IOWA CITY (Dec. 20) – Georgia State dropped a 101-59 decision to Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday evening.
Georgia State got 10 points from Leonard Mendez and 10 points from Rashad Chase. Junior forward played his first game of the season and came off the bench to score 7 points and grab 4 rebounds.
Iowa was led again in scoring by Wooden All-America Top 50 player, Adam Haluska, a 6-5 senior guard. Haluska scored a career-best 36 points while Tyler Smith added 15 points. Kurt Looby led with 12 rebounds.
In the first half, the teams traded the lead as Iowa jumped to a 7-2 lead in two minutes. But, Georgia State came right back with back with baskets from Chase, Ryan McBride and Lance Perique to take a 10-9 lead at 16:08.
When Iowa re-gained a 12-10 lead at 14:48, Georgia State came back to take a 13-12 lead on a three-pointer by Larris. A basket by Norman Mitchell gave Georgia State its last lead at 15-14 at 12:48. When Haluska hit a three-point basket with 12:27, Iowa gained a lead it would never lose.
From that 15-14 deficit, Iowa went on a 13-0 run that grew to a 20-4 run to gain control. Iowa led 49-29 at half as Haluska's one-handed trey with one second left went in. Haluska had 22 points in that first half on 7-of-11 with four three-point baskets.
"It's tough. We're just not seasoned enough to handle this type of team in this type of atmosphere," Coach Perry said. "There are times this year we've played pretty good basketball, but a lot of times it's been against teams that are comparable to where we are.
It's a learning experience and it's something that's very difficult to deal with, Perry added. I've been around this business a long time and I've seen teams that have taken a licking come back and have a good season. You can't base your season off of losing to a Big Ten school after they've come off a tough loss. We'll regroup and be better."
Georgia State will play again on Sunday, Dec. 31 (New Year's Eve) with a 2 p.m. game at Clemson on WRAS-FM radio. That will mark the Panthers' third game vs. an ACC team this season and end the non-league portion.
State will play four CAA games in seven days in January (3, 6, 8 and 10), starting with a home game with Drexel on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at noon at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
