Iowa vs Penn State Recap: 51-65 L

Well, that sucked.

Bullet points!

• Iowa got beat in pretty much every facet of the game by Penn State. The only one of the Four Factors that Iowa won was the turnover battle. They turned the ball over on 19.3% of their possessions, while forcing Penn State into a turnover on 24.56% of their possessions. 
• Unfortunately turnovers wasn't enough to give Iowa the win, as they also got killed in shooting. Penn State shot a 58.5% effective FG%, which is 10% higher than their season average. Iowa, on the other hand, shot a 44.1% effective FG%, which is 4% lower than their season average. It's all the more disappointing because Penn State's opponents had been shooting well on them all season. So, it's not like Penn State was known for their defense. 
• Let's stay on shooting. Iowa shot a better percentage from downtown, making 38.9% of their three pointers compared to Penn State's 31.3%. However, the problem came once Iowa got inside the three point line. They only made 36.3% of their two point field goals (!), compared to Penn State's 64.5%. Ummm, yeah. I think that speaks for itself. 
• It's not like Iowa was bad all game. For most of the first half they had the lead over Penn State. They were even up by double digits at one point. Of course, the lead dwindled and the Nittany Lions took the lead right before halftime. A real momentum shift, I felt, took place when the refs called that charge on McCabe. The defender was all the way under the basket, and it should have been a blocking foul. Of course, Fran also disagreed with the referee, and got himself another technical to add to his mantle this year. But, that took at least two points off the board for Iowa, and gave Penn State two as they made their technical free throws. I'm not saying that is where Iowa lost the game, just that it seemed to be a momentum changer in the first half.
• Once again in Big 10 play, Iowa got throttled on the boards. I've already mentioned how rebounding has taken a turn for the worse during Big 10 play for Iowa, and tonight was no different. Penn State grabbed 56.5% of all rebounds to Iowa's 43.5%. On the offensive glass, the Nittany Lions outrebounded Iowa 42.9% to 30%. Defensively, they grabbed 70% to Iowa's 57.1%. I mean, Iowa only grabbed 12 defensive rebounds out of Penn State's 22 misses all night. Let me repeat that. 12 defensive rebounds. All night. That's it. That sucks.
• Gatens reached double digits tonight, scoring 10 on 4-10 shooting (50% effective FG%). He went 2-5 from two point range and 2-5 from three point range. That is what I find the most interesting because it shows his Big 10 performance in a nut shell. Three pointers have been the easier shot for Gatens since Big 10 play kicked off. In eight conference games, Gatens has shot 44% from three point range and 38.10% from two point range. One of those things is good, and one of those things is not. In November he shot 35% from two point range, but he was coming off a hand injury. In December, he was hot, shooting 70% from inside the arc. So, he's gone from ridiculously cold to ridiculously hot to ridiculously cold again. Let's hope for Gatens to regress to his mean in January.
• Cole was the leading scorer for the Hawkeyes last night. He put up 11 on 4 of 7 shooting (57.1% effective FG%) and by hitting three of four free throws. Cole had a better defensive rebounding game, grabbing 17.8% of all defensive rebounds while he was on the court. However, he didn't do a whole lot on the offensive rebounding side, grabbing only 4.1%. Still had a pretty good game though.
• Cartwright was interesting last night. On the one hand, he had 8 assists and only 3 turnovers. On the other hand, he had 9 points on 4-13 shooting (34.6% effective FG%). Early in the game he took some questionable shots, but they were falling so you couldn't really question him. Late in the game those shots were no longer falling. There really isn't much to say about it anymore, it would be great if he could get 9 points on about half as many shots but, Cartwright is what he is. 
• On the Penn State side, Talor Battle and Jeff Brooks put up more points, together, than every player on Iowa did. Battle had 23 points on 8-13 shooting (65.3% effective FG%), while Brooks had 22 on 9-17 shooting. His 64.7% effective FG% looks better than his 9-17 shooting, and that's because of 4 of his 9 made baskets were three pointers.
• Penn State's Andrew Jones also put in 9 points. But, his shooting wasn't the important part. Jones was Iowa's worst nightmare on the glass, as he came up just one point shy of a double double. He grabbed 4 offensive rebounds (21.7%) and 6 defensive rebounds (22.8%). He's the main reason Iowa lost the rebounding battle.
• Overall, Iowa ended 22.8% of their possessions with an assisted field goal, finishing with a 1.18 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Penn State ended 24.56% of their possessions with an assist, which gave them an assist to turnover ratio of 1.
• Iowa's miserable shooting led to an average of 0.90 points per possession. Meanwhile, Penn State averaged 1.14 points per possession.
• Ugh.