Iowa (8-3) defeated Utah State 94-75 on Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D., nine days after a 73-53 loss to Iowa State.
Southeastern Louisiana (4-8) will try to do the same as it comes off a loss of its own to Iowa State and visits the Hawkeyes on Tuesday night in Iowa City.
Iowa forward Keegan Murray set the tone for the bounce-back. After scoring a season-low nine points against Iowa State, he scored a career-high 35 against Utah State as Iowa ended a three-game losing streak.
“Obviously the last three games were tough for us,” said Murray, who scored 18 straight Hawkeyes points during one first-half stretch against Utah State. “We practiced well this last week and it paid off.”
Murray, who has been slowed by an ankle injury, made 13-of-17 field-goal attempts.
“I’m as close to 100 percent as I can be right now, and I feel like myself again,” Murray said. “Those nine days really helped me.”
Kris Murray, Keegan’s identical-twin brother, tied his career-high with 17 points, all but two of which came in the second half.
During the nearly 11 minutes that the Murray brothers were on the floor at the same time, Iowa outscored Utah State 34-13.
Southeastern Louisiana trailed Iowa State just 25-17 at halftime, but got outscored 52-37 in the second half Sunday.
The Lions stayed within eight points early in the second half, fell behind by 11 midway through the period and saw the Cyclones go on a 10-2 run to take control with a 19-point lead.
Southeastern Louisiana allowed just four second-chance points and turned the ball over just 13 times.
“(The Cyclones) usually are turning teams over at a high rate and getting second-chance points,” Lions head coach David Kiefer said. “But I think we really did a good job of sharing the basketball and really competed well defensively. We just ran out of gas late in that game.”
–Field Level Media