Nittany Lions fall to Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY, Iowa — On Wednesday night, Penn State suffered their fourth consecutive defeat at the expense of the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at Iowa City, Iowa, 73-49.

Brandon Taylor was the lone Penn State starter in double figures, scoring 15 points. Taylor’s double-double was his second consecutive of sorts (MSG Game-Michigan, at Iowa), and his fifth of the season.

The Nittany Lions, collectively, only shot 29.7 percent from the field in the fist half, which was a prime reason for their fourth straight defeat. The Iowa train took off early on, as the Iowa offense outscored Penn State by 19 points in the first half, 45-26.

Penn State guard Shep Garner had eight points in 38 minutes played Wednesday night, with four of them coming in the first half.

Forward Julian Moore added eight points on the night, shooting 50 percent from the field, 3-6. Guard Devin Foster shot a dismal 16.7 percent from the field in the game, and was scoreless from 3-point range, 0-2. Foster played 22 minutes.

Another Penn State starter who shot poorly from the field in the game was forward Payton Banks, who went 1-7 from the field in the game with only two points to show for.

A prevailing storyline and offensive trend for Penn State in the game was that their starters shot ineffectively from the field. However, Penn State and Iowa were evenly matched with a respective 18 points in the paint in the first half. Penn State totaled 14 bench points in the game, with six coming from forward Deividas Zemgulis, four coming from forward Donovon Jack, and three coming from center Jordan Dickerson. Penn State collected six second- chance points in the first half and seven second-chance points in the second half. A demoralizing statistic for Penn State in this game was their 5 percent three-point percentage in the game, as they shot 1-20 from beyond the arc; Zemgulis was the only Penn State player who made a three-point shot.

Iowa starting forward Jarrod Uthoff led his team with 14 points, while starting guards Peter Jok and Anthony Clemmons had 12 points, respectively.