Riley Mulvey: a victim but a martyr. The senior big man was Iowa men’s basketball’s last line of defense, the lone yellow jersey in the paint as Washington’s Franck Kepnang glided toward the rim with the ball, intent on creating an emphatic extension of the Husky lead in the second half. 

Flying off one foot, Kepnang collided into Mulvey, his knee striking the Hawkeye in the chest, sending the 6-foot-11, 245-pound Mulvey sprawling to the floor, his back slamming to the hard wood, his arms still outstretched. A few feet above him, his Washington counterpart hung on the rim as the Husky bench went wild, the reserves holding each other back in excitement. Amid all the uproar, it was easy to ignore the referee’s whistle. But Mulvey was all ears. 

Still laying on the floor, his hands behind his head, Mulvey flashed a grin. Sure, his poor attempt at a block would wind up across the internet, but a poster dunk doesn’t technically count with no points on the board. With Washington’s bench silent, Mulvey stood center stage, pumping up a raucous Gold Out crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  

“Riley stood in there and took it, never wavered,” Iowa forward Payton Sandfort said postgame. “That’s who is. He’s got a shirt that he wears, it says, ‘Riley doing Riley things.’” 

“It was kind of a strange play,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said, a slight smile forming on his lips. “It was a smart play by a smart player. A game-winning play when you really needed it.” 

Mulvey’s drawn charge wasn’t pretty, and neither was the contest for the Hawkeyes, but both senior and his teammates would leave the floor, jerseys untucked in relief and broad smiles donning their faces. 

After trailing for the game’s first 31 minutes, Iowa took the lead and never gave it back, relying on the scoring combination of Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort in a 85-79 victory over Washington Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 

Dix and Sandfort combined for 31 of Iowa’s 52 second-half points, with Sandfort compiling 27 points, nine rebounds, and two assists for the game. The Huskies, led in scoring by guard Mekhi Mason with 19 points, relied on fouling to regain possession late, but Iowa made 21-of-23 free throws in the second half. 

The Hawkeyes snagged their first lead of the contest with 8:51 remaining as Sandfort’s three free throws splashed the twine. He and Dix combined for the team’s 12 points up to that point, all from three-point attempts. Sandfort’s try from the right wing – with three seconds remaining on the shot clock – banked off the backboard and tied the game at 56 apiece. 

After watching in agony as teams like Purdue and Oregon hit similar shots to ice games earlier this month at Carver, Sandfort said it was a welcome sight for the glass to favor the Hawkeyes. 

“I think everyone started having fun,” he said. “We loosened up. I screamed out, ‘Bank,’ and I think everybody heard me.” 

Backup guard Carter Kingsbury dished the pass for his second assist of the game. Witnessing his longtime roommate and fellow member of his recruiting class knock down a shot was just further evidence of Sandfort’s character. 

“It makes me happy to see him succeed,” Kingsbury said of Sandfort. “He’s had rougher games, but nobody’s working harder than him. He stays true to his process, and I’m glad he got to show what he’s capable of tonight.” 

From that point, Iowa rode out a three-point advantage to a six-point victory to snap its two-game losing skid and improve to 6-10 in Big Ten play. The win was Iowa’s sixth this season when trailing in the second half. The Hawkeyes shot 52 percent from the floor in the second half and found plentiful production from the bench, led by guard Brock Harding with 11 points. 

Mulvey followed Harding with nine points off the bench while Kingsbury played a career-high 29 minutes and topped the Hawkeyes with a 12 plus-minus ranking. Iowa’s 36 bench points was its most in a conference game this season. 

“Brock Harding was tremendous with three threes,” said McCaffery, who picked up his 200th win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “That shows the kind of team we’ve got, we got to really compete and stay together, just keep grinding. It didn’t look good at the start.” 

The Huskies jumped out to a hot start, shooting 60 percent from the field in the opening seven minutes, including a 3-of-4 mark from distance. Senior Great Osobor led an inside attack, backing down defenders in the paint. 

Seydou Traore originally had the assignment on the British forward, but McCaffery subbed in Kingsbury for relief, and Washington turned to guard Mekhi Mason, who scored the Huskies’ next nine points as the visitors led by as many as 12 in the first half. 

Kingsbury played 17 minutes in the first half, his most of his career, as the Hawkeye offense went scoreless for more than three minutes but caught fire with an 8-0 run to close the half. Kingsbury buried a triple from the right wing and Dix nailed a pull-up jumper to get Iowa within two at the break. The Hawkeyes shot 43 percent from the floor and 36 percent from deep. 

“That’s our best offense really,” Kingsbury said.”Getting up the court quick, and we’ll make shots.”

Injury Updates 

Iowa guard Drew Thelwell played only eight minutes on Saturday, scoring no points on one shot attempt. McCaffery said Thelwell re injured his right ankle in practice on Friday but still wanted to play against the Huskies. 

“I wasn’t even going to play him,” McCaffery said of Thelwell. “He said, ‘I’m ready to go,’ so I gave him a shot. He didn’t have it the other night [against Oregon] and didn’t have it today. I feel so bad for him, he wants it bad. He’s a phenomenal leader and person.” 

Thelwell suffered a right ankle injury on Feb. 8 against Wisconsin and missed the next two contests. He played 15 minutes in Iowa’s loss to Oregon on Feb. 19 but did not score. 

Traore started the game against Washington but played only three minutes. He did not return after getting subbed out in the first half. McCaffery clarified the lack of playing time was due to a coach’s decision and not injury. 

Up Next 

Iowa hits the road for an 8 p.m. matchup against Illinois on Feb. 25 on FS1. The Illini are 17-10 on the season and rank seventh in the Big Ten with a 9-8 conference mark. They are tied with Iowa for first place in points per game and rank first in rebounding. 

Second-year big man Tomislav Ivisic hails from Croatia and leads the team with 8.3 boards per game to go along with 12.5 points per game. First-year guard and fellow European Kasparas Jakucionis leads head coach Brad Underwood’s squad with 15.6 points and 4.8 assists per contest. 

The Hawkeyes have not won in Champaign since January 2018. They are 1-4 against the Illini over the last five meetings.