IOWA CITY — In a battle of ranked Big Ten foes, No. 16 Illinois proved to be too much for the Hawkeyes to handle early on, handing No. 19 Iowa its first home loss of the season with a 75-69 victory on Sunday afternoon.
A season-high crowd of 13,559 packed Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the home faithful were silenced early as the Illini jumped out to a blistering 21-5 lead in the first eight minutes. Illinois extended that cushion to as many as 18 points in the first half, leaving the Hawkeyes to spend the rest of the afternoon playing catch-up.
Iowa (12-4, 2-3) eventually found its footing, mounting a 14-5 run midway through the second half to pull within five points at 62-57. The Hawkeyes managed to trim the deficit to four points with just over a minute remaining, but the Illini held firm to deal Iowa its first consecutive losses of the season.
The 75 points surrendered by the Hawkeyes marked the most allowed by the team so far this season.
Tavion Banks led the Iowa effort with 16 points, followed by freshman Tate Sage, who tied a career high with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Bennett Stirtz added 12 points and six assists, while Cooper Koch rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10. The game also featured a lineup shift for the Hawkeyes, as junior Alvaro Folgueiras earned his first start in an Iowa uniform.
While the Hawkeyes found success from deep, connecting on nine 3-pointers, they struggled to get to the charity stripe, finishing with fewer than 10 free throw attempts for just the second time this year.
The road doesn’t get any easier for the Hawkeyes. They now head to West Lafayette on Wednesday to face nationally-ranked Purdue at 5:30 p.m. CT.
