Iowa men's basketball blows out Northern Illinois in the non-conference finale
Last season, the Eastern Illinois Panthers were able to come into Carver-Hawkeye Arena and pull an upset off against the Hawkeyes. Through one half of play tonight, it appeared that another directional Illinois school was going to give Iowa a run for their money. Instead, the Hawkeyes tightened up on the defensive end of the floor and pulled away for a 103-74 win over the Northern Illinois Huskies. Six players scored in double figures, as they tied their season-high for points scored.
Fast pace, up and down the floor play has become the standard for Iowa basketball games and that was once again the case tonight. NIU had the lead early, after a three-pointer from Philmon Gebrewhit put the Huskies in front, but a 13-0 run from the Hawkeyes made it 27-15 through eight minutes. Ben Krikke scored 12 of the teams first 27 points to lead the way.
Northern Illinois, however, was able to stay in the game from behind the arc. Grebrewhit and David Coit each hit three first half three-pointers, while Xavier Amos hit a pair from long distance. A stepback three from the logo by Coit cut the Iowa lead to 43-42 with 4:03 remaining in the first half.
“It’s not the first time they’ve had performances like this. They went on a 27-2 run at Monmouth, they were beating Northwestern at halftime and they were up 20 at DePaul,” said McCaffery. “Very explosive offensive team. We did not get up their space like we had hoped and prepared for.”
The Hawkeyes went into the half with a 54-48 lead, but NIU was shooting 66.7% from the floor and 72.7% from three-point range. They made adjustments and in the second half, Iowa took control of the game starting on the defensive end of the floor.
A 7-0 run right out of the gate got the lead back into double digits and it would never get below ten points the rest of the way. The Iowa defense held NIU to just 26 points on 9/31 (29.0%) shooting in the second half. That allowed the Hawkeyes to blow the game wide open. Pryce Sandfort finished the night with 12 points and his three-pointer with 11:42 to play made it 85-58 Hawkeyes.
“That was huge, not only for the team, but for his confidence to just know that he can come in and affect games,” said Ben Krikke. “He did a tremendous job of coming in and playing his role. I thought he did some good things on the defensive end too and he hit some shots.”
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“In the second half, we took care of business, we got up in their space, we created some misses. They shot 29% (in the second half) and then you can get your running game going,” said McCaffery.
Iowa eclipsed 100 points for the third time this season and defeated the Huskies 103-74. As a team, the Hawkeyes shot 42/84 (50.0%) from the floor, while they finished with 23 assists to just seven turnovers. Iowa outrebounded NIU 42-35 and won the points in the paint battle 56-30.
Ben Krikke led the way with a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Payton Sandfort added 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Owen Freeman flirted with a double-double, but finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Tony Perkins finished with a game-high eight assists, while Dasonte Bowen, Josh Dix and Pryce Sandfort combined for 35 points off the bench.
“Dasonte in the first half in particular was really aggressive and Josh is always rock solid. He didn’t score as much in the first half, as he did in the second half,” said McCaffery. “Those two guys are really good together. They can both play the point, they can play the wing and they’re both really smart and tough.”
Up Next, the Hawkeyes will go on the road in the year 2024 to face the #23 Wisconsin Badgers on January 2nd. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.
