CHARLESTON, S.C. - The Hawkeyes basketball teams Ed Conroy grew up watching in were offensive-minded ones. The one the Davenport native and head basketball coach at The Citadel watched dismantle his Bulldogs on Thursday night was more defensive-minded. But the offense was there, too.

"Credit them," said Conroy after the Hawkeyes pounded the Bulldogs, 70-48, at McAlister Field House. "Iowa is very well-coached and very well-disciplined."

The Hawkeyes shot the ball well, were liberal with their passing and conservative with their turnovers, and played end-to-end defense.

To witness Iowa's first road victory of the season fans either had to trek to the Lowcountry themselves and buy a ticket to the game or fork over money to watch streaming footage of the game on their computer screen.

The Hawkeyes fans following the action, including several hundred in attendance among the announced crowd of 2.024, saw plenty of good shooting but none better than freshman guard Anthony Tucker's. Tucker posted a career-best 21 point effort in leading Iowa to a 3-0 start.

The freshman from Minnetonka, Minn., was 7-for-13 from the floor against the Bulldogs (1-2) with all of his baskets coming from behind the arc. As a team, the Hawkeyes shot 52 percent from 3-point range.

"When you get good passes, it's easy to make the shots," Tucker said.

There were plenty of those Thursday night as the Hawkeyes continued to display the traits instilled in them by Lickliter. Iowa finished the game with 15 assists, including half a dozen from freshman Matt Gatens.

"You've got to do the other things (to win)," Lickliter said. "Look at Gatens' six assists. He'll do anything you ask him to do to win the game."

But Tucker and Gatens were far from the only Hawkeyes to contribute Thursday night. Sophomore Jeff Peterson added 12 points and three assists and Aaron Fuller and Cy Tate combined for 10 rebounds.

As a team the Hawkeyes took care of the ball, establishing a new team-best under Lickliter with just six turnovers.

While Iowa was busy helping itself, The Citadel was its own worst enemy. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 13 times and shot just 23.5-percent from beyond the arc, well under their season average of 34 percent.

The two teams remained locked in a close battle for most of the first half until a Tucker three-pointer broke a 16-16 tie to spark an 8-0 run. The Hawks pushed their lead to double-digits just before the half on a Jarryd Cole layup and took a 32-20 lead into the locker room.

Unlike Iowa's game Monday night against Texas-San Antonio where the Roadrunners were able to out-score the Hawkeyes in the second half, the Bulldogs mustered just a brief charge to pull within four points before a three-pointer by Gatens put the Hawks back on track.

"Anytime they make a little run you want to get a stop and get everything cooled down," said Gatens, whose three-pointer 5 minutes into the second half put the Hawkeyes back on track.

From that point on Iowa gradually pushed its lead back into double-digits, where it remained the rest of the night.

"We were patient, we found the open guy, and obviously found the open shot without hunting anything," Lickliter said. "Nobody was hunting anything, it came very easy."

Iowa returns home to play Oakland University at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Contact the sports desk at (563) 383-2285 or sports@qctimes.com.