient 8-of-14 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range, and was also Iowa's best free throw shooter (making 7-of-9 attempts at the stripe). Perkins added four rebounds, two assists, and three steals. Perkins was the only player keeping Iowa afloat in the second half, as he had 18 points.

Unfortunately, Perkins didn't get enough support from his fellow vets. Krikke finished with 10 points, his third-lowest scoring total of the season as he dealt with foul trouble (the result of some silly fouls) for most of the game. Krikke played just 20 minutes, tied for his shortest appearance of the season. Krikke is Iowa's leading scorer this season and most consistent weapon; they need to have him on the floor and getting buckets in order to be effective.

Payton Sandfort made his first three three-pointers of the game, but missed his next eight shots. He only attempted three shots in the second half and didn't even attempt a shot after halftime until the final five minutes of the game. Sandfort is a streaky shooter, but Iowa needs more than nine points from him in order to win games on the road. If his jump shot isn't falling, it would help if he could attack the rim and try to get to the free throw line.

Finally, Patrick McCaffery had another poor shooting night -- he finished with five points on 2-of-9 shooting, including 0-of-4 from three-point range -- which has unfortunately become a familiar sight this season. He's shooting just 50% on 2-point tries and 28% on 3-point attempts. McCaffery did have a team-high four assists and three rebounds, but ultimately he was another member of Iowa's veteran corps who was unable to score enough to help Iowa pull off the upset.

Compare the performance of Iowa's core to Wisconsin's starters -- four of five Badger starters had at least 14 points, including a 14 point, 13 rebound double-double by Steven Crowl. Tyler Wahl had 19 points and 8 rebounds, Max Klesmit had 15 points and four assists, and AJ Storr had 16 points. They provided a very balanced effort to lead Wisconsin to a win.

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Iowa's talented true freshman big Owen Freeman continues to prove that no moment -- or game -- is too big for him, despite his youth. Freeman dealt with the Kohl Center atmosphere and experienced Wisconsin big Steven Crowl and came away with 14 points and 13 rebounds, his second career double-double. He also had three blocks and a steal and avoided foul trouble in his 36 minutes (!) on the floor (just two fouls).

Freeman showed off his array of moves around the rim, though none were as pretty as this first half layup:

Freeman also attacked the glass relentlessly, more than any other Iowa player -- his 13 boards were almost half of Iowa's total of 32 rebounds. He even got to show off some very nifty defense, including this slick block:

We've been impressed by Freeman since Day One this season, but he continues to wow even as the competition ramps up and he's less of a surprise to opponents. Given what he's been able to do as a true freshman just months out of high school, It's impossible not to be very excited about what he might be able to do in Iowa City over the next few seasons.

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- Iowa gave up 50+ points in a half. Iowa's not going to win many games in which they give up 50+ points in a half; they're never going to win a game against Wisconsin at the Kohl Center when they allow the Badgers to score 50+ in a half. Wisconsin scored 51 points after halftime, thanks to 58% shooting from the floor (including 69% on 2-point attempts) and a huge advantage at the free throw line (20/26 versus 6/10).

Iowa did a poor job of contesting shots near the bucket and denying Wisconsin players from getting good looks. Wisconsin also beat Iowa in points in the paint (42-36), second chance points (15-10), and fast break points (15-13). When you're losing the fast break points battle to Wisconsin, you're in trouble.

Several of those fast break points were also points off turnovers, where Wisconsin had a huge 24-14 edge, despite only having a 14-13 edge in turnovers. The Badgers turned 14 Iowa turnovers in 24 points because almost all of those turnovers led to breakaway scoring opportunities for Wisconsin.

While Iowa played with better effort in this game than they did in the blowout losses at Iowa State and Purdue, they were still plagued by sloppy mistakes all night. That sloppy play -- on offense and defense -- hurt Iowa badly in this game and gave Wisconsin a lot of easy scoring opportunities.

NEXT: Iowa returns to action at home against Rutgers on Saturday, January 6 at 11 AM CT on BTN.