MBB Preview -- North Florida

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team returns to Iowa City to host North Florida on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Tickets range from $15-35 for adults, $5-10 for youth and $5 for students.

FOLLOW LIVE

Radio: Wednesday’s game will be broadcast on the Hawkeye Radio Network with Gary Dolphin (play-by-play) and Bobby Hansen (color) on the call. The network includes more than 40 stations that blanket the state of Iowa and include portions of Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin. The Hawkeye Radio Network includes a 60-minute pregame show.
TV: Wednesday’s game will be televised on BTN with Jeff Levering (play-by-play) and Jess Settles (color) on the call.

OPENING TIP

• The Hawkeyes return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena to host North Florida on Wednesday at 8 p.m. (CT). Iowa is 3-0 at home this season.
• Junior Payton Sandfort was named to the Rady Children’s Invitational All-Tournament team after averaging 17 points, eight rebounds and two assists during the two games in San Diego. He scored a season-high 22 points with four 3-pointers and nine rebounds in the win over Seton Hall.
• The Hawkeyes have earned three Big Ten weekly honors this season — Ben Krikke (Player of the Week – 11/20) and Owen Freeman (Freshman of Week (11/13, 11/20). Freeman is the first Hawkeye freshman to earn the award in consecutive weeks.
• Iowa is one the nation’s top offensive teams, averaging 88.7 points in the first six games. The Hawkeyes are tops in the Big Ten and 17th nationally. The team has scored at least 84 points in five of the six games, including 110 points in the season opener against North Dakota — the most in an opener under head coach Fran McCaffery (sixth most in McCaffery era.)
• Three Hawkeyes — Payton Sandfort (2), Ben Krikke (2) and Patrick McCaffery — have all netted 20-point games this season. Krikke is averaging a team-high 18.3 points, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten. He is also second in the conference in field goal percentage (.622) and third with 46 field goals.
• Krikke has shot 60 percent or better from the floor in four games.
• Sandfort is averaging 15 points and a team-high 8.5 rebounds. He has one double-double and three games with nine or more rebounds.
• Iowa is “spreading the wealth” in terms of scoring. The Hawkeyes have had at least four players reach double digits in five of six games, including six in double figures against North Dakota and five against Arkansas State.
• Sophomore Dasonte Bowen has 20 assists to four turnovers this season. His 5.00 assist-to-turnover ration is leading the Big Ten and ranks 12th nationally.
• Iowa’s newcomers have accounted for 224 points (42.1 percent of scoring) in the first six games.
• Share & Take Care: Iowa has 114 assists to 52 turnovers in the first six games, assisting on 60.3 percent of its field goals.
• Iowa has won 86 of its last 92 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
• Head coach Fran McCaffery is seven wins from becoming the winningest coach in Iowa basketball history. Tom Davis has 271 victories as Iowa’s head coach.

LAST GAME | IOWA 85, SETON HALL 72

The Hawkeyes closed out the Rady Children’s Invitational with a victory, downing Seton Hall, 85-72, in the consolation game. It was the second straight year Iowa bested the Pirates.
• Iowa shot a season-high 56.4 percent from the floor in the victory with four players landing in double digits. Payton Sandfort paced the team with a season-high 22 points and nine rebounds, while Ben Krikke scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting.

MORE NOTABLES…

• Iowa is 3-0 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season and 17-3 in its last 20 home games.
• The Hawkeyes shot 60 percent from the field in the first half against Seton Hall — the best shooting first half of the season. (It was the second-best shooting half of the year (61.8, second half vs. North Dakota).
• Iowa has held two opponents to under 40 percent shooting this season.
• Senior Tony Perkins is a preseason second-team All-Big Ten selection by THE ALMANAC, while junior Payton Sandfort is ranked as the 89th-best player nationally by the publication. Sandfort is also on the Julius Erving Award Preseason Watch List.
• The Hawkeyes have placed fifth or better in the Big Ten standings in five straight and 10 of the last 11 years, and the program has won 10 or more Big Ten games in eight of the last nine seasons.
• Iowa led the Big Ten and was 18th nationally in scoring offense (80.1). The Hawkeyes have led the league in scoring in seven of the last 11 seasons, including six straight years.

CONSISTENT KRIKKE

Graduate Ben Krikke is the only Hawkeye to reach double figures in every game this season. The Canada native is leading the team, averaging 18.3 points on a team-best 62.2 percent shooting.
• Krikke has shot 60 percent or better from the field in four games and he has two games with 10 or more field goals. He made 8-of-10 field goals (80 percent) in the win over Seton Hall on Nov. 24.
• He is tied for the team lead with two 20-point games. He scored 24 points (11-of-18 shooting) at No. 8 Creighton and a season-high 25 points (10-of-14 FG), nine rebounds and four steals in the win over Arkansas State.

PAYTON’S STRONG START

Junior Payton Sandfort is second on the team in scoring and is leading the team in rebounding to open the season, averaging 15 points and 8.5 rebounds in 24.5 minutes.
• Sandfort has two 20 point games, giving him nine such games in his career. He scored 21 points against North Dakota in the season opener, netting 10 of Iowa’s first 16 points and 13 of 21 to open the game. He also had nine rebounds.
• The forward scored a season-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting with four 3-pointers in the neutral site win over Seton Hall. He also grabbed nine rebounds.
• Sandfort tallied his first career double-double, finishing with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds against Alabama State. Late in the first half, he scored 12 points in a span of 111 seconds, including a four-point play.
• Sandfort has scored in double figures in five of the team’s six games this season.

PERFECTO

Payton Sandfort opened his junior season by making his first 12 free throws. He is 19-of-20 for the season, making 95 percent of his attempts. The percentage is second in the Big Ten and 22nd nationally.
• For his career, the Waukee, Iowa, native is an 89.5 percent free throw shooter, making 85-of-95 career attempts.
• Iowa has three players shooting 87.5 percent or higher from the free throw stripe this season (Dasonte Bowen, Josh Dix, Sandfort).

STRONG NEWCOMER DEBUTS

Iowa’s newcomers have accounted for 224 points — 42.1 percent of the team’s scoring — in the first six games.
• Graduate transfer Ben Krikke has reached double figures in all six games, where he is averaging a team-best 18.3 points on 62.2 percent shooting.
• Freshman Owen Freeman is averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds, while swatting a team-best 10 shots. He is shooting 59.5 percent from the floor.
• Freshman Ladji Dembele is averaging 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds and Brock Harding averages three points and 3.3 assists.