A poor finish to the opening half and a bad start to the second half were too much to overcome for the Iowa Hawkeyes as they lost to Virginia Tech 95-79 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says the Hokies had too many easy baskets.

He says they were able to get a lot of good shots in transition by scoring off of missed shots and turnovers, which he says is “disappointing.” McCaffery says the Hawkeyes settled for too many three pointers. They were only four of 22 from behind the arc.

“We were driving the ball to the basket, we were getting the ball to the basket and getting to the free throw line. We had ample opportunities to break that defense down, and we settled for three’s. And whenever we missed a three — and we missed 18 of them — they would score,” McCaffery says.

The Hawkeyes return home Saturday to take on Texas A@M Corpus Christi. McCaffery says it is easy to look at a loss and get down, but he says they won’t get any better if they do that, as they need to continue working. Sophomore forward Aaron White had 21 points and ten rebounds to lead the Hawks who cut a 17 point Virginia Tech lead to three in the second half but could get no closer.

Iowa led 37-36 with about three minutes to go in the opening half but the Hokies close the half on a 10-1 run then scored the first nine points of the second half.

Iowa is now 5-2.