MBB Preview — North Dakota

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team hosts North Dakota in its regular season opener on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be streamed live on B1G+.
• Tickets range from $15-35 for adults, $5-10 for youth and $2 for UI students.

FOLLOW LIVE

Radio: Games are 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.
Stream: Tuesday’s game will be streamed live on B1G+ — a paid subscription service. Charlie Fox (play-by-play) and Jess Settles (color) will be on the call.

OPENING TIP

• The Hawkeyes open the regular season Tuesday, hosting North Dakota in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa has won its last 12 regular season openers and are 12-1 in season openers under head coach Fran McCaffery.
• Iowa has won 83 of its last 89 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
• McCaffery is 11 wins from becoming the winningest coach in Iowa basketball history. Tom Davis has 271 victories as Iowa’s head coach.
• The Hawkeyes return two starters and eight letterwinners from a team that won 19 games, finished fifth in the Big Ten standings and advanced to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament.
• Iowa added eight newcomers to the roster, including Valparaiso transfer Ben Krikke and Belmont transfer Even Brauns.
• Seniors Patrick McCaffery (46) and Tony Perkins (47) have combined to start 93 games (and play in 184 games) in their collegiate careers. Perkins is Iowa’s top returning scorer at 12.3 points per game.
• Mr. Basketball x 2. Two of Iowa’s incoming freshmen — Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort — were named Mr. Basketball in their home states. Harding earned the distinction in Illinois; Sandfort in Iowa.
• 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.
• Iowa is one of 10 teams in the country to make the last four NCAA Tournaments and one of only three Big Ten teams to accomplish the feat (Purdue, Michigan State).
• The Hawkeyes have placed fifth or better in the Big Ten standings in five straight and 10 of the last 11 years.
• Iowa has won 10 or more Big Ten games in eight of the last nine seasons.
• The Hawkeyes 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.
• Iowa has five native Iowans on the roster, two players from Illinois and New York and one player from Texas, Massachusetts, Indiana, New Jersey, Nebraska, Michigan and Canada.

SCOUTING NORTH DAKOTA

• The Fighting Hawks went 13-20 during the 2022-23 season — a seven win improvement over the 2021-22 campaign. UND won a Summit League Tournament game for the first time since 2020.
• UND, who is picked to finish fifth in The Summit League Preseason Coaches’ Poll, returns three starters and seven total letterwinners in 2023-24. B.J. Omit, a preseason second-team All-Summit League selection, is the team’s top returning scorer after averaging 12.0 points and 3.7 rebounds a season ago.
• The Fighting Hawks are led by fifth-year head coach Paul Sather, who has posted a 43-80 record in four seasons in Grand Forks. Sather spent five seasons at Black Hills State and nine at Northern State before making the jump to Division I.

SERIES HISTORY

• Tuesday’s game will be the ninth meeting all-time between Iowa and North Dakota. The first game was contested in 1923 in Iowa City — a 22-11 Hawkeye win.
• The Hawkeyes are 8-0 in the all-time series, winning the eight games by an average of 20.9 points. Iowa is 7-0 in Iowa City and 1-0 in Grand Forks.

 

LAST GAME | IOWA 103, QUINCY 76 (EXH.)

• Iowa trailed 16-6 over the first 5:03 before outscoring Quincy, 43-16, over the final 15 minutes.
o Over the final 35 minutes, Iowa outscored the Hawks, 97-60.
• Seven Hawkeyes finished in double figures in the game – Patrick McCaffery (16), Ben Krikke (14), Payton Sandfort (13), Owen Freeman (12), Pryce Sandfort (12), Josh Dix (10) and Tony Perkins (10).
o Freeman and Krikke both had seven rebounds to lead the team as Iowa was +13 on the glass.
• Iowa had a total of 12 players score in the game.
o The reserves scored 44 points and the team scored 50 points in the paint.
• Iowa had 21 assists on its 34 field goals with nine different players registering at least one assist.
• The Hawkeyes shot 53.1 percent from the field (34-of-64) and made seven 3-point field goals.
• The Hawkeyes were in the bonus for the final 9:08 of the first half and 15:51 of the second.
o Iowa got to the free throw line 41 times in the game but made just 28-of-41 attempts.
• Iowa went on a 13-0 run in the first half, turning a two-point advantage into a 44-29 lead.
• Defensively, Iowa limited Quincy to 11 points over the final 10 minutes and 16 points over the final 15 minutes of the first half.
o Quincy shot 38.8 percent for the game, but 14 of their field goals came from 3-point range.

McCAFFERY APPROACHES RECORD

• Head coach Fran McCaffery, who is entering his 28th season as a head coach and 14th at Iowa, needs 11 victories to becoming the winningest coach in program history. (Tom Davis has 271 victories.)
• With his next Big Ten Conference win, McCaffery will also pass Davis for the most Big Ten victories in program history.

WHO’S NEXT

Head coach Fran McCaffery has coached seven players to first-team All-Big Ten selection in eight of the last 10 years.

P, P & P

• The Hawkeyes return three Ps — Patrick, Payton and Perkins — in 2023-24. The trio have combined to start 100 games in their collegiate career and appear in 251 career games.
• Fifth-year senior Patrick McCaffery has averaged 10.5 and 9.8 points in his last two seasons. For his career, the Iowa City, Iowa, native shoots 41.9 percent from the field, averaging 8.4 points in 92 career games.
• Junior Payton Sandfort is slated for a big jump in 2023-24 after being the 2023 Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year. The Waukee, Iowa, native averaged 10.3 points, making 59 3-pointers a season ago — second-most on the team. Sandfort is ranked as the No. 89 player nationally by THE ALMANAC.
• Senior Tony Perkins has a team-high 47 career starts as a Hawkeye and he’s the team’s leading returning scorer after averaging 12.3 points per game in 2022-23. The Indianapolis native is a preseason second-team All-Big Ten selection by THE ALMANAC.

SANDFORT: JULIUS ERVING WATCH LIST

Junior Payton Sandfort is one of 20 players named to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Preseason Watch List — an award that recognizes the top small forwards in men’s college basketball annually.
• Sandfort is one of three players in the Big Ten on the preseason watch list.
• The forward is also listed as a potential “breakout” star by Jon Rothstein and The Athletic’s CJ Moore.

IMPACT TRANSFER

The Hawkeyes added an impact transfer to the roster in Valparaiso transfer Ben Krikke. The Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, native was a first-team All-MVC selection in 2022-23 after leading the Missouri Valley Conference at 19.4 points per game overall and 21 points in conference play. Krikke shot 55.2 percent from the field and 79.6 percent from the free throw stripe, while averaging 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
• Krikke has scored in double figure in 82 (of 122) career games, which includes 24 20-point games. He has scored 1,596 career points (13.1 career avg.), shooting 54.1 percent from the field and 80.7 percent from the charity stripe.