The Takeaways From Iowa's Loss To Penn State

Iowa's margin of error was already limited heading into Saturday's game against Penn State in Philadelphia.

The Hawkeyes came into the game with just nine scholarship players with Jordan Bohannon (hip) and Jack Nunge (knee) out for the year and Patrick McCaffery (health issues) out indefinitely.

On a sweltering day in the Palestra, the Hawkeyes could have used the help.

Iowa got just eight bench points, all in the first half, in the 89-86 defeat. The Hawkeyes fell to 10-4 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten in a game they had a chance to put away late.

Iowa led by seven with 9:30 to play and by six with the ball with eight minutes left. Every possession proved to be critical on a day when there were 24 lead changes and 10 ties.

Penn State had 46 bench points, including 23 from Izaiah Brockington and 16 from Curtis Jones, compared to just eight for Iowa.

The Hawkeyes were without CJ Fredrick (ankle) for the second half, and Ryan Kriener played 11 minutes after hitting knees with a Penn State player.

All of Iowa's 48 second-half points came from three players — Luka Garza (19), Joe Toussaint (16) and Joe Wieskamp (13). Kriener, Connor McCaffery, Bakari Evelyn and Cordell Pemsl combined for more than 41 second-half minutes, but took just seven shots and didn't score.

Pemsl had six rebounds and McCaffery had three assists in the second half, though.

"I thought Bakari, Cordell and Kriener gave us good minutes under the circumstances," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.

There was nothing wrong with leaning on Garza and Wieskamp, especially down the stretch, given their ability to get points. But even just the slightest contribution from others makes a difference.

That margin of error is going to be slim in the closest games for the rest of the Big Ten season. The Hawkeyes will have to find a way to overcome that.

A look at some other takeaways:

Iowa slips on a slick spot, and Penn State turns it into 2.@LamarStevens11 | @PennStateMBB pic.twitter.com/RNmGthohk2
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 4, 2020

This wasn't a bad loss

In a steamy atmosphere — the humidity was so bad electric fans were brought into the arena in the second half — the Hawkeyes never wilted.

Iowa surrendered a 9-1 run late in the first half, then came back with nine consecutive points, and trailed by two at halftime.

This was a difficult environment — welcome to the road in the Big Ten — and the Hawkeyes stayed in the game until the end.

"I thought we did a lot of good things today," McCaffery said. "I thought we stayed in it until the end."

Feed Luka. 💪@IowaHoops is underway in Philly: pic.twitter.com/TccjY0IsPU
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) January 4, 2020

Garza's game

The junior center was brilliant again — 34 points and 12 rebounds.

"He was tremendous today," McCaffery said.

But Garza will lament the missed free throws — he was 7-of-14 from the line in the game, 2-of-6 in the second half.

Garza drew 10 fouls in the game, the most of any Hawkeye. He's going to get manhandled the rest of the season — it is a Big Ten tradition. He's a good enough shooter that the free throws will get better.

Toussaint's growth

The freshman point guard was fearless in his 28 1/2 minutes.

It's hard to believe that just two games ago he was stumbling on the United Center court in the Dec. 21 win over Cincinnati.

The sign of a good player is one who grows throughout his freshman season, and Toussaint has done that.

Fredrick was missed

Fredrick tried to go with a sore ankle, missing the four shots he took in the 13:47 he played in the first half.

"We really needed Fredrick today," McCaffery said. "He didn't have it today."

Missing that additional 3-point shooter hurt, especially late in the second half.