It just wasn’t the Iowa Hawkeyes‘ night. That much was clear pretty much throughout.
Instead of Iowa (23-4, 12-3 Big Ten) taking a big step forward toward a potential No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Hawkeyes will be left to wonder what this means in terms of the Big Ten race. Did No. 4 Iowa just cough up its chance at the Big Ten regular season crown with this 86-69 loss at No. 16 Indiana?
Though Iowa made several inspired pushes, the Hawkeyes couldn’t overcome a deficit that quickly ballooned to 16 points early in the third quarter and stayed at double figures for most of the second half.
Iowa couldn’t overcome the big night from Indiana star graduate forward Mackenzie Holmes. The 6-foot-3 big finished with 24 points and nine rebounds on 11-of-16 shooting.
Fifth-year senior guard Sara Scalia had a huge game for the Hoosiers, too. Scalia finished with a game-high 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-8 3-point marksmanship.
Give Indiana credit defensively, too. After pouring in 20 points in the game’s first 20 minutes, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark added just four points on 2-of-13 shooting in the second half. She shot 0-for-7 from 3-point range after halftime.
Iowa graduate guard Kate Martin added 19 points and sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke finished with 10. The Hawkeyes shot just 38.8% from the field and only 17.9% from 3-point distance.
Meanwhile, Indiana burned Iowa for 51.6% field goal shooting and 42.9% 3-point shooting.
Iowa will return home for its Pink Game versus Illinois on Sunday in Iowa City at noon CT.
Hawkeye fans were understandably disappointed with the loss across social media, but a good number were ready to chalk this loss up as a forget-about-it and move on type of performance.