Iowa becomes first team in past 30 years to lose game outright after being 30-point favorite

The Iowa men’s basketball team made history on Wednesday, but not the good kind. The Hawkeyes suffered a 92-83 loss at home to Eastern Illinois despite entering the game as a 31.5-point favorite, becoming the first team to lose outright as a 30-point favorite in the past 30 years, according to ESPN.

Iowa entered halftime with an eight-point lead but allowed the Panthers to open the second half on a 14-5 run to jump in front. Things would only get worse from there, as EIU went on to outscore the Hawkeyes 55-38 in the second half, leading by as many as 14 points along the way.

The Iowa defense was atrocious, allowing the Panthers to shoot 60% from the field for the game and a staggering 72.4% in the second half. The Hawkeyes, on the other hand, shot 30.6% in the half. Kinyon Hodges led EIU with 22 points off the bench in addition to six assists. That was a major factor as the Panthers bench outscored Iowa’s 54-10.

The loss dropped Iowa to 8-4 on the season, while Eastern Illinois improved to a mere 4-9. It wasn’t exactly the way the Hawkeyes hoped to end nonconference play before heading into Big Ten action, but they’ll look to bounce back next week against Nebraska.

Iowa’s loss to Eastern Illinois wasn’t the only surprise to happen this week, however, as Ole Miss lost to North Alabama on Tuesday.

North Alabama upsets Ole Miss

North Alabama just pulled off one of the most satisfying moves in sports: Winning a game a bigger school paid you to come play. More impactful than that: It was the first time in program history that North Alabama has defeated an SEC team.

Trailing by as many as eight points in Oxford, Tony Pujol’s team kept grinding away and rode some clutch late shot making by KJ Johnson in the final minute to hold on to a one-point lead and beat Ole Miss, 66-65. UNA guard Daniel Ortiz paced all scorers with 22 points and six made threes. Guard Jacari Brown poured in 19 off the bench on 9-of-12 shooting.

Matthew Murrell (16 points), Daeshun Ruffin (12 points) and Myles Burns (11) points all got into double figures for Ole Miss, but did so on a combined 41% shooting from the field.

And in a game where the teams had relatively equal statistical profiles, it was the three-point shooting of North Alabama that did in Ole Miss, specifically Ortiz.

It’ll all make for a great holiday celebration for the Lions, no matter what.