Bennett Stirtz led the way with a career-high of 32 points to begin Iowa's Pacific Northwest roadtrip on a high note.
Iowa basketball opened its Pacific Northwest roadtrip on a high note, winning in a 84-66 rout at Oregon on Wednesday night.
Senior point guard Bennett Stirtz had a terrific game, scoring a new career-high of 32 points (12/15 FG). Alvaro Folguieras (15 points), Brendan Hausen (11 points), and Cooper Koch (10 points) were the other Hawkeyes to reach double figures.
Iowa shot a sizzling 58.9 percent (33-56) from the field on 18 assists, while holding Oregon to 41.1 percent shooting.
The Hawkeyes improve to 16-5 overall and 6-4 in Big Ten play with the victory - their fourth straight win.
First Half
The quiet crowd inside Matthew Knight Arena forced both teams to create their own energy, and both teams did a good job with that early on. The Hawkeyes made 8 of their first 13 shots (61.5%) from the floor to open the game, and the short-handed Ducks stayed right with them, taking advantage of some second-chance opportunities to stay close.
There weren't many whistles until the under-12 media timeout, and the break gave Iowa a chance to slow the game down to its usual methodical pace. The Hawkeyes' offense slowed down in the process, as they made just one of their next seven field goal attempts over the next few minutes, allowing Oregon to hang around.
Ben McCollum wasn't pleased with some of the defensive lapses his team was showing, and Iowa responded by going on a 14-2 scoring run to build a 29-19 lead with under five minutes to go in the first half.
The Hawkeyes carried that momentum to a 35-26 halftime lead, but eight second-chance points for the Ducks (and some missed layups) prevented the lead from stretching even more. Nevertheless, Iowa still shot 50 percent from the floor (15/30), while holding Oregon to just 37 percent shooting (10/27) and forcing five turnovers.
Second Half
The Hawkeyes began the second half with some sloppy defense, often allowing the Ducks to get easy buckets inside. McCollum quickly picked up on this, and called a timeout to settle his defense down after a fantastic backdoor cut and layup by Bennett Stirtz.
That wouldn't be the last time Stirtz would have an impact on this basketball game - far from it. Whenever Iowa scored a bucket over the next four-minute block, Stirtz was involved. Oregon had no answers for Stirtz's strong cutting, and the few times it did, the senior would make the Ducks pay by finding the open man. By the time the under-12 media timeout hit, Stirtz was already up to 26 points, and his efforts gave Iowa a 57-44 lead with 10:41 left.
The Hawkeyes hit another brick wall on offense over the next stretch, going 2:25 without a point. This likely gave Iowa fans unfortunate flashbacks to the near-collapse against USC last Wednesday, but the Hawkeyes turned on the afterburners in the final minutes.
Stirtz surpassed his career-high with a transition layup, and Brendan Hausen netted five points off the bench to cement a game-clinching 7-0 run that saw Iowa make six consecutive field goals and hold Oregon without a bucket for nearly three minutes of action.
Up Next
The Hawkeyes conclude their Pacific Northwest roadtrip on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at Washington. The Huskies (12-10, 4-7) have been battling through injuries all season, but will come into the contest on a high after blowing out Northwestern on Saturday.
Tip off from the Hec Edmundson Pavilion is set for 10 p.m. CST on Big Ten Network.