Iowa Falls to Creighton, 92-84

OMAHA, NEB. — The University of Iowa men’s basketball team fell to Creighton on Tuesday night, 92-84, in the Gavitt Tipoff Games. Iowa moves to 2-1 on the season.

The first half was a back and forth affair consisting of 13 ties and seven lead changes. Ben Krikke and Payton Sandfort combined to score the first 20 points for the Hawkeyes. Iowa led by as many as seven points in the first half, but the ledger was tied at 43 heading into the break.  Krikke scored 16 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting.

Krikke finished the game with 24 points to go along with five rebounds. Senior Tony Perkins was the second leading scorer, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Payton Sandfort and Patrick McCaffery rounded out the Hawkeyes in double digits. Sandfort scored 11 points, knocking down two 3-pointers. McCaffery did a bit of everything scoring 13 points, dishing out three assists, blocking two shots and recording two steals.

Freshmen Ladji Dembele and Owen Freeman each had eight points in the contest.

The Bluejays built a 17-point lead in the second half. The Hawkeyes chipped away at that lead, but were unable to complete the comeback, despite holding Creighton to just 1-of-8 in their last nine attempts and without a field goal in the final 6:39 of the game.

Iowa shot 34-of-68 (50%) from the field and 6-14 (42.9%) from deep

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“We were really connected, I thought, in the first half defensively. You have to be against this team, and we were not in that stretch. So, that was a little disappointing. Plus, we weren’t scoring either. So, they were able to get out and run off of our misses. They were 4-of-4 from three in that stretch. I think you can beat this team if they only make 10. If they are making 14 or 15 it is going to be virtually impossible to beat them.

“We did some really good things tonight. We did some things that have to be corrected. But I am not going to focus on any one particular thing that makes me angry or makes me happy. I wanted to get 10 guys playing time and was able to do that. The young guys were able to get some quality minutes and execute.”

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

• Graduate Ben Krikke paced the team with 24 points – his first 20 point game as a Hawkeye and third straight double-digit contest.
  • He made four of his first five field goals and 7-of-9 attempts in the first half, scoring 16 points.
  • He finished with season highs in points, field goals (11) and field goal attempts (18).
• Krikke is the third different Hawkeye to reach the 20-point mark this season (Patrick McCaffery, Payton Sandfort).
• Iowa had four players finish in double figures (and six players score at least eight points).
  • Tony Perkins scored a season-high 16 points, tied for the team-high with six rebounds and had three steals.
  • The team has had at least four players in double digits in all three contests.
• The Hawkeyes finished with 20 assists on its 34 field goals – its third straight game with 20+ assists.
  • Iowa had seven turnovers – its third straight game with seven or fewer turnovers.
• The Hawkeyes closed the game on a flurry, making 9-of-11 field goals over an eight-minute stretch, trimming a 17-point deficit to five points with 1:26 to play.
• Creighton made its first 10 field goals in the second half and 15 of its 17 field goals, including five 3-pointers, in the first 11 minutes of the second half.
• The Bluejays had a 19-5 advantage in fast-break points and a 32-19 advantage in bench points.
• The Hawkeyes are 147-30 under head coach Fran McCaffery when scoring 80 or more points.
• It is just the 17th loss under McCaffery when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday hosting Arkansas State at 7 p.m. (CT). The game will be streamed on B1G+. Tickets are available at hawkeyesports.com/tickets.