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Iowa knocks off Ohio State in Columbus

Dec 31, 2014 - 5:04 AM Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Jarrod Uthoff scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists as Iowa built an early lead and held off No. 20 Ohio State, 71-65, in the Big Ten opener for both programs.

Uthoff and Aaron White both scored 11 points in a first half that saw the Hawkeyes (10-4, 1-0 Big Ten) jump out to a 12-point lead they never relinquished.

White finished with 18 points and nine rebounds for Iowa, which came into Columbus last January and snapped a seven-game skid at Value City Arena.

"We handled the press and moved the ball against the zone," Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. "You can't get impatient and start jacking shots. You have to go side to side, high post, baseline, shot fakes and pass fakes. You have to move it, and be patient enough to score at the end of the shot clock. You want to attack the press, but realize that shooting at the end of the shot clock is okay. We understood that, had some great opportunities, and made those shots, which helped us get a win."

Sam Thompson led Ohio State (11-3, 0-1) with 17 points, while leading scorer D'Angelo Russell shot just 4-of-16 from the field for 13 points in his Big Ten debut.

The Buckeyes came in 11-0 at home yet trailed all game save for a seven-second span early on.

"Well if we play the zone we're supposed to play and we didn't foul at the level we were fouling, we would have been fine," Ohio State coach Thad Matta said. "They stunned us early by pushing the ball up the floor. They scored 17 points in the first four minutes. We were in a hole where we were fighting the entire game. We didn't have the energy we needed."

The closest they got in the second half was three when Russell made the only one of his eight attempts from behind the arc, which cut the deficit to 63-60 with under 3 1/2 minutes to go.

Josh Oglesby answered with an open jumper in the lane, and after Russell missed another 3-point try, Uthoff drained one from the corner to stretch Iowa's lead to 68-60.

Ohio State had three chances to pull within a possession down the stretch, but Russell missed a pair of jumpers and Marc Loving was short on a putback to all but seal Iowa's second straight win in Columbus.

The Hawkeyes were nearly flawless to start, as they scored on their first eight possessions en route to a 17-5 lead just four minutes in.

Ohio State cut the deficit to three a few minutes later, but Iowa continued finding success against the Buckeyes' zone defense and ended the half on a 12-5 run to take a 43-31 lead into the break.

Despite Iowa's shooting percentage dipping from 50.0 percent in the first half to 40.9 percent in the second, the Buckeyes never got over the hump.

Game Notes

Ohio State is 28-3 at home since the start of the 2013-14 season, with two losses coming against Iowa ... Matta was 10-0 in Big Ten home openers ... Nine of Iowa's turnovers came after the break.