It was ugly, but the Hawkeyes got it done on Thursday night against the Maryland Terrpains.
Heading into the top-15 tilt, No. 10 Iowa was on a six-game winning streak, escaping with a 75-68 win against Michigan State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Even though Maryland had lost two of three entering, they had a comeback for the ages against the Hawkeyes.
Iowa went up by as many as 17 points, and held an 11 point lead with under two mintues to go.
Somehow, the Terrapins forced OT, but the Hawkeyes held on to win 85-78 in a gritty performance after giving away the lead.
Iowa's win against Maryland was gives the Hawkeyes an 8-0 Big Ten record, and set some history.
Iowa is 8-0 in the Big Ten for the first time in 30 years
Even though it was ugly, a win is a win, and the Hawkeyes earned something that the program has not seen since the 1995-1996 season.
Iowa is now 8-0, its best record to start the Big Ten Conference schedule since the squad went 12-0 30 years ago.
A big part of Iowa's success is due to the dominating post play and rebounding, led by Ava Heiden and Hannah Stuelke.
Heiden led the Hawkeyes with 20 points, adding eight rebounds and two assists. Stuelke notched her fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Even though Iowa won and made some history in the process, it was far from a perfect performance.
Iowa has been good at getting a lead and holding it, but its poor free-throw percentage came back to bite them, as well as multiple costly turnovers.
The Hawkeyes are one of the top teams in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38), and there is no doubt Jan Jensen will not let them off the hook for some sloppy play down the stretch.