Kris Murray leads Iowa Rout of Georgia Tech

Hawkeye Junior Scores 31, Grabs 20 Rebounds Tuesday Night

Iowa's Kris Murray (24) dribbles between Georgia Tech's Jalon Moore (14) and Miles Kelly (13) on Nov. 29, 2022 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Kris Murray’s final rebound was the final one of Iowa’s 81-65 win over Georgia Tech in Tuesday’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.

The uncontested rebound on Lance Terry’s corner 3-point try completed one of the more historic individual nights in program history.

Murray had 31 points and 20 rebounds, becoming the first Iowa player to go 30 and 20 in a game since Bruce “Sky” King did it in 1977.

Asked which number was more impressive, guard Connor McCaffery said, “The rebounds.”

McCaffery’s father agreed.

“A lot of guys can get 30 points,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “But very few people are going to get 20. Most guys that are getting 30 (points) aren’t rebounding. So I think that’s impressive.”

Both numbers were career highs — Murray set his previous career high just eight days earlier at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, when he had 30 in the win over Omaha.

“I feel like the game was coming to me today,” said Murray, who made 11 of 18 shots, including four of his eight 3-point attempts. “I knew I had mismatches down low, and I tried to take advantage of that.”

Murray was unhappy with his performances in two games last weekend in the Emerald Coast Classic in Florida. He had double-doubles in both games — 10 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Clemson on Friday, 11 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday’s loss to TCU. He was 8-of-31 from the field in the two games.

Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner sensed something would be coming from Murray.

“I told the team, ‘Hey, be ready, he’s going to come out gunning,’” Pastner said.

Murray did. He had a double-double by halftime — 15 points, 14 rebounds — part of a rebounding show by the Hawkeyes.

Fourteen of Iowa’s 29 first-half rebounds were offensive, and Murray had six of those.

“It was just to send a message early in the game,” Murray said. “We knew they were going to play different defenses, different zones. We knew they wouldn’t be able to just box out. We kind of wanted to crash the offensive glass, get some easy baskets and set the rest of the offense.”

“We were struggling shooting the ball, and he went back and got it six times,” Fran McCaffery said. “That was a big difference in the game.”

Iowa (6-1) outrebounded the Yellow Jackets (4-3) 44-35 for the game, finishing with 27 second-chance points.

“Look, we’re not a big team,” Pastner said. “We got our butts kicked on the offensive boards in the first half.”

Murray helped the Hawkeyes fight off Georgia Tech’s run to start the second half. The Yellow Jackets scored the first seven points of the half to cut Iowa’s lead to 40-36, then Murray scored eight consecutive points for the Hawkeyes, and the lead was back to 48-39.

It was an efficient offensive night for the Hawkeyes, who shot 42 percent for the game. They had 21 assists on 27 field goals.

“I thought we moved it side-to-side, I thought we pass-faked and drove it,” Fran McCaffery said. “We mixed our drives and our in-and-outs, and we were really looking for each other. That's kind of who we are and that's how we have to play.”

Iowa got 13 points from Filip Rebraca. Tony Perkins had 11 points. Connor McCaffery had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Miles Kelly led Georgia Tech with 21 points.