Jack scores 19 as Penn State tops No. 4 Iowa 79-75

Iowa guard Mike Gesell (10) is fouled by Penn State forward Brandon Taylor (10) on his way to the basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in State College, Pa., Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. The typically cold-shooting Nittany Lions caught fire Wednesday night by their standards, hitting 7 of 14 from behind the arc in the first half and finishing 10-for-28 for the game.

The Penn State Nittany Lions (12-13) are coming from a 70-54 loss to Nebraska on Saturday.

Referees ground the game to a halt in the second half, and while Iowa was a more frequent beneficiary of the calls, it’s really hard to put a run together if nobody’s actually, you know, running.

“We’re going to keep playing the same way we played against Iowa and Indiana”, Taylor said.

It’s the second upset of a top-five team for Penn State under Pat Chambers and the second win in the last three times these two teams have met. Adam Woodbury leads in field goal percentage with 57.2 for 8.4 points per game.

While the threes weren’t falling for most of the game, Iowa did make four from long-range in the final 80 seconds to put a serious scare in a Penn State squad that controlled the majority of the contest.

Iowa is now 11-3 in league play after its second loss in its last three games.

Garner made four of the Nittany Lions’ 10 3-pointers.

It will be a battle between Big Ten opponents when the Penn State Nittany Lions (12-13) welcome the No. 4 Iowa Hawkeyes (20-5) to Bryce Jordan Center.

Penn State took a 38-31 lead into the locker rooms following Jack’s slam. Penn State also beat No. 22 IN 68-63 on February 6.

That may have been the case, but Iowa never adjusted and failed to generate much offense anywhere but the free-throw line until the final couple of minutes.

“Donovon wants to be a great player and he wants to see this program succeed”, Chambers said.

The Hawkeyes were led by Peter Jok and Jarrod Uthoff who posted 28 and 19 points a piece. Either the team gets this all out of its system between now and next Wednesday’s home tilt with a resurgent Wisconsin, or we’re going down the same road as 2014’s late-season horror show. Still, his efforts were not enough, especially since Iowa turned the ball over 13 times and only shot 8-of-24 from three-point range during the loss. Iowa recorded nine turnovers or fewer in eight of its last 12 games. The rookie ended the evening with 400 career points and 104 career assists, ranking No. 7 and No. 9 respectively. If both happen, the Lions could even win the game. He added five rebounds and two blocks during his 22 minutes of play.

Charles Cooke scored 16, Darrell Davis 13, Steve McElvene 12, Scoochie Smith 11 and Dyshawn Pierre 10 for Dayton (21-4, 11-2), which had its nine-game win streak come to an end. Blake Simmons scored 11.