For a squad that has NCAA Tournament aspirations come March, a loss on Thursday would have virtually eliminated the Hawkeyes from that conversation. Lose to Penn State — a team that arrived in Iowa City with a winless Big Ten record — and you simply lose relevancy.

Although sluggish at times, the Hawkeyes (14-7, 3-5 Big Ten) were able to hold off the Nittany Lions (8-13, 0-9) in the second half and win, 76-67, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

So, Iowa succeeded at remaining relevant. Even if it is only a whisper.

“We needed the win,” said Aaron White, who had 27 points. “Tough game at Purdue [on Jan. 27] we thought we should have had. We’re at the point now, about 10 games left, where we need to put something together … not the prettiest game ever, but a win is a win.”

Penn State didn’t shy away from being aggressive early on. Head coach Pat Chambers’ team led 10-3 at the first TV timeout. They unraveled from there, though. The Hawkeyes went on a 14-0 run and led 34-26 at halftime.

The Nittany Lions battled back in the second half — at one stage they were down just three — but Iowa’s depth and a couple of decent runs sealed the victory.

Junior Melsahn Basabe was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season with freshman Anthony Clemmons on the bench, and the move paid off for head coach Fran McCaffery. Basabe posted a double-double: 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“He’s been very efficient,” McCaffery said of Basabe. “He makes his free throws, he sticks his nose in the glass, gives you a low-post presence, and defensively he’s just so far ahead where he used to be.

“What you’re seeing is a guy, as a result of that, has more confidence in himself. Which is great.”

There are still questions to be answered for the Hawkeyes. At this point last season, McCaffery’s squad had recorded wins against Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Consistency has been an issue, as there have been countless hot-cold spurts from players.

Prime example is Mike Gesell. The freshman point guard had the game of his career just four days ago at Purdue (18 points, 4 rebounds), but didn’t score any points and had three turnovers against Penn State.

RPI is a determining factor in terms of postseason play — Iowa is currently No. 84 in that category; 68 teams make the NCAA tourney.

Iowa’s next three contests are at Minnesota, at Wisconsin, and home against Northwestern. Perhaps the most crucial three-game stretch of this season. If the Hawkeyes want to reach the Big Dance this spring, all of these games are crucial.

Very.

“We have to go into these games with a warrior mentality, and not miss a beat,” Basabe said. “We have to have the confidence that we can win these games.

“It’s a battle on so many levels in this conference. Tonight proved that. You got to be ready for it.”

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And if there was ever any doubt about whether or not the decision to keep Basabe a reserve, that conclusion seemed pretty simple on Saturday afternoon.

In a game in which Iowa had the clear advantage from the opening tip, the Hawkeyes thrashed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 88-59, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes (6-2) received 17 points from Basabe, who has consistently provided a significant boost off the bench this season.

As a team, the Black and Gold shot 55.8 percent from the field.

“I felt like I wasn’t doing enough the last couple of games,” Basabe said. “I came into today with a serious mindset and tried to establish a rhythm.”

Basabe — who Fox Sports and BTN announcer Gus Johnson famously labeled as “spicy” last season — was the cornerstone of head coach Fran McCaffery’s first recruiting class at Iowa.

The Glen Cove, N.Y., native led the way for the Hawkeyes, including a huge scoring run that spanned about seven minutes early on in the first half. With Iowa leading just 11-7 at one stage, it mounted a 20-0 run that eventually was snapped by a Corpus Christi (1-6) 2-point field goal.

That run was the game-changer.

McCaffery noted that, in part, the run was aided by Basabe’s aggressiveness.

“I don’t think he’s been as aggressive in recent weeks, so [his performance] was great to see,” McCaffery said. “He was alert, he was on the glass, he was driving the ball to the basket, and he was running the floor.

“When he plays like that we’re a better team.”

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A hair over three weeks ago in Bloomington, Indiana, the Hoosiers of IU dropped an NBA score on the defenseless Hawkeyes, 103-89.  Center Cody Zeller plunked seven dunks over the course of the night on his way to a career-high 26 points, many of those dunks looking uncontested as he, his teammates, and a loud IU audience overwhelmed Iowa.

Fast forward to last Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of more than thirteen thousand Iowa fans, and Hawk senior guard Matt Gatens captured Zeller’s power of seven: the Iowa City native hit 7-of-10 3-point field goals to hose the Hoosiers for 30 points and tally a personal best for points scored in a game.

Indiana head coach Tom Crean certainly took note of Gatens’ performance.  He held nothing back in praising the Hawkeye senior in post-game interviews.

