MBB Preview -- B1G Opener at Purdue

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team opens Big Ten Conference play on the road in West Lafayette, facing nationally-ranked Purdue on Monday at 6 p.m. (CT) inside Mackey Arena.

FOLLOW LIVE

Radio: Monday’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: Monday’s game will be televised on BTN with Kevin Kugler (play-by-play), Robbie Hummel (color) and Andy Katz (sideline) on the call.

OPENING TIP

• Iowa hits the road to open Big Ten Conference play, traveling to West Lafayette to face nationally-ranked Purdue. It is the second time in three seasons the Hawkeyes will play their league opener at Purdue and it is Iowa’s second road game against a top-10 ranked opponent this season.
• Ahoy 100. Iowa hit the century mark for the second time this season, scoring 103 points in the Nov. 29 victory over North Florida. The Hawkeyes have scored 100+ points 11 times since the start of the 2021-22 season.
• Monday’s game at Purdue will be the 100th career games for seniors Patrick McCaffery and Tony Perkins.
• Graduate Ben Krikke and senior Tony Perkins notched Iowa’s sixth and seventh 20-point scoring outputs in the win over the Ospreys, as both players finished with 21 points. The Hawkeyes have had four different players hit the 20-point mark this season.
• Iowa has five players averaging in double figures. The team has had at least four players reach double digits in six of seven games this season.
• Krikke is leading the team with an 18.7 scoring average and he’s the only Hawkeye to score in double figures in every game. The Valparaiso transfer has made a team-high 51 field goals and is shooting 61.4 percent from the floor, which are second and third in the Big Ten.
• Big O… freshman Owen Freeman scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting to go along with five rebounds, five blocks and three steals in Iowa’s win over UNF. The five blocks are the most by a Hawkeye since Keegan Murray in 2019.
• 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.
• Iowa is one the nation’s top offensive teams, averaging 90.7 points in the first seven games. The Hawkeyes are tops in the Big Ten and eighth nationally. The team has scored at least 84 points in six games, including 110 points in the season opener against North Dakota.
• Iowa’s newcomers have accounted for 264 points (37.7 percent of scoring) in the first seven games.
• Share & Take Care: Iowa has 131 assists to 64 turnovers in the first seven games, assisting on 58.2 percent of its field goals.
• Iowa has won 87 of its last 93 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
• McCaffery is six wins from becoming the winningest coach in Iowa basketball history. Tom Davis has 271 victories as Iowa’s head coach. With his next Big Ten victory, McCaffery will also have the most league wins in program history.

LAST GAME | IOWA 103, NORTH FLORIDA 78

Iowa improved to 4-0 at home this season with a 103-78 victory over North Florida on Nov. 29. It was the Hawkeyes’ second game this season hitting the century mark. Iowa shot a season-high 59 percent from the floor and the team had five players finish in double figures. Ben Krikke and Tony Perkins led the way with 21 points apiece.

MORE NOTABLES…

• Iowa is 4-0 inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena this season and 18-3 in its last 21 home games.
• The Hawkeyes have shot 50 percent or better in four straight halves dating back to the Nov. 24 win over Seton Hall. The team shot 63.3 percent (19-of-30) in the second half in the win over UNF — its best shooting half of the season. Iowa has two 60+ shooting halves in its last two games.
• Iowa has held two opponents to under 40 percent shooting this season.
• The Hawkeyes are leading the Big Ten in free throw percentage, making 77 percent of their attempts this season.
• Junior Payton Sandfort has been Iowa’s leading rebounder (or tied for the team lead) in six of seven games this season. The forward is averaging 8.4 rebounds per game, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten.
• 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.
• Sophomore Dasonte Bowen has 23 assists to four turnovers this season. His 5.75 assist-to-turnover ration is leading the Big Ten and ranks fifth nationally.

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 18.7 points on a team-best 61.4 percent shooting.
• Krikke ranks in the top four in the Big Ten in field goals (second, 51), third in field goal percentage (.614) and fifth in scoring (18.7).
• He 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 has a team-high three 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. Against UNF, Krikke scored 21 points (5-of-9) shooting — 17 in the second half — and went 11-for-11 from the free throw line.
• Krikke is the first Hawkeye to go perfect from the line (at least 10 makes) since Jordan Bohannon (10-for-10) in 2019.

BIG O

Freshman Owen Freeman has been a steady contributor as Iowa’s top reserve in the front court. The Illinois native is averaging 10.3 points on 62.2 percent shooting. He has a team-high 15 blocks to go along with seven steals.
• Freeman has reached double digts in three games, including scoring a career-high 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the win over North Florida. He had five rebounds, five blocks (three in the matter of seconds on a single possession) and three steals in the game. His block effort was the No. 4 play of the day on SportCenter’s Top 10 plays.
• His five blocks were the most for the program since Keegan Murray had five blocks against Longwood in 2021.
• Freeman has three or more blocks in three games this
season and five or more rebounds twice. He is fourth in the Big Ten and 35th nationally with 15 blocks.

TP SHINES

Playing with a heavy heart following the death of his grandmother earlier in the week, senior Tony Perkins delivered his best game of the season in Iowa’s 103-78 victory over North Florida on Nov. 30. The Indianapolis native scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting with two of his field goals coming from 3-point range. He scored 12 points before the game was eight minutes old.
• Perkins has reached double figures in six of seven games this season, including two 15+ point contests. He is third on the team with a 12.9 scoring average, while being tied for the team lead in steals (9), ranking second in rebounds (5.1) and third in assists (19).

AT THE LINE

The Hawkeyes get to the free throw line early and often under head coach Fran McCaffery and the team routinely makes more free throws than its opponents attempt.
• Iowa has made 23 more free throws (137) than its opponents have attempted (114) through seven games.
• The team has made more free throws than its opponent has attempted in six of the seven games this season.
• The Hawkeyes are averaging 19.6 makes at the free throw line this season — 19th-most in the country.
• Iowa attempted a season-high 46 free throws (made 32) against Arkansas State. The 46 attempts are the third-most in the McCaffery era.
• The Hawkeyes are 4-0 this season when attempting 20 or more free throws