The Iowa men’s basketball team logged its first win in Big Ten play with an 86-77 victory over Rutgers on Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
With his Hawkeyes now at 9-6 on the season, head coach Fran McCaffery notched his 127th Big Ten win at the helm, passing Tom Davis for the most in program history.
Senior guard Tony Perkins put Iowa on the board first with the steal right after a Rutgers rebound, taking the ball to the cup for a layup under the rim. First-year center Owen Freeman followed up Perkins’ highlight play with an offensive rebound for a strong putback, cashing in an and-one layup.
In a battle between the Big Ten’s top offense and the conference’s second-best defense, the Hawkeyes proved to be too much for the Scarlet Knights early, taking a 19-5 lead just seven minutes into the game.
The next three minutes saw Iowa struggle to put the ball in the basket while Rutgers fought to shorten the Hawkeye lead to just 10. The Hawkeyes’ second unit came in with some energy, putting some points on the board by playing through Freeman and Ben Krikke to break the cold streak.
The starters came back into the game with around six minutes left in the half, but the energy created by the second unit was not lost. A Krikke steal at half court led to a Perkins’ and-one layup to put Iowa up, 32-19, just a minute later.
The Hawkeyes fought their way to taking a 16-point lead – their biggest lead of the day– right around the three-minute mark. The Scarlet Knights refused to let up, ending the half on three straight buckets over the last 22 seconds to cut the Hawkeye lead down, 41-34, heading into the break.
Despite the shooting struggles, the defense was the catalyst for the Hawkeyes through the first 20 minutes of play. Iowa converted 40 percent of its shots compared to Rutgers’ 33 percent shooting from the field.
Both teams came out firing to start the second half as Iowa made its first four shots. Rutgers responded nicely by knocking down three of its first four looks as Iowa extended the lead, 51-41.
Sandfort began to heat up as he knocked down three shots from deep on his way to 11 points through the first six minutes of the second half and 21 points on the day up to that point. Freeman started to take over as well, scoring two and-one layups at the rim as he and Sandfort combined for 19 of Iowa’s first 25 points eight minutes in the half.
Iowa cooled down after both Sandfort and Freeman were subbed out of the game – going five minutes without making a field goal. Even still, the Hawkeyes’ defense remained intact to keep the Scarlet Knights at arms reach.
The starters came back into the game at the eight-minute mark and picked up right where they left off. A Sandfort pull-up three, Perkins’ steal and slam, and yet another Freeman and-one at the rim highlighted a four-minute period that saw Iowa take a late 82-65 lead.
The Hawkeyes cruised their way to the finish line, taking the 86-77 victory. Sandfort notched 24 points and eight rebounds followed up by Krikke’s double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. Perkins and Freeman contributed with 15 points apiece as the four players combined for 73 of Iowa’s 86 points for the contest.
Up next
The Hawkeyes next play on Jan. 12 against Nebraska at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Cornhuskers are 12-2 on the season and take on No. 21 Wisconsin on Saturday. Iowa will once again face a stout defense, as head coach Fred Hoiberg’s squad is tied for best in the Big Ten in opponent field goal percentage, holding enemy teams to a 37.9 percent mark from the floor.
