South Dakota State 79, Iowa 69

Well, at least the Iowa women won this weekend.

Not only did the Hawkeye football team earn a deserving loss yesterday in Evanston, the Iowa men lost their season opener to South Dakota State, a team seemingly comprised of sharp shooting gym rats. This is the first time Iowa has dropped consecutive season openers since the 1930-‘31 and ’31-’32 seasons. The Jackrabbits’ athletic program now has wins over a Big Ten football team (Minnesota) and a Big Ten men’s basketball team.

SDSU shot lights out today. Their point guard, Nate Wolters, just killed the Hawks. He led all scorers with 25 points, and captained a well-disciplined offense that was never once rattled or intimidated. You have to think all these small, non-conference schools are circling their games against Iowa as a chance to beat a Big Ten team. However, this was in no way an upset since the Jackrabbits were a balanced and talented team. Their 2-3 zone stymied the Hawks’ inside game, forcing a number of turnovers.

The ball was just not falling for Iowa today. The Hawks missed a number of layups, a few of which were rejected by the rim. The Jackrabbits made the Hawks look very young and inexperienced.

Which they are. This was just the first real game of the season, and the Hawks have a chance to turn things around against Louisiana-Monroe on Tuesday.