“He’s not only one of the better shooters or guards in this league, he is one of the better ones in the country,” Crean said. “That is a four-year guy who has been doing it at a high level.”

Zeller and Victor Oladipo scored 15 points a piece to lead the Hoosiers.  The loss dropped Indiana to 8-7 in the Big Ten and 20-7 overall.  Iowa improved to a game over .500 (14-13) overall and 6-8 in league play.  Hawkeyes Melsahn Basabe and Josh Oglesby offered surprising contributions on the night, with Basabe coming off the bench to score 13 points and Oglesby–who is playing for injured point guard Bryce Cartwright–tossing in 11 on two 3-pointers and then some.

Second change points and offensive rebounds in the first half enabled the Hawkeyes to take an 11-point lead into halftime, 37-26.

Steals by players like Gatens (3 steals) and R.D. Marble (4 steals) and 5 blocked shots by Melsahn Basabe (including a few on Cody Zeller that kept the center from slamming away) contributed to a 52-33 lead midway through the second half before the Hoosiers cut the lead to 52-42 during a Hawkeye scoring drought that lasted nearly five minutes.

Then, Matt Gatens personally took the Hoosiers down with six straight 3-pointers to put the game out of reach.

The Hawkeyes shot almost 43% on the night.  McCaffery, who’s demeanor has ranged from quietly content to an furiously boiling kettle face, had this to say about his team,  “It’s an example of what we’re capable of,” McCaffery said. “I think we have to look at that and say ‘Alright, that’s how good we can be.’ ”

Iowa’s next game is Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. against #15 Wisconsin at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  UI students have free admission to the game with a student I.D. card.  The game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.  Iowa will attempt to sweep the Badgers for the first time in a long time.

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IOWA CITY, Iowa—What started out as a competitive first half for the Iowa Hawkeyes against #6 Ohio State ended as a forgettable trouncing from the Buckeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in front of an announced crowd of 15,400, as the Buckeyes flew to a 76-47 final on Saturday afternoon.  Iowa fell to 10-7 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten.  Jared Sullinger led the Buckeyes in scoring with 28 points in a game where Iowa’s players seemed to get their pockets picked for every time they came up with a steal of their own while struggling to contain the husky center Sullinger.

Defense-minded Eric May (2 steals) led all Iowa scorers with 9 points on 4-of-10 shooting while snaring a team-high 6 rebounds.

The Buckeyes, now 15-2 (3-1 in the Big Ten), used a 14-2 run at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half to pull away and stay far ahead of Iowa.  The run extended to 20-8 with 13:13 left.  The rest of the game consisted of more Buckeye athleticism, steals, and quick, coerced shots by the Hawkeyes at the literal hands of the Bucks—few times did it seem like Iowa had an open look or a drive to the basket that wasn’t either swatted away or clawed at by the sticky fingers of the Ohio State team.

At one point late in the second half, Ohio State’s lead ballooned to 33 under a shelling of three-pointers from the Buckeyes’ Deshaun Thomas and Lenzelle Smith, who finished with 10 points and 6 points, respectively.  At that point, fans had already begun to head for the exits for what was a near-sellout.  It was Iowa’s biggest, loudest home crowd of the year after the team generated a buzz prior to the game with road wins at (then) #11 Wisconsin and Minnesota.  There was no buzz at the end except for the game-ending buzzer, as disappointed fans left quickly and quietly.

Iowa did have one lead for the game, a 6-5 edge with 13:46 left on a free throw by Zach McCabe (6 points).  Ohio State rebutted with a 13-3 run to take an 18-9 lead with 7:16 left in the first half.  Iowa clawed back to a three point deficit, 19-22, with 2:47 left.

From there on out, however, it was all scarlet and gray.  They closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 28-19 lead into halftime.  Iowa could not take advantage of being in the double-bonus for foul shooting with over three minutes left in the first half.

No Hawkeye defender had an answer for Sullinger, who towered around the basket and regularly blocked or disrupted Iowa’s field goal attempts in the paint.  It was definitely no heavyweight rematch of 2010, when Melsahn Basabe and Sullinger battled—each scoring double-doubles—to a close loss for the Hawkeyes.  This time around, Sullinger dunked, rebounded, and tossed in easy lay-ups while Iowa’s lack of size and girth became annoyingly obvious to its coaches and fans.  Basabe finished with 2 points in 14 minutes.

Iowa did force 15 Buckeye turnovers, but were victimized by 20 turnovers (including 12 steals) to only 7 assists.  Iowa’s next two games are at #11 Michigan State on January 10^th and at home against #13 Michigan on January 14^th.

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