Iowa Tops Arkansas State, 88-74

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Arkansas State, 88-74, on Mediacom Court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday night. The Hawkeyes have now won 86 of their last 92 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.

The Hawkeyes and Red Wolves were tied at 36 with just under five minutes remaining in the first half. Iowa responded by going on a 13-3 run to take a 49-39 lead at the break.

Iowa pulled away from the Red Wolves in the second half despite making just one 3-pointer. The Hawkeyes made up for their lack of offense from deep by getting to the free throw line. Iowa attempted 46 free-throws, the third most ever for a Fran McCaffery led Iowa team.

Ben Krikke led the team in scoring for the second straight game. Krikke had a stellar first half of the game, scoring 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Krikke finished the game with 25 points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore Dasonte Bowen finished as the second leading scorer with 17 points. Fellow sophomore, Josh Dix, added 10 points.

Tony Perkins filled out the stat sheet for the Hawkeyes. The senior scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out two assists, blocked two shots, and stole the ball two times.

Iowa never trailed in the contest and were tied for just 38 seconds.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY

“I thought we got good shots. Some that normally go in didn’t go in, it happens. I don’t think much about it. We won the game. We did what we had to do.”

“The three-point shot was not falling so it was very important that we get downhill, that we throw the ball inside. We wanted to get the ball inside to Ben. We went to Owen when he was in there, he did pretty well. I thought our recognition and our ball movement was really good.”

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

• Graduate student Ben Krikke notched his second straight 20 point game, netting a season-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting.
o Krikke scored 15 points in the first half, going 6-for-6 from the field.
o He has reached double figures in each game this season and it is his 26th career 20-point contest.
o He has 21 field goals in Iowa’s last two games.
o Krikke also had a team and season-high nine rebounds to go along with a career-high four steals and three blocks.
• Sophomore Dasonte Bowen scored a career high 17 points, going 4-for-5 from the field and 9-of-10 free throws.
o Bowen also had three assists, giving him (17) assists against one turnover this season.
• Sophomore Josh Dix tied a career-high with 10 points, going 2-for-2 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
• Iowa had five players reach double figures in the game. The Hawkeyes have had at least four players in double figures in all four contests.
• The game was tied at 36 with 4:33 remaining in the first half before Iowa used a 13-3 run, including scoring the final eight points, to build a 49-39 halftime lead. Iowa made six of its final eight field goals over the final 4:45 of the first half. Iowa led by as many as 16 (61-45) with 13:28 left in the second half.
• Iowa was in the bonus for the final 13:15 in the first half and 14:02 in the second half.
o The Hawkeyes went 18-of-23 from the free throw line in the first half and 32-of-46 for the game. The 32 makes and 46 attempts are both season highs.
o The 46 free throw attempts are the third-most in a game under McCaffery.
• The Hawkeyes finished with a season-high eight blocks in the game, including three by Krikke.
• Iowa committed seven turnovers (one in the first half) in the contest. The team hasn’t had more than seven turnovers in any game this season.
• The Hawkeyes are 148-30 under head coach Fran McCaffery when scoring 80 or more points.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to action on Thanksgiving Day, facing Oklahoma in the first game of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego. The game time is set for 2 p.m. (CT) and the game will be televised on FS1.