Hawks rebound to beat No. 25 Rutgers 79-66

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Joe Wieskamp scored 26 points and Luka Garza overcame a slow start to score 22 as No. 15 Iowa beat No. 25 Rutgers 79-66 on Wednesday night.

The Hawkeyes (14-6, 8-5 Big Ten), who fell out of the top 10 of the Associated Press poll this week for the first time this season, were coming off a stretch of four losses in the last five games.

Wieskamp, who had 16 points in the first half, added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Garza, the nation’s leading scorer at 25.5 points per game, missed his first five shots and didn’t score until the 8-minute mark of the first half. He had just eight points in the first half on 2 of 10 shooting, but was 6 of 10 from the field in the second half.

Garza also had 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.

Jordan Bohannon had 12 points for the Hawkeyes.

Geo Baker led Rutgers (11-7, 7-7) with 11 points, and Jacob Young added 10.

ANOTHER MILESTONE

Garza passed the 500-point mark for the second consecutive season. He is the 11th Hawkeye to have two seasons of 500 points or more, and he’s the only player in the program’s history with four seasons of 400 or more points.

FREDRICK STARTS

Iowa guard CJ Fredrick returned to the starting lineup after missing two of the last three games with a lower leg injury. Fredrick played 17 minutes and didn’t score, missing all three shots he took. Fredrick has started all 17 games he has played in this season, but Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said earlier in the week Fredrick would be “day-to-day” for the rest of the season with the injury.

BIG PICTURE

It was a timely victory for the Hawkeyes as they head into a stretch with games at Michigan State and Wisconsin. Rutgers, which came into the game a half-game behind Iowa in the Big Ten standings, had a four-game winning streak snapped.

UP NEXT

Rutgers: At home against Northwestern on Saturday.

Iowa: At Michigan State on Saturday.