Bennett Stirtz drops 32 points, Iowa hands Oregon 8th straight loss
Bennett Stirtz set a career high with 32 points, leading Iowa to an 84-66 win over Oregon on Sunday night in Eugene, Ore.
The Hawkeyes (16-5, 6-4 Big Ten) won their fourth straight game, making 58.9% of their shots for the game, including 18 for 26 (69.2%) in the second to turn a somewhat close game at halftime into an easy double-digit road win.
Stirtz was nearly unstoppable, making 12 of his 15 shots and 4 of 6 from 3-point range. He scored 21 of his points in the second half. Alvaro Folgueiras put up 15 points and eight rebounds, Brendan Hausen scored 11 and Cooper Koch had 10.
Stirtz, a transfer from Drake with previous experience at Division II, started his 117th career game and scored 20 or more points in a game for the 11th time this season. He surpassed 2,000 points for his college career with an early-second-half layup that gave Iowa a 41-34 lead.
The Ducks were led by Kwame Evans Jr.'s 18 points and 16 from Takai Simpkins.
Oregon (8-14, 1-10) lost its eighth straight game. Barring a season-ending winning streak and a good run through the Big Ten tournament, the Ducks are all but assured of their worst record in 16 seasons under head coach Dana Altman. Altman's teams have won at least 20 games in the first 15 seasons of his tenure with the Ducks.
Altman is in the final season of his latest contract.
An 17-4 Iowa run in the first half turned a two-point deficit into a 32-21 lead for the Hawkeyes, and they were never seriously threatened after that. The Hawkeyes led 35-26 at halftime.
Oregon could only get the deficit down to five points in the second half, as Stirtz scored 15 points in the first nine minutes of the half.
Iowa took its largest lead at 79-59 with a 7-0 run late in the game, comprised of a Hausen 3-pointer and layups from Isaia Howard and Stirtz.
The Hawkeyes improved to 16-1 against unranked opponents this season.