MOLINE, IL – It may not have been home for the Iowa men’s basketball team, but it felt like familiar territory an hour east of Iowa City at Vibrant Arena in the Quad Cities. With over 8,000 fans in attendance – a vast majority in black and gold – the crowd delivered the energy and went home happy as the Hawkeyes topped Washington State, 76-66, on Friday night for their fourth straight win of the season.  

After missing Iowa’s previous game due to illness, second-year center Owen Freeman celebrated his 20th birthday and led the team with 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Senior forward Payton Sandfort followed close behind with 18 points, but struggled with his shot, connecting on only five of his 15 attempts. 

Washington State junior guard Nate Calmese led the opposition with 27 points, but totaled only two points, both on free throws over the final 10 minutes.

“I thought they did a good job of moving their bigs. and putting their better ball-screen bigs in those ball-screens,” Washington State head coach Davis Riley said of Iowa’s defense. “They tried to trap him and get the ball out of his hands.”

Led by Calmese’s five turnovers, the Cougars felt the pressure down the stretch, coughing the ball up seven times in the second half and 18 times total. 

Despite shooting a season-low 41 percent from the floor and 32 percent from beyond the arc, the Hawkeyes forced even worse numbers from the Cougars who shot 39.4 percent from the floor and 17.9 percent from three.

“It’s important because we were in a ton of those games last year where we weren’t making shots that we were making,” Sandfort said in the postgame press conference. “Those are the games where you have to grind out with your defense, with your rebounding.”

“We held [Washington State] to 34 percent [field goal percentage] ins the second half,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “It’s a really good team to hold to 34 percent. So you have to be a connected group, and that’s what we talked about at halftime.”

Facing a three-point deficit out of the halftime tunnel, the Hawkeyes had spurts of momentum, but couldn’t take advantage. A ferocious Freeman one-handed alley-oop jam followed by a Sandfort triple gave Iowa a one-point advantage, but Calmese answered with an easy layup on the other end. Such a pattern continued throughout the second half – an Iowa bucket to get it back in contention immediately followed by a basket from Calmese. 

With Calmese on the bench for a few minutes, Iowa managed only two points and faced a tie ballgame with 4:35 to go. Filling in for guard Brock Harding, who picked up foul trouble, backup guard Drew Thelwell scored the next eight Iowa points, including two go-ahead triples.

Arriving to Iowa after four seasons at Morehead State, Thelwell left the program as its all-time winningest player, including a 27-win campaign in his final season with the Eagles. For McCaffery, that stat is all he needed to know when Thelwell hit the transfer portal during the offseason.

“You need a guy like him that can engineer a victory,” he said. “He started slow throughout the summer [but] kept getting better. He just kept grinding instead of making excuses. He just came in and studied.”

From there the Hawkeyes had their best stretch of basketball, embarking on an 8-0 run, forcing a turnover from Calmese and a 10-second violation with their press. 

Washington State scored only one field goal over the final two minutes as the Quad Cities crowd grew louder with each passing second and Iowa free throw down the stretch. From a struggling first half emerged the Hawkeyes’ fourth and most impressive win of the season. 

Hailing from Moline, Freeman said he remembers deafening crowds inside the city’s Wharton Field House during his high school days. Vibrant Arena offered the same atmosphere, if not better.

“It was unreal, just one of the loudest crowds I played in front of,” Freeman said. “Again it was a lot of fun. I’ll remember it forever.”

The Hawkeyes were outpaced early, grabbing only five rebounds to the Cougars’ 11 and found themselves trailing, 15-9, after the first eight minutes. Checking in off the bench, Seydou Traore turned heads with a highflying block, setting a 6-0 Iowa run. Freeman was a one-man show in the paint, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, including an emphatic putback dunk that gave the Hawkeyes the lead. 

Freeman – who said back in October that he doesn’t swear – picked up a technical for the celebration, much to the displeasure to the thousands of Hawkeye faithful in the stands. Freeman finished the first half as Iowa’s leading scorer and rebounder, despite sitting nine minutes due to foul trouble. 

The technical foul gave the Cougars the momentum, as they quickly erased the Iowa lead with 12-3 run plagued by Hawkeye turnovers. Similar to their last game against South Dakota, the Hawkeyes finished the first half with 10 turnovers. The charity stripe wasn’t doing the team any favors either, as Iowa made only 6 of 13 free throws in the first half. 

“They were uncharacteristic numbers for our team at halftime, and we’re still right there,” McCaffery said.

Despite the inefficiencies, Iowa took over in the final three minutes of the opening period, forcing six Washington State turnovers and taking a one-point lead with 1:17. Traore continued his impact on the defensive, snagging an errant pass and feeding Sandfort for a fast-break layup. After a timeout, Washington State answered on the ensuing possession with a triple to close the half on a 5-1 run to take a 36-33 advantage at the break. 

Injury report 

Iowa junior guard Josh Dix hurt his wrist after taking a fall in the first half, McCaffery said. The coach said Dix tried to play later on but couldn’t get comfortable. Dix finished with two points and three assists.

“Hopefully Josh’s injury will be taken care of relatively quickly, we’ll have to see,” McCaffery said.

Neutral site appeal 

The Hawkeyes’ matchup in Moline won’t be their only neutral site game of the season. They venture west to Kansas City, Missouri  on Nov. 22 for duel against Utah State before heading north to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a meeting against Utah on Dec. 21.

For McCaffery, witnessing his players lingering on the court, where they signed autographs and took photos with fans is a reminder of how the love for the Hawkeyes extends well beyond Iowa City.

He said he had discussions with Iowa athletic director Beth Goetz on possibly playing more neutral site games around the Midwest.

“From a business perspective, we have people that will make those decisions, but overall, if you were at this game, you’d be in favor of that,” he said.

Up Next 

The Hawkeyes’ next game is a home matchup with Rider University on Nov. 19 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tip-off will be at 7 p.m. Located in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, Rider competes in the MAAC and holds a 3-1 record, notching off three straight victories against San Diego, Coppin State, and Navy. The Broncos are led in scoring by senior guard T.J. Weeks Jr., who averages 16 points per game.