Unlike some losses this season, the one against Purdue had a lot of things go the right way.
The Hawkeyes traveled to West Lafayette, Indiana, for a primetime matchup against No. 5 Purdue at Mackey Arena.
Iowa got out to a great start, led at halftime, and even pushed its lead to as high as eight before things went sideways.
Bad shot selection and turnovers ultimately cost the Hawkeyes a chance to complete the upset, and while a lot of things went right for Iowa, one thing remained the same.
Iowa finally started fast, but could not close the game out
One of Iowa's biggest issues is that they have started games extremely slow.
After every slow start, the Hawkeyes have fought extremely hard to get back into games, and while they have made things interesting, they haven't been able to crawl out of those early holes.
It was a key to the Hawkeyes' victory heading into the matchup, and they finally got off to a strong start.
Even though the team finally started strong, another lingering issue resurfaced in the loss: the inability to close out games.
Iowa led at halftime against Iowa State and Purdue but ultimately failed to win either game, leaving the program without a signature win.
There is no telling if it is because they are on the road and nerves get the best of them, or because they have often needed to fight back so hard that they ran out of gas, but failing to close out games has been a big problem to this point in the season.
It does not get any easier as the Hawkeyes stay on the road to battle Indiana in Bloomington, and after another close loss, they must figure out how to put together a complete 40 minutes.
Strong starts are key, but if they have a weak finish, it does not matter how well they start.