For 20 minutes of Iowa's Sunday afternoon matinee against #25 Maryland, it looked like the Hawkeyes might have a real chance to build on the positive momentum of their mid-week win at Rutgers and turn their East Coast road trip into a smashing success. The Hawkeyes led the Terps 51-47 at the break after the highest-scoring half of basketball in the Big Ten this season.

And then the second half happened and a familiar script played out, one where the formerly-potent Hawkeye offense dried up and the Hawkeye defense collapsed under the weight of a Maryland offense that transformed into a buzzsaw. A 4-point halftime lead was quickly erased by a 21-4 Terrapin run out of halftime that left Iowa in a deep hole that only got deeper as the rest of the game played out.

Here are three takeaways from another ugly road loss.

In the first half, Iowa shot the ball well -- 57% overall from the field and from 3-point range (8-of-14) -- but found a lot of success in some less-expected areas: the Hawkeyes had a 22-14 edge in points in the paint and a 23-4 advantage (!!!) in points off turnovers. The sloppy Terrapins gave the ball away 11 times, which the Hawkeyes turned into 23 points off a slew of transition buckets.

In the second half, those advantages in points off turnovers and paint points evaporated. Maryland gave the ball away just four times, leading to only four Iowa points. The Terps also made a point of exploiting their interior advantages against a size-deprived and foul-prone set of Iowa post defenders, out-scoring Iowa 30-18 in points in the paint in the second half.

Derik Queen, Maryland's star freshman big and a likely first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft if he declares, had just four points and six rebounds in the first half; in the second half, those totals ballooned to 14 points (on 5-of-6 shooting) and seven rebounds as the Terrapins fed a post that Iowa could do little to slow down. Queen finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

"They started going to Queen a little bit and he's a handful," said Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery. "Do you double Queen, which we did in the first half, [and were] fairly successful. [Then] he starts spraying it around they start hitting threes. He's a matchup nightmare for a smaller forward because he's 6-10, 260."

Indeed, Iowa's players could do little to slow down Queen once he started heating up in the second half. And when they did force the ball out of his hands, it was easy for the Terps to find other open shooters -- the Terrapins shot 22-of-37 (59.5%) from the floor, including 18-of-24 (75%) on 2-point attempts. All five Maryland starters scored in double figures, led by Ja'Kobi Gillespie, who finished with 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting.

After the game, both McCaffery and Iowa forward Chris Tadjo pointed to the same issue -- quick-shooting -- as one that doomed Iowa on offense and, eventually, defense as well.

"I think we shot the ball a little quickly," Tadjo said. "I think we need to take a little bit more patience [and] we could have scored more."

"We started quick-shooting the ball," said McCaffery. "That's what's disappointing -- it's not the first time it's happened. In the first half we shot a great percentage, [we] made threes, we were moving it, moving it, moving it. [In the second half] they played a match-up and we had 3-4 good looks early, but they were quick. [So] we were missing and now they're were running out in transition, and they take the lead, and [then] we keep quick shooting."

Bad offense begat bad defense, which begat more bad offense, which begat even worse defense and... on and on. When Iowa was making shots in the first half, the defense was better able to set up and force turnovers or at least prevent the Terrapins from getting easy looks. Missed shots in the second half led to a lot of easy buckets at the other end for Maryland as the Terrapins exploited a defense that was often slow to recover and out of position.

For an Iowa team without so many key players -- star Owen Freeman remains sidelined for the season and starting guard Drew Thelwell was sidelined for a second straight game while recovering from an ankle injury -- there's even more pressure on star players to deliver, especially on the offensive end.

In Iowa's win over Rutgers on Wednesday, Josh Dix went off for 26 points 11-of-17 shooting, including a 9-of-11 display on 2-point attempts. Payton Sandfort added 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the floor. That's probably the blueprint for Iowa to win games the rest of the season: 20+ points from Dix and Sandfort each.

On Sunday, that didn't happen.

Dix followed up his 26-point effort with his third-lowest scoring output of the Big Ten season, five points on 2-of-10 shooting (1-of-5 from 3-point range). Sandfort was a little more effective, as he finished with 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting (2-of-7 from long range) and a team-high 10 rebounds.

Iowa got quality games from some less-expected sources (more on them in a moment), but this team isn't going to win many games without its stars playing like, well, stars. On Sunday, Payton Sandfort was solid but not a star, while Josh Dix had one of his worst games of the season.

After Sunday's defeat, Iowa fell to 1-4 this year when Dix scores under 10 points. Without Freeman and with Thelwell sidelined, the Hawkeyes are even more reliant on big production from Dix and Payton Sandfort and they did not get big games from their star duo against the Terrapins.

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The bright spots for Iowa, such as they were, mostly came from the supporting cast rather than the stars. Seydou Traore had a superb first half, racking up 14 points (tying his season-high in just a half of work), as well as two rebounds and two assists. His length and athleticism also made him one of Iowa's more effective defenders in the game; simply put, he was vital to the strong start the Hawkeyes had in the opening half.

Unfortunately, that strong play didn't carry over into the second half -- Traore played just four minutes, scored no points and grabbed no rebounds and had two fouls and a turnover in his limited time on the court. The timing of those fouls -- both came immediately out of the break -- and limited his time on the floor and Iowa's options.

"I wasn't happy with him about that [missed three-pointer]," McCaffery said of Traore. "We talked about the quick-shooting [during a timeout] and he came right out and just jacked one. The other thing was, he got two quick fouls. I left him in after he got his third [foul] and [then] he got his fourth [foul]. [Then] he wasn't able to be as aggressive, wasn't able to put his imprint on the game like he did in the first half."

Pryce Sandfort and Ladji Dembele also gave Iowa some positive contributions off the bench. Sandfort led the team in scoring with 15 points (albeit on 6-of-14 shooting overall) and his potent shooting was key to Iowa's hot start in the first half.

Dembele opened the game with a three-pointer and finished with 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting as well as eight rebounds. Dembele and the younger Sandfort also had the best plus-minus ratings of the Hawkeyes who played 20+ minutes on Sunday; Dembele finished -16, while Pryce finished -14. (No one finishes with a good plus-minus rating when you lose a game by 26 points and get out-scored by 30 in the second half.)

"I thought Ladji was good, too," McCaffery said after the game. "He had a couple times where he made a mistake, but he had eight rebounds, 11 points, made a three to start the game. I was proud of him."

NEXT: Iowa returns home to take on Oregon (18-8, 7-8 Big Ten) on Wednesday, February 19. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM CT on BTN.