Iowa found itself in uncomfortably familiar territory midway through Sunday's Big Ten road game against Penn State -- down big and mostly unable to make shots on the offensive end or get stops on the defensive end. That same formula led to an ugly home loss against Eastern Illinois almost 10 days ago and an ugly road loss against Nebraska just three days ago. Iowa shot just 32% in the first half (including 1/8 from 3-point range) and found itself down 44-26 at halftime. Iowa managed to change the script a bit in the second half -- down 15 with five minutes to play, Iowa went on a 17-5 run to get within 79-77 with 53 seconds to play. Unfortunately they couldn't finish the comeback, as Seth Lundy stole the ball from Tony Perkins with five seconds to play and made a pair of free throws to ice the Penn State victory, 83-79.

The game was close for the first five minutes, with neither team able to gain much of an advantage. Penn State gradually extended its lead out to 10 points over the next 7-8 minutes as Iowa struggled to make shots. But the game really started to get away from the Hawkeyes in the final eight minutes of the first half as Iowa was outscored 17-6 and managed just two baskets over that stretch. Iowa shot 2/11 during that stretch, which was a part of that ice-cold 32% shooting figure that Iowa posted in the first half. Many of the shots that Iowa was getting weren't necessarily bad shots, but as has been the case in this current losing streak for Iowa, the shots just aren't going down. In that sense, maybe the second half represented the turnaround that Iowa needed, even if it didn't result in a win in this game.

Iowa scored 53 points in the second half and looked far more like the high-powered offense we're accustomed seeing from the Hawkeyes. They went 18/32 from the floor after the break (56%), which included a 12/15 effort on two-point tries. That was especially gratifying to see after all the missed layups and looks near the basket that failed to go in during the first half of this game and most of the Nebraska game. Iowa also made 6/17 three-point tries, led by a 3/7 effort from Kris Murray. In fact, Murray had a second half that was better than most most players' full games -- he had 22 points on 8/13 shooting along with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. This was easily the best he's looked since returning from injury and if Murray is finally right, that should give Iowa a much better shot at getting out of this current tailspin.

The turnover at the end of the game was particularly painful (and cost Iowa a chance to tie the game), but Tony Perkins' play in the second half was a big reason why Iowa even had a shot to tie the game late. He had 10 points and 6 rebounds on 3/5 shooting and got to the line (where he went 3/4) as well. He looked more confident than he's been in recent games and that resulted in some very positive play during Iowa's comeback effort.

Kris Murray led all scorers with 32 points in the game. He finished 12/20 from the floor and 3/9 from the 3-point line and also had 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Without Murray's superhero act in the second half, this would have been another ugly blowout loss for the Hawkeyes. Perkins finished with 17 points on 6/12 shooting; he also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Filip Rebraca was the final Iowa player in double figures, with 13 points on 5/9 shooting. Iowa's other two starters, Patrick McCaffery and Ahron Ulis, struggled on the offensive end, combining to shoot 2/12 from the floor (1/7 from long range). Connor McCaffery provided Iowa with 8 points off the bench thanks to some timely three-pointers (2/3 from deep) and Dasonte Bowen had a team-high four assists in a bit more than 11 minutes of action. A full box score is available here.

For a four-half stretch (the second half against Eastern Illinois, the entire game against Nebraska, and the first half against Penn State), Iowa's offense was in a major funk -- they averaged only 28.5 ppg during those halves. Iowa's shot-making ability was stuck in the deep freeze for that stretch of games. That said, it generally seemed like something that would sort itself out -- most of the shots Iowa was attempting were good looks and you would expect a higher percentage of them to go in than had been going in. The offense hopefully turned a bit of a corner in the second half today, though there are also some stingier defenses looming in the next few games.

The bigger concern for Iowa during this losing streak has been the defense, which has taken several steps back. Penn State finished the game shooting 55% from the floor, 48% from 3-point range, and averaged almost 1.2 points per possession. Nebraska cooled off in the end in their win over Iowa, but they won that game by virtue of lighting up Iowa in the first half of that game. Eastern Illinois torched Iowa for 92 points and averaged 1.14 points per possession against Iowa. What might have been a fluke has started to become a trend. Worse, Iowa's defense has been getting lit up by teams that mostly don't even have good offenses (though Penn State's offense ranks just outside the Top 30 in offensive efficiency this season). Iowa has sunk to 109th nationally in defensive efficiency -- only Minnesota ranks lower in the Big Ten.

We've seen Iowa play good defense at times this year -- blocking out on shots, contesting shots, attacking screens, and getting hands in passing lanes -- and it seems like a matter of focus and effort. When they've been locked in and given maximum effort, the defensive performance has generally been strong. When that effort and focus hasn't been there, though, the defense has collapsed. The loss to Eastern Illinois was supposed to have been a wake-up call for Iowa on the defensive end, but it doesn't look like the message has taken hold yet.

With this loss, Iowa is on its first three-game losing streak since losing three in a row to Purdue, Illinois, and Iowa State in early December last year. This is also Iowa's first three-game Big Ten losing streak since dropping league games to Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Purdue to start Big Ten play in 2018-19 (also the last time Iowa started out 0-3 in the Big Ten). In both of those cases (last year and in 2019), Iowa was able to dig out of those early holes and have somewhat successful seasons. In 2019 Iowa finished 21-10 overall and 10-10 in Big Ten play in the regular season, earned a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament and after one furious comeback to upset Cincinnati almost pulled off another one to upset Tennessee and make the Sweet 16. Last year Iowa started out 1-3 in Big Ten action but went 11-5 the rest of the way and finished 22-9 overall and 12-8 in conference action -- before storming through the Big Ten Tournament with four wins in four days.

Can this team pull off something similar and get out of its current funk? Perhaps, but the schedule isn't very favorable over the next week, with tough games against Indiana (Thursday) and Rutgers (Sunday) coming up this week. Iowa will likely need to play much better in those games to have a shot at earning a first Big Ten victory this season. Overall, the Hawkeyes are entering a stretch of games where they need to record some wins and make up some ground on the rest of the league -- four of their next five games are at home.

Iowa heads home to take on Indiana on Thursday, January 5 at 8 PM CT on FS1. The Hoosiers are 10-3 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten action so far, losing by 15 at Rutgers and beating Nebraska by 16 in their only two league games so far. Iowa will also be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Carver-Hawkeye Arena during that game.