Hard-Working Hawkeyes Hammer UND

Iowa Basketball Cruises in Season-Opener

Iowa's Payton Sandfort takes a shot during a game against North Dakota on Nov. 7, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HN)

Iowa’s 110-68 season-opening win over North Dakota wasn’t even 30 minutes old before freshman point guard Brock Harding was back out on the court.

Headphones on, Harding was getting up shots at the south basket.

Such work, forward Payton Sandfort said, is what this team is all about.

“This is really one of the most hard-working teams I’ve ever been on,” Sandfort said after scoring a game-high 21 points. “People are constantly in in the mornings, coming in throughout the day (before) practice.”

The Hawkeyes are keeping to themselves at this point. There’s not much attention — attendance for Tuesday’s game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena was just 7,653 — and the lack of expectations is something the players have noted as they quietly go about their work.

But this win had a little noise to it. The 110 points were the most scored by an Iowa team in a season opener under coach Fran McCaffery, with six players scoring in double figures.

“We have so many good players and I don’t think people know this, how deep we are,” Sandfort said. “I think it’s a really connected group.”

Connected, indeed. The Hawkeyes had just one turnover in the first 23 minutes — Sandfort lost the ball six seconds into the game and sheepishly admitted, “My bad” — and finished the game with seven turnovers against 23 assists.

Iowa also shot 53.3 percent from the field, 61.8 percent in the second half.

“I think Payton hit on it,” said forward Ben Krikke, a fifth-year senior who transferred from Valparaiso in the offseason and scored 18 points in his first game with the Hawkeyes. “There are so many scoring threats. We run the floor so well. We get a lot of possessions in the game, and that leads to more scoring.”

The Hawkeyes weren’t comfortable with the slow start they had in last week’s exhibition game against Quincy University. So they started this game with a 21-9 run on the way to a 56-32 halftime lead.

“We came out really flat against Quincy, and we were talking about wanting to come out and punch them in the mouth,” Sandfort said. “Which, I’m really proud of the way we did that.”

It’s hard to scout season-opening opponents these days, with so much roster movement with the NCAA’s transfer portal. But McCaffery said he thought it was “necessary” to have such a good start against the Fighting Hawks because of what he knew about them.

“I have a lot of respect for this team,” McCaffery said. “Watched them on film, they’ve got some veteran guys, a couple of transfers, and a really good freshman class. “So it was incredibly important that we set the tone defensively, and create some offense from our defense.”

Iowa got 31 points off 19 North Dakota turnovers.

McCaffery, like he did against Quincy, went 10 deep for the bulk of the game, and got contributions from everyone. Freshman Owen Freeman had 14 points, Dasonte Bowen had 12 points, Patrick McCaffery had 11, and Perkins added 10. Harding had six points and a team-high seven assists. Freshman Ladji Dembele had eight points, hitting two 3-pointers.

“It’s kind of how we put this team together,” Fran McCaffery said. “A lot of different guys who can make plays.”

The only glitch came late in the first half, when the Hawkeyes made just 1-of-9 shots and North Dakota got to within 39-24.

“There was a stretch there in the first half when I thought we went a little rogue, and had some ill-advised shots” McCaffery said.

Iowa led 48-32 before closing the half with an 8-0 run that took just 83 seconds.

The Hawkeyes finished the night 40-of-75 from the field, 12-of-24 in 3-pointers.

It was a noisy night with so many left to go.

“I think this is far from a finished product,” Sandfort said. “We had some mistakes tonight but the ability of a lot of our guys is going to really show throughout the year. I think you'll see constant improvement.”