COLUMBUS, Ohio - It's a good thing Todd Lickliter and Thad Matta are friends.

Otherwise, things could have gotten really ugly Wednesday night for Lickliter's Iowa basketball team.

In the first Big Ten match-up between the former Butler assistants, Ohio State overwhelmed the Hawkeyes, 79-48, in a game that was all but over shortly after it began.

Matta's Buckeyes welcomed Lickliter to the Big Ten by handing him the most lopsided defeat in his six-plus seasons as a head coach and handing Iowa its worst loss in the 142 games between the schools.

Ohio State used a 27-3 run over the final 10 1/2 minutes of the first half to grab a 45-17 halftime lead and roll to its 19th consecutive win over a Big Ten opponent.

"It was an old-fashioned butt-whipping," Iowa guard Tony Freeman said.

Lickliter said it could have been worse, describing the experience as more "painful" than embarrassing.

"I'm not the first coach and we're not the first team to go through something like that. I'm just thankful that it wasn't worse because it could have been a lot worse," Lickliter said. "We had a very difficult time executing our game plan."

Ohio State forced that issue, blending half-court pressure with an extended zone defense that forced Iowa well beyond its comfort zone offensively.

Matta said the Buckeyes (12-3, 3-0 Big Ten) fed off that defensive intensity to put together what he considered one of his team's best offensive outings of the year.

Ohio State, led by 14 points apiece from Othello Hunter and David Lighty, shot 52.4 percent from the field and turned the ball over just six times.

Lickliter and Iowa's players said what they saw from the Buckeyes was not unexpected.

"We came here with the right plan, one we worked on the last two days, but we didn't execute it," Hawkeye guard Jake Kelly said.

That prompted Lickliter to call three timeouts during the game's first 7 1/2 minutes, just before Freeman scored three of his game-high 21 points to pull Iowa within an 18-14 score with 10 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first half.

The Hawkeyes went the next 8:31 without a field goal, missing seven shots and turning the ball over four times as the Buckeyes went on a 21-1 run to open a 39-15 lead.

"Being down by almost 30 at the end of the half, that hurts. It seemed like we couldn't get the ball inside, and outside shots … they weren't falling," said guard Justin Johnson, pointing to Iowa's 6-for-33 outing from 3-point range.

The Hawkeyes (7-9, 0-3) struggled to get back on defense as well, something else that helped leave Iowa winless after three conference games for the first time in 14 years.

Things didn't get much better after halftime. A 13-4 run by the Buckeyes to open the second half extended Ohio State's lead to as many as 36 points.

"It was just one of those nights," Buckeye guard Jamar Butler said. "Iowa's played some tough games recently. It happens."

Short shots

- Iowa's 33 3-point field goal attempts were the second most in school history, trailing only the 36 3-pointers the Hawkeyes launched against Long Island on Dec. 17, 1994.

- It hasn't been that long since Iowa endured a loss worse than Wednesday's 31-point setback. The Hawkeyes lost by 32 last season at Michigan State.

- David Palmer did not make the trip to Ohio State, remaining in Iowa City to attend an interim session course.

- The Hawkeyes are at home Saturday, facing sixth-ranked Michigan State at 7:30 p.m.

Contact Steve Batterson at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com

Iowa Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Tate 26 4-5 2-3 6 0 4 10

Gorney 23 0-1 1-2 3 1 2 1

Freeman 38 9-19 0-0 3 3 2 21

Johnson 38 3-13 0-0 7 2 0 9

Kelly 25 0-6 0-0 1 0 3 0

Angle 11 0-4 0-0 0 0 0 0

Bohall 9 0-1 0-0 0 2 1 0

Peterson 8 0-3 0-0 2 0 1 0

Looby 22 3-4 1-2 4 1 0 7

Totals 200 19-56 4-7 33 9 13 48

Ohio St. Mn FG-A FT-A Rb As PF TP

Turner 23 2-4 1-2 3 2 0 6

Koufos 18 3-7 0-0 3 1 1 6

Hunter 18 7-9 0-0 4 0 1 14

Butler 21 3-7 0-0 3 9 1 8

Lighty 21 6-8 0-1 3 3 1 14

Wallace 16 4-8 2-2 8 0 1 10

Hill 19 3-6 0-0 1 3 0 7

Peters 3 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2

Madsen 13 0-1 0-0 2 1 0 0

Diebler 18 1-5 4-4 1 1 2 6

Titus 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0

Terwilliger 9 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2

Lauderdale 19 2-4 0-0 4 0 1 4

Totals 200 33-63 7-9 136 20 9 79

3-Point Goals: Iowa 6-33 (Freeman 3-10, Johnson 3-13, Bohall 0-1, Peterson 0-2, Kelly 0-3, Angle 0-4). OSU 6-20 (Lighty 2-2, Butler 2-5, Turner 1-3, Hill 1-3, Koufos 0-1, Terwilliger 0-1, Peters 0-1, Diebler 0-4). Turnovers - Iowa 15 (Johnson 4). OSU 6 (Diebler 2). Steals - Iowa 1 (Peterson). OSU 9 (Lighty 3).

Iowa 17 31-48

Ohio St. 45 34-79

A-18,473.

Officials-Donnee Gray, Steve Olson, Eric Curry.