MBB Preview \\ Penn State

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team hosts Penn State in a Big Ten Conference game on Friday night at 8 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The game will be televised on FS1.
• Tickets for the game are $35-75 (adults) and $20-25 (youth).  
• Due to sold out performances at Hancher Auditorium over the weekend, CAMBUS services will not be available for Friday’s men’s basketball or Saturday’s men’s wrestling events.  

FOLLOW LIVE
Radio: Friday’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.
Television: Friday’s game will be televised on FS1 with Chris Vosters (play-by-play) and Nick Bahe (color) on the call.

OPENING TIP

• The Hawkeyes host Penn State on Friday night inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  Iowa has won four straight over the Nittany Lions in Iowa City.
• Iowa is leading the Big Ten and ranks fourth nationally, averaging 87.3 points per game, but the team has been held to season lows in consecutive games against UCLA (70) and Minnesota (67). 
• The Hawkeyes have the second-best field goal (.505) and effective field goal percentage (.586) in the Big Ten, ranking fifth nationally in both categories. 
• Sophomore Owen Freeman is averaging 18.3 points and 5.7 rebounds over his last three games, while shooting 77.4 percent from the field.  He has scored 20+ in two of the three games.
• Senior Payton Sandfort has scored 20+ in four of the last five games, giving him a team-best eight 20+ point games this season.  He’s averaging 19.2 points and has made 15 3s during the five-game stretch.
• Sophomore Seydou Traore scored 11 points and had a season-best six rebounds against Minnesota on Jan. 21 in a season-high 26 minutes.  It was his scoring total in a Big Ten game this season.
• The Hawkeyes have rallied to win four games this season when trailing in the second half.  Iowa came back from being 15 down in the overtime win over Nebraska on Jan. 7 in Iowa City.  
 • Iowa has shot better than 50 percent from the floor nine times and better than 60 percent three times, including a season-best 62.7 percent in the win over New Orleans on Dec. 15.  The team is 8-1 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
• Freeman is second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally with a 65.4 field goal percentage. He is averaging 16.9 points (10th in Big Ten) and 6.5 rebounds per game. He is the only Hawkeye to score in double figures in every game he has played. 
• The Hawkeyes have made at least eight 3-point field goals in 16 games, including 10+ in 10 contests. Iowa made 18 in the win over Southern -- the most since 2022 -- and 17 in the win over Nebraska .  Iowa is tops in the Big Ten (19th nationally), averaging 10.3 per game.  
• Iowa is leading the Big Ten in assists (19.4, 3rd in NCAA) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.86, 5th in NCAA). The team has had 20+ assists in eight games.

SCOUTING PENN STATE
• The Nittany Lions snapped a four-game losing streak with an 80-72 home victory over Rutgers on Jan. 20 in Happy Valley.  Penn State is 13-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Ten play.
• Penn State opened the season with 12 wins, including an 81-70 victory over Purdue, in its first 14 games before losing four straight games against Indiana, at Illinois, Oregon and at Michigan State.
• Four of the five Nittany Lion losses in Big Ten play (and five of six losses overall) have come by eight points or less.
• The Nittany Lions have six players averaging in double figures on the season with guard Ace Baldwin, Jr., leading the way with 14.7 points per game.  Baldwin also has 145 assists (second-most in the Big Ten and fourth-most nationally) and 37 steals (third-most in the league).  He has five double-doubles on the year (three 20-point/10 assist games) and is the sixth-best free throw shooter in the nation at 92.9 percent.
• Nick Kern (12.6 points), Yanic Konan Niederhauser (12.4), Zach Hicks (12.1), Freddie Dilione V (10.2) and Puff Johnson (10.2) also average in double digits.  Konan Niederhauser averages a team-best 6.4 rebounds and has a Big Ten-best 42 blocks, while Hicks has the top 3-point field goal percentage (.429) and most 3-point makes (48) in the Big Ten.
• Penn State leads the Big Ten in steals (9.3 per game) and forces 16.11 turnovers per game -- second-most in the conference.  
• The Nittany Lions are fourth in the league in scoring (84.2 points), fueled by 17.6 points at the free throw line per game.

SERIES HISTORY

• Friday’s game will be the 56th meeting in the all-time series with Iowa leading 34-21.  The Nittany Lions have won three of the last four in the series.
• Iowa won the most recent meeting, winning 90-81 in Iowa City on Feb. 27, 2024.  Payton Sandfort registered the first triple-double in Iowa men’s basketball history, finishing with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and three blocks.
• The Hawkeyes have won the last four in the series inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena and is 20-5 at home against Penn State all-time.  The Nittany Lions’ last win in Iowa City came in 2017.  

LAST GAME: MINNESOTA 72, IOWA 67

Minnesota held the Hawkeyes to their lowest point total of the season, including just three 3-point field goals in a 72-67 road win on Tuesday night inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Iowa cut a 17-point second half to just three points with 30 seconds remaining, but couldn’t get over the hump.  The Hawkeyes finished the game with a higher field goal percentage (.459-.414), but Minnesota made seven 3s and 17 free throws to Iowa’s three and eight in the contest.
• Senior Payton Sandfort notched his second double-double of the season, finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while sophomore Owen Freeman finished with 21 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go along with eight rebounds.

IOWA IS...

• 6-0 when scoring 90+ points this season.
• 5-0 when winning the rebounding battle.
•10-0 when shooting more free throws than its opponents.
• 9-1 when leading at the half.

HIGH FLYING HAWKS

Iowa is the highest scoring offense in the nation, averaging 87.3 points.  It would be the team’s highest scoring average since 1988-89 (89.6 points).
• The Hawkeyes scored 80+ points in 11 consecutive games from Nov. 26-Jan. 17.  It was the longest stretch of the McCaffery era and the longest for the program since the 1988-89 season (13 straight).
• Iowa has scored 90+ points six times this season and the team has eclipsed the 100-point mark three times.
• The Hawkeyes have averaged 80+ points in each of the last four seasons.

PAYTON WATCH

Senior Payton Sandfort currently is 19th in program history with 1,380 career points.  If Sandfort matches his 2023-24 production, he would climb to 11th place in program history.
• Sandfort is third in program history with 235 career 3-point field goals.  Should he match his junior year totals, he would finish second in program history to Jordan Bohannon (455 makes) in the record books.

THELWELL APPROACHES 1K
Graduate transfer Drew Thelwell has scored 988 career points in 132 career games at Morehead State and Iowa.  He is 12 points shy of the 1,000 point milestone.