No. 16 Penn State Upset by No. 18 Iowa; PSU's 3rd Loss in Last 4 Games

The No. 16 Penn State Nittany Lions continued their recent tumble Saturday, falling 77-68 to the No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Penn State fell to 21-8 with the loss and has now dropped three of its past four games. The Hawkeyes improved to 20-9 and have conversely won three of their past four. Penn State and Iowa are now tied for fifth in the Big Ten at 11-7 as well.

National Player of the Year contender Luka Garza led the way for Iowa on Saturday, as he scored a game-high 25 points while adding 17 rebounds and four blocks.

Penn State received strong performances from forwards Lamar Stevens (20 points and 10 rebounds) and Seth Lundy (19 points), but with little production from the rest of the roster, the Nittany Lions were unable to get past Garza and the Hawkeyes.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well Saturday, but Penn State was especially poor in that area. The Nittany Lions shot just 37.1 percent from the field, 32.3 percent from beyond the arc and 60.0 percent from the free-throw line.

By comparison, Iowa shot 42.4 percent from the floor, 41.2 percent from deep and 82.4 percent from the charity stripe.

While Iowa got 21 points combined from its three bench players and double-digit scoring from both Joe Wieskamp and CJ Fredrick, Garza was clearly the difference-maker Saturday.

According to Iowa Basketball, Garza set a new school record with at least 20 points in 14 consecutive Big Ten games:

Dan Dakich of 1070 The Fan lauded Garza's effort level, and Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports noted that Garza is the biggest reason the Hawkeyes are better this season than last:

With both Penn State and Iowa now at the 20-win mark, they look like strong candidates to reach the NCAA tournament.

The Nittany Lions have upcoming games against No. 24 Michigan State and Northwestern before the Big Ten tournament, while the Hawkeyes will finish their regular-season slate against Purdue and Illinois.

Don't be surprised if Penn State and Iowa meet in a rubber match during the Big Ten tourney after splitting their two regular-season meetings.