MBB Preview \\ at Illinois

OPPONENT	Iowa (15-12, 6-10) at Illinois (17-11, 9-8)
LOCATION	Champaign, Ill.
DATE	Tuesday, Feb. 25
TIP-OFF	8 p.m. (CT)
RADIO	Hawkeye Radio Network
TV	FS1

 

The University of Iowa men’s basketball team heads to the Land of Lincoln to face Illinois on Tuesday at the State Farm Center in Champaign.  The game will begin at 8 p.m. (CT) at be televised on FS1.

FOLLOW LIVE
Radio: Tuesday’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: Tuesday’s game will be televised on FS1 with Brandon Gaudin (play-by-play) and Robbie Hummel (color) on the call.

OPENING TIP

• Iowa won its 15th game of the season with an 85-79 victory over Washington on Saturday inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  
• The Hawkeyes rallied from nine down in the second half -- the team’s sixth comeback victory of the season.
• Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix are combining to average 36.8 points per game in February. 
• Sandfort has scored 20+ in two straight, three of four and four of six games in February.  He surpassed 1,500 career points against the Huskies, moving into 16th place in program history in career scoring.
• In six games in February, Sandfort is averaging 19.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists, while Dix is averaging 17.5 points on 51.3 percent shooting with 13 3-pointers.
• The duo combined for 50 points against No. 7 Purdue on Feb. 4, 46 points in the Feb. 12 road win at Rutgers, 44 points in the two-point loss to Oregon on Feb. 19 and 42 points in the win over Washington.
• Iowa’s reserves scored 36 points in the win over Washington -- a season-high in a Big Ten game.
• Sandfort has 257 career 3-point field goals, five behind Jeff Horner for second place on Iowa’s all-time list.  He is the second Hawkeye all-time with 1,500+ points, 500 rebounds and 250 3s.
• Iowa is leading the Big Ten and is seventh nationally, averaging 83.9 points per game.  The Hawkeyes have the second-best field goal (.492) and top effective field goal percentage (.571) in the Big Ten. 
• Sandfort has scored 20+ eight times in the last 13 games, giving him a team-best 12 20+ point games this season.  
 • Iowa has shot better than 50 percent from the floor 12 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 10-2 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field.
• The Hawkeyes have made at least eight 3-point field goals in 22 games, including 10+ in 13 contests -- the most in a season since 2022-23. Iowa is second in the Big Ten (27th nationally), averaging 9.9 per game.  
• Iowa is leading the Big Ten in assists (18.5, 3rd in NCAA) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.86, 2nd in NCAA). The team has had 20+ assists in nine games.  The Hawkeyes have had fewer than 10 turnovers in four of their last five games.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
• The Fighting Illini have dropped three straight games -- all to nationally-ranked opponents -- to fall to 17-11 overall and 9-8 in Big Ten play.  Illinois lost at home against No. 11 Michigan State (79-65), at No. 11 Wisconsin (95-74) and a rare late season neutral site game against No. 3 Duke (110-67) in the SentinelOne Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
• Overall, Illinois is 4-7 in its last 11 games.  The Illini are 11-4 at home (5-3 at home in Big Ten play).  
• Four players are averaging in double figures with Kasparas Jakucionis leading the team at 15.5 points per game.  He also averages 5.6 rebounds and a team-high 4.8 assists, while ranking second on the team with 43 3-pointers and 26 steals.
• Tomislav Ivisic adds 12.4 points and a team-best eight rebounds and 29 blocks.  He has a team-high nine double-doubles.  Will Riley averages 11.7 points and Kylan Boswell 11.0.  Ben Humrichous has a team-best 53 3-pointers for a squad that averages 9.2 3s per game.
• The Illini have a productive bench, as the unit combines to average 27.36 points -- second most in the conference.
• Illinois is the top rebounding team in the Big Ten (43.29) and is second nationally.  The squad averages 30.07 defensive and 13.21 offensive rebounds -- both tops in the league.
• The Illini are third in the Big Ten, averaging 9.2 3-point field goals per game, while attempting a league-high 30.1 per contest.  Illinois is third in the league and 17th nationally in scoring, averaging 83.3 points per game.
• Illinois gets 17.1 points per game from the foul stripe -- second-most in league -- while attempting 22.5 free throws per game.
• Defensively, Illinois limits opponents to 41.3 percent shooting (third in the league).

SERIES HISTORY

• Tuesday’s game is the 170th meeting in the all-time series that dates back to 1908 -- a 46-36 Hawkeye win in Iowa City.
• The Fighting Illini have won two straight and seven of the last eight in the series, dating back to March 8, 2020.  Illinois swept the season series last season, winning 95-85 in Champaign and 73-61 in Iowa City.
• Illinois has won four straight in the series in Champaign with Iowa’s last win at the State Farm Center coming in 2018 -- 104-97 in overtime.
• Three of the last four meetings in Champaign have been decided by five points or less.

LAST GAME: IOWA 85, WASHINGTON 79

Iowa rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to down Washington, 85-79, on Saturday in Iowa City.  The victory was head coach Fran McCaffery’s 200th career win in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Senior Payton Sandfort led a trio of Hawkeyes in double figures, finishing with 27 points, courtesy of a 12-of-13 performance from the foul stripe.  He also led the team with nine rebounds.
• Iowa got 36 points -- a season-high total in a Big Ten game -- from its reserves and the team made 23-of-26 free throws - a season-best.  
• The Hawkeyes also won the rebounding battle, 29-28 -- moving to 7-0 when out-rebounding its opponent -- and it made 10 3-pointers.

IOWA IS...

• 6-0 when scoring 90+ points this season.
• 7-0 when winning the rebounding battle.
•12-1 when shooting more free throws than its opponents.
• 10-3 when leading at the half.

JD STEPS UP

In sophomore Owen Freeman’s absence, junior Josh Dix’s offensive production has sharply increased.  The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native is averaging 17.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.3 steals over the six games with two 20-point contests.
• He scored 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting against No. 7 Purdue in the first game post-Freeman and he finished with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting in the road win at Rutgers.  The 11 field goals were a career high.
• Dix scored 19 points -- 15 in the first half -- on 8-of-15 shooting while playing all 40 minutes in the two-point loss to Oregon.

First 21 Games
13.3 ppg., 3.1 rpg., 0.9 spg., 52.4 FG%, 45.2 3PT% 

Last 6 Games
17.5 ppg., 2.8 rpg., 1.3 spg., 51.3 FG%, 38.2 3PT%

PAYTON WATCH

Senior Payton Sandfort currently is 16th in program history with 1,519 career points, while ranking third in the record books with 257 career 3-point field goals.  He is rif3 3-point field goals shy of tying Jeff Horner for No. 2 in program history.
• He is 116 points shy of moving into the top 10 in program history in career scoring.
• With 48 points, Sandfort will become the 12th player in program history -- the first since Luka Garza -- to have back-to-back 500-point seasons.

BRAUNS' BEST GAME

Senior Even Brauns had his best game as a Hawkeye on  Feb. 19 against Oregon, scoring 15 points on 4-of-4 shooting and going 7-of-9 from the free throw stripe.  He played 22 minutes off the bench.
• It was the Iowa City native’s highest point total since posting an 18-point, 12 rebound double-double against Illinois State during the 2021-22 season when he was playing at Belmont.  Brauns scored a total of 10 points during his first season at Iowa in 2023-24.
• Brauns has scored his season-high in consecutive games -- 6 at Maryland, 15 vs. Oregon.