With the race for the top four seeds and a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament reaching a dead heat and with the return of Myreon Jones to game action, Penn State faced an opportunity to give themselves a leg up if they could find a way to become the first Big Ten team this season to hand a revenge-minded Iowa team a loss at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Much like the first matchup at the Palestra, this game represented a heavyweight battle of offensive fireworks. The teams traded punches early on, before PSU jumped ahead, thanks to some hot shooting via Seth Lundy, who nailed four of his six attempts from three-point range (for 14 total first half points) and Lamar Stevens pitching in his share of scoring (Lamar would have nine points in the first half).