Hawkeyes Surge in Second Half, Down Washington

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Washington, 85-79, on Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes improve to 15-12 on the season and 6-10 in Big Ten Conference play.

Washington opened the game on a 9-2 run before extending its lead to as many as 12, 21-9, with just under 12 minutes to play in the half. The Hawkeyes cut the lead to four, 23-19, with nine minutes to play in the half as the Sandfort brothers combined to score 12 of the team’s first 19 points.

The Huskies extended their lead again before the Hawkeyes ended the half on an 8-0 run over three minutes to bring the halftime deficit to just one.

After 20 minutes, Iowa trailed Washington, 34-33. The Hawkeyes never led throughout the first half. Senior Payton Sandfort led the way with seven points and three rebounds, while sophomore Pryce Sandfort added six points. Iowa had 17 points in the first half from its bench.

The Huskies responded to Iowa’s run, opening the second half on an 8-0 spurt, as the Hawkeyes' deficit went from one to nine. Iowa battle back to tie the game, 48-48, and then again, 56-56, with nine-minutes to play. Payton Sandfort gave Iowa its first lead at 59-56 as Payton Sandfort went on a 6-0 run by himself.

With 3:29 to play, the Hawkeyes led 70-66 as Washington’s offense went on a 2:30 scoring drought. Iowa pushed its lead to eight with two minutes to play as the defensve held the Huskies without a field goal for 4:30.

Iowa protected its lead as the Sandfort brothers knocked down eight free throws in the final 49 seconds.

Payton Sandfort led all scorers with 27 points, while also leading the team with nine rebounds. He finished 12-of-13 from the charity stripe. Junior Josh Dix added 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting with three assists and three rebounds. Sophomore Brock Harding rounded out Hawkeyes in double digits with 11 points, four rebounds, and five assists.

Junior Carter Kingsbury played a career high 29 minutes and the third most of any Hawkeye on Saturday.

Iowa shot 26-of-55 (47.3 percent) from the field and 10-of-21 (47.6 percent) from deep. Iowa knocked down 23-of-26 (88.5 percent) from the charity stripe and outrebounded the Huskies, 29-28.

The Iowa bench stepped up scoring 36 points, outscoring Washington’s reserves by 16 points.

HEAR FROM HEAD COACH FRAN MCCAFFERY
"You go, man-by-man. Pryce hits two big 3s early while we were struggling and two free throws late. Even gets a bucket then he gets a dunk and-one. Riley was spectacular, not only in terms of he scored the ball, but he moves it. He screens. Ladji had seven points and eight rebounds. Brock Harding was tremendous, hit three 3s and ran the show. That’s the kind of team we have, we have to really compete, and stay together, and keep grinding. It didn’t look good at the start of the game, it didn’t look good at the start of the second half. We hung in there; the crowd was great.

“It all starts with leadership. How you approach preparation, how you approach practice, scouting. Every team in this league is really good and every team in this league is different. So you have to be smart enough and tenacious enough to make those adjustments from game-to-game. Payton certainly sets the example and everybody comes with him. He has help with some other guys. Josh has been great, Carter has been great, another veteran guy. Riley’s a veteran guy. Our sophomore class is experienced, but it starts with Payton."

GAME NOTES

• Iowa rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to down Washington, 85-79, on Saturday afternoon inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. 
  • The Hawkeyes have rallied to win six games this season when trailing in the second half.
  • Iowa outscored Washington, 52-45, in the second half.
• Saturday’s win is head coach Fran McCaffery’s 200th inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Iowa had three players finish in double figures: Payton Sandfort 27, Josh Dix 15, Brock Harding 11.
• The Hawkeyes scored 36 bench points – the team’s most in a Big Ten game this season.
• Payton Sandfort led the team in scoring (27) and rebounding (9) in the game. He went 7-of-18 from the floor and 12-of-13 from the free throw stripe. 
  • With three seconds on the shot clock, Sandfort banked in a 3-pointer to tie the game at 56 before making three free throws to give the Hawkeyes their first lead (59-56) at the 8:51 mark of the second half.
  • It was Sandfort’s second-straight 20+ point game, third in four games and fourth in six contests.
  • He has a team-leading 12 20+ point games this season and 30 career 20-pont contests.
  • He surpassed 1,500 career points in the game, becoming the second Hawkeye all-time with 1,500+ points, 500+ rebounds and 250+ 3-pointers, joining Jeff Horner.
  • He moved into 16th place in program history with 1,519 career points. 
  • Sandfort's 12 made free throws mark a season high and are the second most of his career.
• Dix finished with 15 points, making 5-of-10 field goals and two 3-pointers.
• Harding reached double figures for 11th time this season, scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting.
• Sophomore Ladji Dembele grabbed eight rebounds – tying a career-high – to go along with seven points.
• Redshirt junior Riley Mulvey finished with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting – his second-highest scoring output this season.
• Redshirt junior Carter Kingsbury played a career-high 29 minutes, finishing with three points.
  • The Hawkeyes made 10 triples. Iowa has made 10+ 3s in 13 games.
• The Hawkeyes went 23-of-26 from the free throw stripe. The 23 made free throws are the most this season.
• Iowa closed out the first half on an 8-0 and 11-2 run over the final 3:36 to cut the deficit to 34-33. The Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 12 points (21-9) in the opening half.
• The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Huskies, 29-28, including 17-10 in the second half.
  • Iowa is 7-0 when outrebounding its opponent.

UP NEXT
Iowa hits the road for a pair of games, beginning with a Tuesday matchup at Illinois. The game will begin at 8 p.m. (CT) and be televised on FS1.