Iowa Basketball: 3 takeaways from dismantling of Michigan State

After enduring a tumultuous stretch in their schedule, Iowa Basketball played some of its best basketball on Saturday, dominating the Michigan State Spartans – in East Lansing – in a 88-58 rout in Big Ten action.

The Hawkeyes – who have now won two straight after losing four of their prior five games – won by their largest margin since their 53-point shellacking of Northern Illinois back on December 13th.  Behind double-digit showings from Joe Wieskamp (21), Jack Nunge (18), and Connor McCaffery (16), the Hawkeyes also recorded their highest offensive output in nearly a month.

That is all without Luka Garza even reaching double-digits, behind held to just eight points – the first time that has happened since November 29, 2019, when he scored just nine against San Diego State.  It was his lowest output since tallying seven against Illinois in March of 2019.

It was, decidedly and obviously, a more convincing showing than Iowa’s 84-78 win over the Spartans just a few weeks ago, back on February 2nd.  The Spartans struggled to get anything going from the get-go, falling behind by 20 just 11 minutes in – and faced as large of a deficit as 34 late in the second half.  Michigan State, at least, also saw three players reach double-digits in Gabe Brown (15), Aaron Henry (13), and Joshua Langford (11).

Iowa’s recent struggles have resulted in the Hawkeyes falling to the 4-seed line in the NCAA’s recent Top 16 release.  The Hawkeyes’ win over Michigan State, however, indicates that they could be back on the uptick – and they have a few significant positive and negative keys from this game to keep in mind moving forward.