Indiana went into Thursday's matchup with No. 4 Iowa reeling from a double-digit loss the week prior.
It was not only a matchup against the Hawkeyes that would be incredibly difficult for Indiana, but for anyone in the country, as Iowa held the nation's top offensive efficiency.
The Hawkeyes came in averaging 92.2 points per game - second in the NCAA - and shooting 49.4 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from three.
Indiana had been struggling over its last five games, notably defending the three, but also playing with the necessary defensive grit that it had to start the year.
"I'm proud of our guys, really proud. As a coach, you want your guys to be a reflection of what you do everyday... Bottom line is we had lost confidence in what we did well for the most part of the season," IU head coach Archie Miller said. "Maybe it's the luck of the draw that we weren't able to play a game this weekend. It gave us some extra time to address some things, work on some things. And I thought that showed tonight.
"At some point, you've got to be able to do what you want to do in the game every day. If you don't, you're going to have slippage. And we had a lot of slippage through the early part of January. I think this period of time, sort of was drawing a line in the sand for ourselves, not so much about how we're playing in games, but how we're working right now."
IU's 81-69 win over No. 4 Iowa gave the Hoosiers their first win over a top-5 team since 2016, and their first on the road since 2013.
