INDIANAPOLIS – For Iowa’s men’s basketball, the city known as “The Crossroads of America” appears to be its path of destiny. Three years removed from winning the Big Ten Tournament title in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Hawkeyes, back inside in the same building, restarted their journey to the trophy with a 77-70 win over Ohio State in the first round.
Entering the tournament as the 15th seed, Iowa topped 10th-seeded Ohio State in the tournament after back-to-back losses to the Buckeyes in the last two tourneys. Senior forward Payton Sandfort led the Hawkeyes with 17 points to extend his career for at least one more game. Sandfort hadn’t topped Ohio State in his career until Wednesday night.
“It feels good to knock their season out and we can keep playing this time,” Sandfort said in his postgame press conference.
Josh Dix, Brock Harding, and Pryce Sandfort also finished in double figures as Iowa earned its 17th win of the season and first in Big Ten Tournament play since 2022. The Hawkeyes finished with an above-average 12 turnovers, but overcame the miscues with a 54.7 shooting percentage from the floor, 32 points in the paint, and 27 points off the bench. The production from reserves followed a 34-point outing on Sunday against Nebraska.
“You can’t survive a tournament, whether it’s three, four, or five games, unless you have a bench,” Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery said. “It makes it almost impossible … The bench was impactful in so many different ways. Yeah, [the bench] made some baskets, but they rebounded, they defended, they showed versatility, they executed our offense when we needed them to. Just couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”
Senior guard Bruce Thornton led the Buckeyes with 24 points and nine assists. The Hawkeyes move on to the second round, where they will take on seventh-seeded Illinois.
The Hawkeyes achieved a six-point advantage 5:40 into the second half. Sandfort nearly matched his first-half total with seven points while forward Seydou Traore notched a steal and slam.
Yet similar to the first 20 minutes, turnovers thrust Ohio State back into in the contest.
Drew Thelwell was whistled for a five-second call on an inbounds play and marked the fourth giveaway of the half at that point. Buckeye forward Micah Parrish took advantage with a driving layup. Thornton’s pullup jumper on the following possession gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the second half. Then, it was Pryce Sandfort’s turn to steal the spotlight from his older brother.
The second-year forward scored seven points as Iowa pushed an 11-3 burst that sparked a “Let’s go Hawks” chant from the black-and-gold clad contingent in attendance. Thornton did his best hero-ball, scoring Ohio State’s last five points before Harding’s triple from the left wing extended the Iowa lead to five and put the game on ice.
For Harding, who lost his spot in the starting lineup to Thelwell this season, the basket was a microcosm of his identity. The previous possession, Harding committed a turnover that resulted in a Buckeye basket. But he never let the error eradicate his confidence. His head coach shared such conviction.
“That’s the definition of character, he just kept going,” McCaffery said of Harding. “It’s so impressive with how he competes and how it impacts the game. A lot of times he finds himself on the floor at the of the game. He’s tough. He’s smart.”
“When that shot left his hand, we all knew it was going in,” he later added.
Fans in attendance witnessed a game of ‘follow the bouncing ball’ in the opening minutes, as both teams shot a combined 0-of-9 from the floor and committed four four turnovers. Iowa’s first basket didn’t come until a Ladji Dembele putback layup with 14:11 remaining in the first half. Dembele finished with eight points and team-high nine rebounds.
“Ladji was spectacular,” McCaffery said. “He looked like he might have been tired, but it felt like we needed to leave him in there.”
From there, the Hawkeye offense found life thanks in part to Harding’s production off the bench.
The second-year guard scored eight points on 3-of-3 shooting from the floor as the Hawkeyes knotted the contest a 24 apiece. Turnovers proved to the Hawkeyes’ undoing down the stretch in the first half. Six turnovers led to seven Ohio State points as the teams left the court at halftime tied at 37. The Hawkeyes shot 51 percent from the floor and 42 percent from deep in the first half.
Up Next
Iowa will take on Illinois at 5:30 p.m. Central Time on Big Ten Network. Illinois leads the Big Ten in points and rebounds per game. Head coach Brad Underwood’s squad are winners of three straight, including a 20-point victory over Iowa and victories against ranked foes Michigan and Purdue.
The Illini are led in scoring by first-year Kasparas Jakucionis, who averages 15.2 points per game. The 6-foot-6 guard also tops the team with 4.8 assists per contest. With 7-foot-1 Tomislav Ivisic, 6-foot-8 Will Riley, and 6-foot-9 Ben Humrichous anchoring the frontcourt, Illinois poses a size advantage that McCaffery acknowledged.
“Whether that means playing more bigs or staying out of foul trouble if we can, because not only does [Illinois] have those guys, but they’ve got drivers and shooters,” he said. “They really one of the more talented teams throughout the course of the year.”
Iowa hasn’t topped Illinois either on the road or at a neutral site since 2019.