IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Home-court advantage continues to be a strong force for fifth-ranked Iowa.

With a 73-49 victory over Penn State on Wednesday, Iowa upped its winning streak at Carver-Hawkeye Arena to 15 games, a streak dating back to last season. More important for the Hawkeyes (18-4, 9-1 Big Ten), they moved back into a first-place tie atop the conference standings with No. 22 Indiana.

The story of this game was Iowa's defense. Penn State (11-12, 2-8) missed 12 of its first 15 shots and wound up shooting 21-for-69 (30.4 percent) from the floor -- including 1-for-20 from 3-point range -- while also getting to the free-throw line just 12 times the entire night.

When the game concluded, Penn State coach Pat Chambers said he went over to Iowa coach Fran McCaffery and apologized to him for his team's effort.

"We didn't give them much of a game," Chambers said. "You can't play a great team, a top-5 team, and shoot 1-for-20 (from 3-point range). It's just not possible."

Among the Hawkeyes' defensive cogs was senior center Adam Woodbury, who hauled in a career-high 15 rebounds. Woodbury described the game as a battle of wills inside and said he prides himself on being able to set an early tone as he did Wednesday.

"I was fortunate. The ball bounced my way a couple of times," Woodbury said. "They missed some shots. That's pretty much all I sum it up for. I got in the right place at the right time."

It wasn't just Woodbury who shined for the Hawkeyes. Senior forward Jarrod Uthoff finished with 14 points and five blocked shots. Senior guard Anthony Clemmons provided a well-rounded performance consisting of 12 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Like Woodbury, Clemmons said he was determined to set an early tone, especially after he said he sat down and talked with the coaching staff about just that earlier in the day.

"I just remember the time where they beat us in the Big Ten tournament," Clemmons said, referencing Iowa's quarterfinal loss to Penn State last season. "Whenever you slack against that team, they're valiant to come really strong at us at a really high level. You have to play that team with all you got."

The Hawkeyes were able to capitalize on the Nittany Lions' early shooting woes and forced Penn State into taking two timeouts 28 seconds apart after sophomore forward Dom Uhl drained a 3-pointer out of the first timeout to put Iowa ahead 24-9. From there, the Hawkeyes took a 45-26 lead into halftime.

In addition to shooting struggles, Penn State dealt with foul trouble. Senior forward Brandon Taylor came in as the Nittany Lions' leading scorer and rebounder, and while he ultimately finished with team highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds, he was held to just two points in the first half while picking up three fouls.

Taylor was one of three Penn State starters to finish with four fouls.

"I need to be in the game," Taylor said. "I need to be in the game for defense, rebounding and just to help lead my team. I put a lot of that on my shoulders, and we just got to learn from that and learn when I do get in foul trouble again, guys are just going to have to step up and hopefully the outcome could be very different."

The Nittany Lions also received an eight-point, five-rebound performance from sophomore guard Shep Garner.

Penn State returns home for the first time in two weeks to face Indiana on Saturday. Iowa plays Sunday at Illinois.

NOTES: Iowa honored its football team at halftime after the Hawkeyes' 12-2 season in 2015 that included winning all four of its rivalry trophies, the Big Ten West Division and participation in the 2015 Big Ten Championship Game and 2016 Rose Bowl. ... Of Penn State's 10 games in Big Ten play, Wednesday's visit to Iowa was its seventh away from home and third straight outside State College. Penn State played what was considered a home game last weekend against Michigan at Madison Square Garden in New York and before that was on the road at Ohio State. ... Wednesday's game marked just the third time in the last six seasons that Penn State played at Iowa and it was its first visit to Carver-Hawkeye Arena since the 2012-13 season. Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes have played at Penn State in each of coach Fran McCaffery's first five seasons. They go to the Bryce Jordan Center again this year on Feb. 17.