With six players scoring in double-digits, Iowa men’s basketball picked up right where it left off in dominating New Hampshire, 112-70.
Coming into the night’s matchup, New Hampshire had thus far accumulated a dismal 2-12 record on the season while the Hawkeyes have more than quadrupled the Wildcats’ wins with a more impressive 9-3 record. The Hawkeyes are clawing their way into the season — following losses to Iowa State, Utah State, and Michigan — to fight for their place in the March Madness tournament.
Regardless of New Hampshire’s record, a win is a win.
An unexpected loss came for Iowa on the night as big man Owen Freeman was announced out during the pregame availability report. So 6-foot-8 forward Ladji Dembele got the start. With Freeman out, the Hawkeyes had to find a way to make up for the starting center who had 17.1 average points per game.
It was all Iowa to start the first half with Payton Sandfort getting the Black and Gold going.
A quick three by Josh Dix and a shifty and-one finish by Drew Thelwell put the Hawkeyes out to a quick 7-0 lead after Thelwell missed the chance for a three-point play.
With a dwindling roster due to illness, New Hampshire’s nerves got the best of them in the early minutes of the first half, recording over five turnovers in just under five minutes of play.
After a bit of back-and-forth from both teams, back-to-back threes from Pryce Sandfort and Cooper Koch extended Iowa’s lead to 26-13 against the Wildcats. Following the barrage of threes, back-to-back and ones from Even Brauns and Seydou Traore continued the Iowa dominance to give the Hawkeyes a 32-13 lead.
It was pedal to the metal from there on out for the Iowa offense. The high-powered offense distributed the rock and recorded over 40 points with under nine minutes of play left in the first half. With under five minutes left of play, a dish from Thelwell found Chris Tadjo slashing through the lane for a tough and-one finish over two New Hampshire defenders.
The unranked Hawkeyes headed into half with a comfortable 62-33 lead.
To start the second half of play, older brother Sandfort made a second-chance layup to add two more to Iowa’s lead. Indeed, the second half consisted much of what fans witnessed during the first half — as Iowa continued to dominate on its home court.
Iowa saw many different scorers on the stat sheet with only one Hawkeye not recording a point.
Six Hawkeyes posted double-digit figures with Payton Sandfort’s veteran style of play leading the way for Iowa with 15 total. Cooper Koch and Traore both had 14 apiece while Pryce Sanford and Dix had 11 each. Iowa shot 60.8 percent from the field on 45-of-74 shots. From behind the arc ,Iowa shot 10-of-29.
New Hampshire falls to 2-13 on the year while Iowa will look to carry the momentum of 10 wins into the New Year.
The Hawkeyes will have an opportunity to improve their current 1-1 Big Ten conference record against Wisconsin this Friday for a Big Ten showdown in Madison, Wisconsin.