In the Iowa men’s basketball team’s dominating 103-76 win over Quincy, Hawkeye forward Ben Krikke continued right where he left off. After leading the Missouri Valley Conference in points per game last season while with Valparaiso, Krikke led the Hawkeyes in scoring in his Carver-Hawkeye Arena debut, registering 14 points and seven rebounds. 

The grad student led the team in minutes, finishing just shy of 25 played for the game. He did most of his offensive damage inside the arc as he shot 4-for-8 from the field but missed his lone three-point attempt. 

But Krikke made his presence felt on both ends of the floor as he led the team with plus-15 in the plus-minus. 

Krikke made a name for himself while with the Beacons. In about 36 minutes per game, he averaged 19.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.1 assists through 32 games during the 2022-23 season. 

After four years playing for the Beacons, Krikke felt good in his debut for the Hawkeyes but wants to be more aggressive going forward, particularly in his driving and mid-range game.

Krikke took more of a scoring approach when playing at Valparaiso but is ready to adapt to any role with the Hawkeyes. He had two assists on Monday, including one that opened the scoring for the Hawkeyes three minutes into the contest. The Edmonton, Alberta, native broke down the game in simplest form in his postgame press conference. 

“[Basketball is] just supposed to be read and react,” Krikke said. “If somebody’s open on a back cut or something, I’m just going to throw the ball to them. Basketball is a team game. If the team flourishes, then we win.”

The veteran acknowledged that he wants to see the Hawkeyes be more physical on defense and make it their identity despite holding the Hawks to just 39% shooting from the field.

Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery adopted a five-in, five-out rotation, rolling with a second unit that consisted of four freshmen – guard Brock Harding and forwards Owen Freeman, Pryce Sandfort, and Ladji Dembele as well as sophomore guard Josh Dix. Krikke was impressed with the confidence that the second unit played with. 

“[The second unit was] very impressive,” Krikke said. “They’ve shown it every day in practice. They’re a very, very aggressive group, kind of in-your-face group and they did that today. They picked up the defensive intensity and got out on the break. It was very impressive to see.”

McCaffery said that even with the success, the Hawkeyes still need to cut down on turnovers, as Iowa gave the ball away 14 times in the contest. Similar to his new head coach, Krikke is also adamant to improving and cutting down on mistakes. 

“I think in terms of policy coverage, I could have been up a little bit more,” Krikke said. “I could have been a little bit more accurate with my hands. But I’ve shown [rebounding and defensive skills] in practice, so going forward I expect to hit the ball screens better, be up on the guards, and not give up the angles.”

The Hawkeyes will host their season opener against North Dakota at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Tuesday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.