A good start for the Hawkeyes — Iowa led Wisconsin 28-22 almost 12 minutes into the game — fell apart in the face of torrid shooting from the Badgers, resulting in a 116-85 Wisconsin victory. The loss dropped Iowa to 10-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten.

A 19-2 Badger run in the first half flipped the game on its head and put the Hawkeyes in a hole they were never able to escape. Wisconsin shredded the Iowa defense over the final thirty minutes of the game and rolled to an easy win.

Here are three takeaways from the loss.

Both teams started off shooting the ball well, especially from three-point range. Iowa made its first four three-point shots, while Wisconsin made three of its first four threes. But while Iowa’s three-point shooting slowed down, the Badgers just kept burying triple after triple.

Nine different Badgers made at least one three and six players made two or more, led by John Blackwell with a scorching-hot 6-of-10 effort from deep (part of his game-high 32 points). Kamari McGee was the second-best long-range shooter for the Badgers, draining 4-of-5 attempts from beyond the arc.

This sort of three-point eruption from the Badgers wasn’t expected — Wisconsin entered this game shooting 32.5% from deep this season, 217th in the nation. Blackwell was one of the Badgers not firing from deep before tonight — he entered the game making just 28.9% of his long-range efforts, including 3-of-19 in his last six games.

Iowa’s defense didn’t do enough to close out on several of Wisconsin’s three-point attempts and too many of Wisconsin’s school-record 21 threes were wide open. “They got going from the beginning,” Iowa guard Drew Thelwell said. “I don’t think we made enough adjustments to I guess run them off the line or do something else and they just got comfortable out there.”

“We just gotta fly around, have more energy,” added Thelwell. “[It] felt like we just quit on some possessions, which we can’t have, especially starting off on the Big Ten on the road.”

The entire Wisconsin team was clearly in the zone when it came to shooting from beyond the arc — that’s the only way a team can go 21-of-31 from 3-point range. On some level you have to tip your cap to the Badgers; sometimes the flood hits and just washes away everything in its path.

Still, allowing 50+ points in a half or seeing an opponent get hot from long range are not new problems for Iowa basketball — as Thelwell said, the Hawkeyes needed to make some sort of adjustments and do something to stop the torrent of threes flowing from the Badger shooters.

“Our shot selection wasn’t very good, nor was our defense obviously,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “We gotta be better with our ball-screen action, with our transition defense. Our initial defense was good sometimes, but not our closeouts, not our defense after the ball was reversed, so sometimes they were getting open 3s.”

“They’ve got a lot of weapons,” McCaffery noted. “Once they start hitting 3s, they’re hard to guard. That’s why what you do on the offensive end is so critical.”

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Iowa didn’t do many things well against Wisconsin on Friday, but they did protect the ball well — Iowa had just nine turnovers in the game, versus 13 for the Badgers. The Hawkeyes were able to turn 13 Badger giveaways into a 21-8 edge in points off turnovers.

That was about the only thing that Iowa did better than Wisconsin in this game.

Aside from 3-point shooting, Wisconsin also hammered Iowa on the glass, out-rebounding Iowa 37-21 for the game. Obviously Iowa didn’t have as many defensive rebound opportunities with the ball going through the net again and again on the Wisconsin end (the Badgers shot 64.5% overall from the floor and missed just 22 shots), but they didn’t capitalize well on the chances they did have.

The offensive rebound stats ended up almost even — 8 for Wisconsin, 7 for Iowa — but that’s mainly a function of some late o-boards for the Hawkeyes after the game outcome was long decided. In the first half, Wisconsin out-rebounded 18-9 overall and 5-1 on the offensive glass. They turned that advantage on the offensive boards into a 10-2 edge in second-chance points.

“As a collective unit, I think we just took our foot off the gas pedal,” Thelwell said of Iowa conceding a 19-2 run to Wisconsin after the Hawkeyes led 28-22 in the first half. “Obviously you can’t do that in the Big Ten. [We] just need more energy, more effort, gotta rebound the ball too.”

There are tactical things that Iowa can do to improve its rebounding — as we’ve discussed over the last few days — but one of the biggest changes Iowa can make is bringing more effort to its rebounding attempts. The Badgers seemed to be the quicker team to every loose ball in this game, which is the sort of effort that can be critical in winning the rebounding battle.

One of the only bright spots for Iowa in this drubbing was the play of Morehead State transfer Drew Thelwell. Thelwell had his best game as a Hawkeye (by far), erupting for a team-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting (3-of-5 from deep), along with a team-high five assists and two rebounds. Thelwell attacked the Badgers inside and out on offense and did what he could on the defensive end as well.

“He was spectacular at both ends,” said McCaffery after the game. “[He] kept fighting, played at the 1, at the 2, driving the ball, finishing in traffic, getting to the free throw line, making steals. [He] just really tried to will us though those difficult minutes in the middle portion of the game.”

After the game, Thelwell said that he embraced the role of being a sparkplug for the team, especially on the defensive end. “I would say it has to start with somebody,” he said. “If that’s my role to get this team going, I’ll do it the best I can on defense and show them that I’ll always give 100%.”

Aside from Thelwell, Iowa’s top performer was Josh Dix, who made his first four shots of the game and finished with 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting (2-of-3 from 3-point range). Dix was key to Iowa’s fast start and early lead and things went south when he went to the bench for a break in the first half; Wisconsin outscored Iowa 16-2 with Dix out of the game in that stretch.

Not one of Iowa’s top performers? Payton Sandfort, who endured one of his worst games in an Iowa uniform and finished with more personal fouls (3) than points (2). Sandfort could not buy a shot, going 1-of-9 from the floor and 0-of-5 from beyond the arc. He did finish with a team-high 5 rebounds.

“Payton puts a lot of pressure on himself,” said McCaffery. “He’s had some off nights. He was fighting tonight, he was trying, [but he] couldn’t get anything to fall. [He] had a couple clean looks, they didn’t go in. That really frustrated him, because teams are guarding him very closely, and then when he gets a clean look, he wants to make it. He was flying at the glass, he was flying around, [it] just didn’t happen for him tonight.”

Iowa is not going to win many games — especially in Big Ten play — when Payton Sandfort scores just two points.

Owen Freeman, Iowa’s other top scorer this season, finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but had a quiet night overall. He had just three rebounds and struggled mightily to slow down Wisconsin’s twin towers in the post — Nolan Winter and Steven Crowl combined for 32 points (on 12-of-15 shooting), 15 rebounds and 3 assists.

NEXT: Iowa returns home to face Nebraska (11-2, 1-1 Big Ten) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday, January 7 (7:00 PM CT, Peacock).