Iowa Hawkeyes forward Alvaro Folgueiras (7) rebounds the ball against Indiana Hoosiers forward Reed Bailey (1) during the second half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Photo Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Bennett Stirtz scored 27 points, Tavion Banks added a career-high 26, and Iowa defeated Indiana 74-57 on Saturday, snapping a three-game losing streak.

The Hawkeyes (13-5, 3-4 Big Ten) never trailed and a 14-5 run gave them their first double-digit lead, 24-13. Neither team missed a shot in one stretch from 9:45 to 5:30 in the first half, leaving Iowa with a 30-23 lead. Indiana was held to five points over the final 4 1/2 minutes and Iowa led 38-28 at the break.

(Photo Above: Iowa coach Ben McCollum and his assistant coaches in the locker room after the win at Indiana. Photo courtesy of hawkeyesports.com.

Indiana closed to within 49-45 in the second half, but soon thereafter Stirtz dropped a couple of 3s and Banks had a three-point play followed by a midrange jumper to put Iowa in command 62-48 with seven minutes remaining. The Hawkeyes’ next six points came at the free-throw line and Banks followed with a layup for a 70-50 lead with four minutes remaining.

The Hawkeyes made 21 of 23 free throws, with Banks going 9 for 9 and Stirtz making 10 of 11.

Tayton Conerway scored 16 and Sam Alexis 13 for Indiana (12-6, 3-4). The Hoosiers’ Lamar Wilkerson, who was leading the Big Ten with 26.0 points per game in conference play, was held to nine points on 3-for-10 shooting.

The Hawkeyes have won six of the last seven meetings between the longtime Big Ten rivals.

On Wednesday, Banks pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a deal with prosecutors that included a dismissal of his public intoxication charge related to a bar fight last October.

The matchup featured the previous two coaches at Drake — Iowa’s Ben McCollum and Indiana’s Darian DeVries.

HEAR FROM IOWA HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
“Indiana is a well-coached team, they have a lot of seniors, so we knew we were going to have our hands full. The atmosphere here is unbelievable. We were fortunate enough to come out and execute our game plan pretty consistently from the start. I thought Bennett did a great job dictating the tempo. Tavion obviously had a big-time game. I thought this was [Alvaro’s] best game in the second half. Not necessarily from an offensive perspective but from a defensive perspective he was making winning plays which we need to continue to build on. Certainly, proud of our effort and, obviously, on to the next.” 

IOWA GAME NOTES

• The Hawkeyes went on the road to down Indiana, 74-57, on Saturday afternoon inside Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
• The victory is Iowa’s first road win of the season and the team’s first Quad 1 victory in five tries.
• The Hawkeyes have won six of the last seven meetings over the Hoosiers, but it is just the team’s second win in Bloomington since 2020.
• Seniors Bennett Stirtz (27) and Tavion Banks (26) combined to score 53 of Iowa’s 74 points.
  • It marks the first time since Feb. 10, 2022 that two Hawkeyes scored 25+ points each on the road.
• Stirtz recorded his eighth 20-point game of the season, making 7-of-13 field goals, three 3-pointers and 10-of-11 free throws.
  • The 10 free throw makes were a career high.
  • He also had five assists – his 11th game with five or more helpers.
  • Stirtz scored 14 points and had four assists in the first half.
• Banks finished with a season-high 26 points – a Division I career-best — and a team-high eight rebounds, making 8-of-12 field goals and going 9-of-9 from the free throw line.
  • Over the last seven games Banks has made 21 consecutive free throws. 
• The Hawkeyes finished 21-of-23 from the free throw line compared to 11-of-15 for the Hoosiers.
  • It is the first time since the Jan. 3 game against UCLA that Iowa has made and attempted more free throws than its opponent.
  • Iowa was 14-of-14 from the free throw line in the second half.
  • It marks the first time since Dec. 12, 2019 that Iowa shot 90% or better at the free throw line on the road (minimum 20 attempts).
• Iowa used a 12-1 run over a 3:47 stretch, turning a 54-47 lead into a 66-48 lead with 5:27 to play.
• Indiana, who entered the game averaging 10.5 3-point field goals per game; made just 6-of-24 3-point field goals.
• Iowa held the Hoosiers to 57 points – 26 points below their season average. The 57 points were a season low.
  • Indiana shot just 20-of-52 (38.5 percent) from the field.
  • The Hawkeyes held Lamar Wilkerson and Tucker Devries to a combined 16 points, 17 points below their combined season average.
  • Wilkerson and Devries combined to shoot 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from the field and 3-of-11 (27.2 percent) from deep.
• The Hawkeyes shot 50.0 percent from the floor and 36.8 percent from 3-point range.  Iowa is 10-2 when shooting 50 percent or better.
• Iowa jumped out to a 10-2 lead over the first seven minutes.  After IU scored six straight to make the score 10-8, the Hawkeyes used an 8-0 spurt to push the lead to 16-8 at the 9:45 mark.
• The Hawkeyes led by double digits five times in the final eight minutes of the first half, including taking a 38-28 lead into the locker room.

Up Next

Iowa: The Hawkeyes return home to play Rutgers on Tuesday.

Indiana: The Hoosiers play at Michigan on Tuesday.