Iowa Can Kiss Top 25 Hopes Goodbye After Maryland Loss

Playing on the road is always tough, but this is now the second time this season the Iowa Hawkeyes have been caught lacking.

First it was in Minnesota, now it was in Maryland. Their loss against the Golden Gophers was a bit more justified, but there's no explanation for losing to a team that was five games under .500 and had just two conference wins.

Iowa still has a very respectable record, 18-6 (8-5), but that doesn't make the loss sting even less.

Instead of having all the momentum on their side with No. 13 Purdue coming to town for a sold-out game on Valentines Day, this team must now look in the mirror and determine just how good they really are.

Iowa Overlooked Maryland

Final Score: Maryland 77, Iowa 70
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) February 12, 2026

It's clear this team thought they could go to the XFINITY Center and steamroll a team who was previously 2-10 in conference play. Instead, they were humbled.

Bennett Stirtz can only do so much and that was evident in this one. Stirtz, to no surprise, led the way with 32 points. He once again led all scorers and didn't sit a single minute as he attempted 21 of the Hawkeyes 59 shots.

Other than Stirtz, no one was reliable. The only other player to finish in double digits was Tavion Banks but five of his 13 points came from the charity stripe.

Iowa was just 7-28 from three point range and Stirtz made four of those seven threes. Iowa thought they were getting a huge spark from Brendan Hausen off the bench, but after a pair of made threes he went ice cold.

Defense Was Nowhere To Be Found

Entering tonight…

Maryland was winless, 0-10, in Quad 1 games this season.

Iowa was perfect, 11-0, in Quad 3 & 4 games this season.

The Hawkeyes had also won six (6) straight games.

The Terps just beat Iowa, 77-70, as a 10.5pt dog at home.

Something about anarchy. pic.twitter.com/i7fQNJqISo
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) February 12, 2026

For the first time this season, Iowa allowed an opponent to score more than their average. Knowing they held four ranked teams below theirs, it's quite embarrassing to have that stat broken against Maryland, of all teams.

Take nothing away from the Terrapins as they're coming off a road win over Minnesota, the same team that beat Iowa at the start of January. Clearly, one team wanted it more and for whatever reason that wasn't the Hawkeyes.

Iowa's path back to the Top 25 was simple, but now they can kiss those hopes goodbye. Even with a win over Purdue on February 14, it's hard to imagine a scenario where this Quad 3 loss doesn't haunt the Hawkeyes. They'll have a chance to prove themselves against No. 7 Nebraska (twice) along with No. 2 Michigan, but it's an uphill battle from here.

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