LOS ANGELES, CA — Iowa put together yet another dreadful defensive performance on the road, dropping Tuesday night’s matchup with USC (11-6, 3-3) by a score of 99-89. The Hawkeyes dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of and remain winless on the road in Big Ten play.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Iowa is 0-3 in true road games this season, all of which have come in conference play. With losses to Michigan, Wisconsin and now USC, all of Iowa’s losses in the Big Ten have come away from home.

“[USC] is a driving team,” Fran McCaffery said after the loss. “I thought our defense was not what it needed it be. … Our rebounding was not good.”

The latter portion of the quote is definitely accurate in all three road losses. Over the three games, Iowa has allowed an average of 100 points per game. In the same three contests, Iowa was out-rebounded by an average of 16 rebounds per game(opponents averaging 39.7 to Iowa’s average of 23.7).

“There are a lot of good teams in this league,” McCaffery added. “It’s not going to be easy to win on the road, so you try to protect home and stay in the fight. We made a nice comeback, had a chance, didn’t get it done. Onto the next.”

The teams Iowa has lost to aren’t slouches by any means — Michigan is the No. 20 team in the country, Wisconsin was ranked at one point and was able to hit 21 three-pointers against the Hawkeyes and USC is fresh off an upset win over No. 13 Illinois on the road.

However, if Iowa is going to be competitive in the Big Ten this season, they’ll need to start winning against teams with solid resumes, and if they’re going to make the tournament, they’ll need to start doing it sooner rather than later — and doing it on the road.

Going into Tuesday’s contest, the Trojans were shooting 47.8% from the field. Against Iowa, they shot 64.9%. Prior to the contest vs. the Hawkeyes, USC was shooting 33% from three. They shot 66.7% from deep on Tuesday.

“They got comfortable,” McCaffery said. “They they made a bunch of threes tonight. It’s not typically their strong point, but they made them tonight and you can see that they’re a team that’s gaining confidence.”

Four Trojans scored in double-figures, with junior guard Desmond Claude leading the way with 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.

“He dribbles a lot,” McCaffery said regarding the difficult of guarding Claude. “I thought a lot of things that I can’t say, but I want to give the kid credit because he’s a really good player. We had some success with the trap a little bit, but our reactions out of it were not good enough [to stop Claude].”

Redshirt-freshman guard Wesley Yates posted a career high 21 points on Tuesday night as well, hitting four 3-pointers, which was also a career high. Each of those triples came in the first half.

Iowa went into halftime trailing 48-32, an all too familiar scenario for the Hawkeyes, even within the last week.

With recent performances by senior forward Payton Sandfort that have earned him the nickname “Second Half Sandfort” — scoring 30 in the second half against Nebraska and 21 in the second half against Indiana — trailing by double-digits doesn’t seem terribly difficult to overcome for the Hawkeyes and their senior leader.

This time, it came back to bite them. With just five first-half points, Sandfort had trouble getting going early yet again.

“It’s hard for him because he’s getting mugged,” McCaffery said. “You try to screen for him, he’s getting held. But to his credit, he keeps moving and he keeps screening and he figures out a way. … We want to run stuff for him, but teams are really, really mugging him.”

With the Trojan defense so focused on the perimeter, things opened up inside for Owen Freeman, who looked to take advantage over USC’s center and former Iowa portal target, Josh Cohen.

The sophomore big did just that with a myriad of post moves, soft touch around the rim, going up strong for dunks and making his first three since December 12, to score 13 points in the first half and finish with a career high of 23. He also led Iowa in rebounds with six.

Thanks to the first half lead, and the continued advantage on the glass and from the perimeter, the Trojans were able to keep the Hawkeyes at arms length for the majority of the second half, building a lead of up to 19 points.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Iowa trimmed the deficit to nine points with just with 6:50 to go. The game, appearing to be within reach, was promptly taken over by guard Drew Thelwell. He hit the gas, scoring eight of his 16 points over the ensuing two minutes.

Not only did the Morehead State transfer drive to the bucket at-will, but he made four-of four free throws over that stretch — a rarity for the senior, who was shooting 64.2% going into Tuesday’s contest.

“I thought his energy level was really impressive at both ends,” McCaffery said. “He was really fighting defensively, pushing it hard, driving the ball, being aggressive offensively — that’s what we need from him. I’m really proud of him.”

Pair Sandfort’s trademark second half and adding 15 points, it looked as though McCaffery’s squad had a real opportunity to steal a win in the LA.

The attempt to will iowa to victory came up just short for Thelwell, as with 4:06 to go and the Trojan lead cut to five, he lost control of the ball and turned it over out of bounds. USC scored on the following two possessions to extend its lead to 89-81. It never felt as though Iowa had its chance to get back into the contest, and USC pulled away for the win at home.

NEXT: Iowa will travel across town to take on UCLA (11-6, 2-4) on Friday night at 8 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on FS1.

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