BLOOMINGTON, Indiana — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team downed No. 15 Indiana, 90-68, on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall. Iowa improves to 11-8 in Big Ten Conference play and 19-11 on the season.
In the first half against Indiana, the Hawkeyes hit seven triples, led by junior Kris Murray with 15 points and four baskets from behind the arc. After jumping out to an 8-0 start, Iowa led by as many as 17 points in the first 20 minutes before heading into the locker room up, 47-36.
The Hawkeyes continued to roll in the second half, pressing their advantage to as many as 25 points en route to their third ranked win this season.
Iowa finished 56 percent (30-of-54) from the floor, including 13-of-23 (57 percent) from long range. With his second double-double performance of the season, Tony Perkins led the team with 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes beat the Hoosiers, 39-27, on the glass.
Perkins finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, nearly posting his first collegiate triple-double on the way to personal bests in rebounding and assists. The standout junior was 7-of-12 (58 percent) shooting the basketball and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Murray led Iowa in scoring with 26 points, including 5-of-8 (63 percent) efficiency from 3-point range. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native hauled in seven rebounds and added three assists and a pair of blocks to his stat line.
Sophomore Payton Sandfort was good for five triples of his own on nine attempts (56 percent) on the way to 16 points against Indiana. Down low, fifth-year Filip Rebraca pounded out 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists in the contest.
Iowa completed the season sweep against Indiana; the Hawkeyes posted the third-largest comeback in school history when they rallied to beat then-No. 15 Indiana, 91-89, on Jan. 5 in Iowa City after trailing by 21 points (28-7) early in the first half.
Tonight, Iowa scored on 62 percent of its possessions and led wire-to-wire. The 22-point margin of victory matches a Hawkeye best on the road at Indiana.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“I have been coming down here [to Bloomington] a long time. I was at Notre Dame for 11 years. We haven’t won too many times in here, teams that I have coached. I look at it like, if you sign up to play in this league, you want to play in this type of environment. That is what you have agreed to; that’s what you’ve signed up for. You have to want to compete against a really good team that is playing well. They have really, I think, established themselves…
It is a hard team to score on. The fact that we outrebounded them says a lot about how we competed tonight. We only turned it over 10 times. Again, if you go on the road and make 13 threes, that is hard to do. We had a bunch of different guys making them. If you make 13 threes, you have a good shot to win…
[Murray] hitting those two 3-pointers early was big… We were running motion. Drive and kick, screen and cut, curl and back-cut, move around and then find people. We got some back-cut layups throughout the whole game. We had some opportunities were Tony Perkins had space to drive it, but that is after we moved it. I thought our ball movement and screening and cutting with a purpose was critical. If you don’t, you are going to have a hard time winning against this team.”
HAWKEYE NOTABLES
- Iowa completed the regular season sweep over Indiana and has won four straight games over the Hoosiers, its longest win streak over Indiana since 2010-11.
- Iowa’s 22-point win matched its largest margin of victory in Bloomington (68-46 win in 1947).
- Iowa’s 90 points are the third most the Hawkeyes have scored in a game at Bloomington (91 in 1994 and 104 in 1970).
- The Hawkeyes handed the Hoosiers just their second home defeat of the season (Northwestern).
- Iowa won its 13th combined Quad 1 and Quad 2 game of the season, second most in the Big Ten (Purdue).
- Iowa won its third Big Ten road games of the season (Rutgers, Minnesota, Indiana).
- Tonight’s win was Fran McCaffery’s 126th Big Ten regular season victory, tying Tom Davis (126) for the most in program history.
- Tony Perkins, an Indianapolis native, flirted with a triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists). The eight assists and 10 rebounds are personal bests. Perkins has amassed a combined 19 rebounds over the last two contests.
- Perkins tied his career high in assists with six 15:30 into the first half.
- Iowa improved to 3-2 against AP ranked foes, winning for the first time on the road against a ranked opponent this season.
- All-America candidate Kris Murray scored a game-best 26 points, reaching 20+ points a team-best 14 times this season. Murray also had seven rebounds, three assists, and a game-best two blocks. He sank a career-high five triples. Murray made his first four field-goal attempts, including three 3-pointers, reaching double figures 5:39 into the contest..
- Filip Rebraca netted 16 points, marking the 12th time in the last 20 games that he scored 15+ points. He reached double figures in scoring 9:34 into the game, making his first five field goal attempts. Rebraca also cleared eight rebounds.
- Payton Sandfort made five 3-pointers tonight. He has drained a combined 11 triples over the last two games. Sandfort finished the contest with 16 points.
- The Hawkeyes made 13 triples tonight improving to 12-1 when making nine or more 3-pointers this season. Iowa sank seven of their first 11 3-point attempts of the first half.
- Iowa has made a combined 30 triples over its last two games (17 versus Michigan State last Saturday).
- Iowa scored on its first seven possessions of the game building an 11-point lead 3:42 into the game.
UP NEXT
Iowa (19-11, 11-8) will host Nebraska in its home finale on Sunday. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. The game is sold out.
