Iowa men’s basketball defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 93-62, on Tuesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes improved to 9-3 on the season with the victory, while the Lions dropped to 4-9.

Four Hawkeyes finished the night in double figures on Tuesday. Forwards Keegan Murray and Patrick McCaffery dropped 20 and 16 points, respectively, while guard Jordan Bohannon notched 13 and freshman guard Peyton Sandfort collected 10. 

Sandfort came out strong in the first half, claiming all 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field in eight minutes played. The freshman calmed down in the second, going 0-of-4 in nine minutes.

 Bohannon drained four 3-pointers and a free throw for 13 points.

Murray notches double-double

Murray only scored five points in the first half against Southeastern Louisiana, playing just five of the 20 minutes after picking up two fouls.

Coming into the second half, Murray scored the first eight points for the Hawkeyes.

Murray finished the night with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

The sophomore forward subbed out with six minutes remaining in the game after he appeared to tweak his ankle. Murray has been dealing with an ankle injury throughout the season, and missed the Hawkeyes’ game against Purdue on Dec. 3.

“I just rolled my ankle again, but it’s not anything crazy like last time,” Murray said postgame. “I just want to be precautious of staying on top of it.”

Ogundele injured

Just one minute after entering the game, sophomore center Josh Ogundele appeared to have a non-contact injury to his left leg.

After running down the court, Ogundele stopped putting any weight on his left leg. He hopped off the floor under Iowa’s basket and fell to the ground.

His teammates helped him off the floor and into the tunnel. Ogundele put no weight on his leg as he exited the floor.

“He is sore and a little swollen,” head coach Fran McCaffery said of Ogundele’s injury. “He turned his ankle, and we’ll see, he’s day-to-day. He could be out a little while. I felt bad for him. He was running the floor and about to get a dunk, and he tweaked it.”

The sophomore from England was planning to go to Massachusetts to visit friends and family over the holiday break, but Fran McCaffery said he isn’t sure if that will happen with the injury. Ogundele could be in a boot or on crutches for a while, he said.

Clergeot ejected

Southeastern Louisiana guard Keon Clergeot was ejected with four minutes remaining in the first half, and the scuffle almost led to a fight between the Hawkeyes and the Lions.

Clergeot put his forearm to Iowa junior point guard Joe Toissaint’s face when the pair fought for a ball. After a review by the officials, Clergeot was called for a flagrant 2 foul. 

Touissant didn’t react when Clergeot put his forearm to his face.

“It just shows maturity,” Murray said. “Obviously, he could easily defend himself in different ways, but that just shows his level of maturity that he’s grown to be a leader.”

While Toussaint didn’t react, Patrick McCaffery said, Connor McCaffery did.

The older McCaffery brother pulled Clergeot off Toussaint  and tried to follow the Lion player back to the opposing bench. The referees and Iowa’s bench kept Connor in check, however.

“Um, yes,” Patrick said when asked if he was afraid Connor was going to approach the Southeastern Louisiana bench. “But at the same time, I know we have people on our bench that probably aren’t going to let him get over there. Although, he’s going to try, man, he’s pretty strong.”

Clergeot laughed past the Iowa bench as he walked off the court to boos from Hawkeye fans.

Up next

Iowa will break for the holidays before it takes on Western Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Dec. 29. The Hawkeyes’ matchup against the Leathernecks will serve as their final nonconference game of the 2021-22 season.