Hawkeyes rally past Gophers
For the first few minutes of Iowa’s game at Minnesota, it didn’t look like Fran McCaffery would be picking up his record setting 272nd victory as the Hawkeyes head coach. But, after falling behind 10-1 early on, the Hawkeyes went a run of their own and pulled away for a comfortable 86-77 victory on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Iowa was led by Ben Krikke, who tied his career best scoring output with 25 points and Josh Dix set his career best for the second straight game with 21 points. Iowa moves to 11-6 on the season and after starting 0-3, Iowa has now reached 3-3 in conference play.
After good starts in their previous two games, Iowa started very slow against Minnesota. The Hawkeyes turned it over four times in the first few minutes of the game and gave up several easy baskets to Dawson Garcia and his teammates. A Garcia dunk gave the Gophers a 14-3 lead in the first half.
Iowa then scored the next seven points of the game with Payton Sandfort scoring five of them to draw the Hawkeyes within four, at 14-10. Krikke tied the game at 16 with a nice mid-range jumper. It started a stretch of six straight points for the graduate transfer that eventually put Iowa up 20-18. That was a lead that Iowa would never surrender the rest of the game.
Every time the Gophers would make a run, Iowa would have an answer. Garcia, who scored a game high 30 points, scored back to back baskets to bring the Gophers within two, 30-28. But Iowa would answer once again. Dix, Tony Perkins, and Krikke scored seven straight and Iowa went to the break leading 39-32.
As expected, Minnesota did not go quietly. A Cam Christie three pointer got the Gophers to within four, 48-44, but it was Krikke who once again had the answer with back to back buckets to push the lead back to seven, 52-45. That was a stretch where Kirkke scored nine straight points for Iowa. Brock Harding got a steal and a nifty spin move to put the Hawkeyes up 59-47.
Minnesota rallied again with Garcia leading the charge. He finished a 7-0 and picked up the fourth foul on Iowa center Owen Freeman. This time it was Dix who had the answer for Iowa. He hit back to back three’s and a jumper to get Iowa back up by double figures, 67-56.
The Gophers rallied again with a 6-0 run before Tony Perkins took over. He had 13 points in the game and that included eight points for Iowa. Then a Freeman dunk put the game out of reach at 78-67.
The Hawkeyes finished shooting 54% from the floor and won the game despite making just 3-13 from three point range. Iowa won the game in the paint, outscoring Minnesota 56-38 in the game.
Iowa will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Purdue. Game time is set for 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on FS1.
