No. 4 MSU lost to No. 16 Iowa 76-59 in a rematch of the two teams matchup on Dec. 29, 2015 in which Iowa dealt MSU its first loss of the season 83-70.
MSU senior guard Denzel Valentine had 14 points, four rebounds and five assists in his first game back in the starting lineup for MSU. Iowa was led by junior guard Peter Jok with 23 points.
MSU's players spoke all week about how they felt they were flat and did not play with even close to the intensity MSU teams should be expected to play with, and they all echoed the same sentiment - they were not going to let it again.
MSU showed more intensity early on as MSU's players were flying around the court and diving for every loose ball. Nonetheless, turnovers and poor shooting plagued MSU, as the team committed 12 turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the game leading to 15 points off of turnovers for Iowa as they built a 30-15 lead with the help of a 10-0 run. MSU finished with a staggering 16 turnovers.
After playing with foul trouble in the first matchup, senior guard Bryn Forbes was looking to bounce back in a big way for MSU, but was sent to the bench with 13:37 to play in the first half after picking up his second foul. Forbes scored just two points in the first half and was not able to find the basket in the second half, for a season-low-tying 2 points on 0-of-5 from the floor.
Iowa shot the ball a blistering 51.5 percent from the floor in the first half, including 60 percent from behind the three point line on 9-of-15 shooting. Meanwhile, MSU couldn't find the net, shooting just 8-of-21 from the floor in the first half and just 2-of-9 from three.
MSU's struggles continued in the second half as it could not get a stop defensively, allowing Iowa to dominate on the glass, including one possession in which Iowa brought down four offensive rebound, MSU 39-35, including Iowa grabbing 13 offensive rebounds leading to 10 second chance points.
MSU didn't fair much better on the offensive end, as the team shot just 4-of-22 from the three point line -- just 18.2 percent -- a season low for MSU from three.
Iowa built its lead to as large as 23 points, as every time MSU looked like it could make a run, Iowa slammed answered with a gut-wrenching basket.
MSU's lone bright spot might have been senior forward Matt Costello who continued to be aggressive when he got the ball, scoring a team-high 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
MSU will travel to Wisconsin on Sunday.
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
