Iowa was never expected to knock off UCLA on the road in Los Angeles, but the pregame 17.5-point spread was very telling of what the experts thought of its chances.
The Hawkeyes were already reeling after losing their starting guard, Taylor McCabe, to a season-ending ACL injury last weekend, and an unexplainable loss to USC last Thursday.
It wasn't impossible for the Hawkeyes to upset the Bruins, but their uphill battle was apparent from start to finish in the game.
After Iowa dropped its second-straight game with an 88-65 loss to UCLA, here are three key takeaways from the loss.
UCLA's size and strength overwhlemed the Hawkeyes
Iowa is heavily reliant on its post play for success, but there was no chance it was going to compete with UCLA's size and strength in the post.
The Bruins' starting lineup contains three players over six feet tall: Lauren Betts (six-foot-seven), Gabriela Jaquez (six feet), and Gianna Kneepkens (six feet).
All four regular bench contributors off the Bruins' bench are also six-foot-three or taller, including Sienna Betts (six-foot-four), Amanda Muse (six-foot-four), Angela Dugalic (six-foot-four), and Lena Bilic (six-foot-three)
In a rare occurance this season, the Hawkeyes were outrebounded (32 to 24), out-assisted (29 to 20), and outsocred in the paint (56-26) as the Bruins dominated in most statistical categories in the win.
Turnovers continue to be a big problem
In our keys to the game, we were adamant that the Hawkeyes needed to fix their turnover woes to stand a chance in this game.
Spoiler alert: they didn't.
The Bruins are known as a solid defensive team, and that was apparent against the Hawkeyes, as they racked up seven steals and forced 19 Iowa turnovers.
Ava Heiden was particular sloppy with the ball, tallying five of Iowa's 19 turnovers.
Not only did the Bruins force 19 turnovers, but they also capitalized on those turnovers, scoring 18 points.
Iowa's sloppy ball handling will continue to be a major problem if they can't clean it up.
Addie Deal was uncharacteristically bad on the Cali roadtrip
Things could not have gone better for freshman sensation Addie Deal over the past two weeks after being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week in back-to-back weeks.
The California native also earned back-to-back starts after McCabe went down, but things did not go according to plan.
Deal had a combined three points on 11.1 percent shooting from the field, and she missed all four of her three-point attempts.
There is no telling whether it was nerves after playing in front of fans from her home state, or just two very off games, but the Hawkeyes must get Deal back into form to right the ship in the future.
Luckily for the Hawkeyes, Taylor Stremlow played well off the bench, and could be in line for a few starts in the future if Deal continues to struggle.
Next game: Thursday, February 5 vs. Minnesota at 5:00 p.m. Central Time (Iowa City, IA)