Hawkeyes Handle Rattlers in Des Moines, 88-52

DES MOINES, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Florida A&M, 88-52, on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena in the Hy-Vee Hawkeye Showcase. The Hawkeyes move to 6-5 on the season.

The Hawkeyes wasted no time, opening the game on a 15-2 run. A balanced scoring attack in the first half had eight different Hawkeyes scoring. Iowa had 11 assists on 16 made field goals in the first 20 minutes of play. The Rattlers were held to 20 points on 9-of-30 (30%) shooting as Iowa led 43-20 at the break.

Iowa was able to build on its lead in the second half. Freshman Owen Freeman’s double-double led the way for Iowa, finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The double-double was the first of Freeman’s career. Junior Payton Sandfort knocked down two shots from deep as he finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

Senior Tony Perkins stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Freshman Brock Harding rounded out the Hawkeyes in double digits with 10 points, a new career high. Harding added two assists, two rebounds, a steal and blocked a shot.

The Hawkeyes finished the game shooting 34-of-63 (54%) from the field and 10-of-26 (39%) from deep. Iowa out rebounded Florida A&M, 47-33. The Hawkeye defense held the Rattlers to just 19-of-63 (30%) from the field.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY

“Our game plan was to really work on our motion offense, which had been a little bit stagnant. Get it moving side-to-side and get people involved. That is always going to be a function of your defense. Our defense was really good at the start of the game. [Florida A&M] has a bunch of drivers and they’ve got a really good big man. We were locked into not giving him any easy buckets inside. We were guarding off the bounce, getting out in transition, and having some space to do some things. Terrific job by everybody at executing the game plan today.”

“We were really connected. I mean we were in the gaps, slid our feet, and challenged two-point shots. They were shooting contested twos. No open threes. No easy post-ups. Just making it hard for them. Like I said, it creates opportunities for us to run.”

[Owen] was so good when he first arrived on campus. Obviously, he was a great player in high school. He was really good. I think I said it before, he had a couple of injuries in that time where he was out for a little bit. Nothing real serious but stuff that would keep him out a week to 10 days. So that limited his progress a little bit. Once he’s been healthy, he’s been spectacular. He’s such a winning player and such a character guy. He wants to execute the game plan to perfection…”

HAWKEYE NOTABLES

• Freshman Owen Freeman notched his first career double-double, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and a career-high 11 rebounds
  • It is his fifth game in double figures this season.
• Senior Tony Perkins finished with 12 points and a season-high seven assists.  It was his ninth game in double figures.
  • The seven assists are tied for a team season high and are one off his career best.
• Junior Payton Sandfort scored 13 points with a pair of 3 point field goals – his ninth game in double digits. 
  • Sandfort has made two or more 3-pointers in six straight games.
• Two freshmen – Brock Harding (10 points) and Ladji Dembele (nine points) – both posted career highs.
• The Hawkeyes made 10 3-point field goals – the second most this season.
• Iowa shot 54 percent from the field – its fifth game shooting 50 percent or higher.  The team is 4-1 in such games.
• Iowa held FAMU to 52 points – the Rattlers’ season low, the fewest Iowa has allowed this season and the fewest the Hawkeyes have allowed since 2021. Portland State scored 51 points against Iowa on Nov. 26, 2021.  
• The Hawkeyes limited the Rattlers to 30.2 percent shooting – the lowest by a Hawkeye opponent this season.
• Iowa improves to 2-1 in neutral site games this season. 
• The Hawkeyes are 151-31 when scoring at least 80 points and 95-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 61 points, the last 13 years.
• Iowa led 43-20 at the break – its second largest halftime lead of the season.
• Today’s victory was head coach Fran McCaffery’s 267th career win.  He is five victories from becoming the winning coach in Iowa basketball history.
• The Hawkeyes had 22 assists; this is the fifth game this season the squad has totaled 20+ assists. Iowa is 4-1 when registering at least 20 assists.

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes return to action Wednesday, hosting UMBC at 7 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.