ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Michigan, 88-78, on Saturday evening at the Crisler Center. The Hawkeyes move to 12-8 on the season and 4-5 in conference play.
Junior Payton Sandfort led all scorers with 26 points, which tied a career high. He caught fire in the second half, scoring 21 points after the break. Sandfort tied a career high with six 3-pointers, including five in the second half.
Senior Tony Perkins finished with his third-straight 20-point game. He scored 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Perkins became the 52nd player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. He dished out five assists and had three steals.
Freshman Owen Freeman added 15 points and nine rebounds. Freeman blocked three shots, the seventh time this season he’s tallied 3 or more blocks in a game.
After a back and forth first half that featured 10 lead changes, Iowa trailed 44-42. The Hawkeyes were able to pull away from the Wolverines in the second half behind hot shooting from beyond the arc and stellar team defense. Michigan shot 9-of-32 (28%) from the field and 5-of-14 (35%) from three in the second half. The Hawkeyes held the Wolverines to 1-of-12 shooting over the final 10:05.
Iowa shot 31-of-58 (53%) from the field and 8-of-16 from three. The Hawkeyes were perfect from the free throw line, shooting 18-of-18.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
“We shot it well. I thought, you know, the end of the first half was probably the most important thing. They were up nine and they were shooting the ball really well. We fought and cut it back to two. We started the second half on fire. Kind of like they did against us when we played them at home. They scored a bunch early. But once we got the lead, we were able to hold onto it. I thought we were tough on the glass, tough defensively. We executed our stuff and mixed in our running game. We had a lot of guys play well.”
“I think a couple things. Number one, [Payton] knows we are going to stay with him. He knows I’m going to let him keep firing. He couldn’t make a shot yesterday in practice. He didn’t make a shot. I just said, ‘Look man. We know what you can do. We are going to keep going to you. You just keep firing.’ He said, ‘coach I’m going to make seven tomorrow’. I believed him. He lied; he made six.”
GAME NOTABLES
- The Hawkeyes went on a 10-0 run to begin the second half, erasing a 44-42 halftime deficit.
- Iowa outscored Michigan, 46-34, over the final 20 minutes.
- It is the team’s first win when trailing at the half this season (1-5).
- Iowa has won back-to-back road games (at Minnesota, at Michigan). The team is 2-4 on the road this season.
- Senior Tony Perkins recorded his third straight 20-point game, finishing with 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting to go along with five assists and three steals.
- His field goal at the 11:41 mark in the second half made him the 52nd 1,000 point scorer in program history.
- It is the first time in his career he has scored 20+ in three straight games.
- It was Perkins’ sixth 20-point game this season and the 12th of his career.
- Perkins also had five assists, his seventh game with five or more assists.
- It was his eighth game this season with at least three steals.
- Junior Payton Sandfort tied a career-high with 26 points, making 10-of-14 field goals, including 6-of-8 3-pointers.
- Sandfort scored 21 of his 26 points in the second half.
- It was his fourth 20-point game this season.
- The forward tied a career-high with six 3-pointers.
- He has made at least five 3-point field goals three times, four seven times and three or more in 11 games.
- Freshman Owen Freeman finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and three blocks. He made 5-of-9 field goals and went 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
- The forward has scored in double digits in seven of the last eight games and in 12 contests this season.
- It is his seventh game with three or more blocks. He has 34 blocks this season, tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in program history.
- The Hawkeyes shot 53.4 percent from the floor, making 31-of-58 field goals. Iowa shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the second half.
- Iowa is 9-1 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
- Iowa made eight 3-point field goals. The team is 7-1 when making at least eight 3s.
- Iowa went 18-of-18 from the free throw line, tying a single game school record. It is the sixth time in program history the team has made 100 percent of its free throws (min. 13 attempts).
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes remain on the road, traveling to Bloomington to take on Indiana on Jan. 30. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. (CT).
