Oklahoma Tops Sloppy Hawkeyes

Uncharacteristic Turnovers, Poor Shooting Doom Iowa

Nov 23, 2023; La Jolla, California, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Brock Harding (2) dribbles the ball while defended by Oklahoma Sooners guard Javian McCollum (2) during the first half at LionTree Arena. (Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY Sports)

The one consistency for Iowa’s men’s basketball team all season has been the ability to take care of the ball.

The Hawkeyes committed double-digit turnovers for the first time this season, and it cost them in a 79-67 loss to Oklahoma in the first game of the Rady Children's Invitational tournament in San Diego.

Iowa had 14 turnovers, leading to 20 points by the Sooners. The Hawkeyes came into the game averaging a Division I-best 6.8 turnovers. They also led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.11, but had just 10 assists in this game.

Owen Freeman led Iowa with 13 points. Payton Sandfort had 12 points and Ben Krikke had 11.

The Hawkeyes will play Seton Hall in Friday’s consolation game. Oklahoma will play USC in the championship game.

Some other takeaways from the game:

MISSING THREES: Neither team shot the ball well from the perimeter, but Iowa’s misses felt more costly.

The Hawkeyes were 4-of-23 in 3-pointers — Oklahoma was 4-of-20 — and didn’t get their first 3-pointer until 12:44 in the second half.

Iowa’s five starters were 0-of-13 from behind the arc.

“We did have some really good shots,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said. “I do think we forced a couple. But for the most part I thought we had good looks at it.”

HITTING THE BOARDS: Oklahoma came into the game ranked 10th nationally in rebound margin, while Iowa was 250th. But the Hawkeyes had a 44-35 edge in rebounding, including an 18-9 margin in offensive rebounds.

“We recognized one, this was a really good rebounding team and two, we were not making our shots at a percentage we normally do,” McCaffery said. “We outrebounded them, so it gave us a chance. But it was clearly a struggle offensively all day long.”

THE YOUNGSTERS RESPOND: Iowa got 29 points off the bench, which consisted of freshmen Freeman, Brock Harding, Ladji Dembele and Pryce Sandfort, and sophomore Josh Dix.

Combined, those five went 10-of-23 from the field, 4-of-10 in 3-pointers, and contributed 15 rebounds.

“I thought all of the young guys were really good,” McCaffery said. “I thought those guys, collectively, were good defensively. They battled on the glass, they executed our stuff, and they were good in both halves.”

DEFENSE LACKING: Oklahoma overcame its poor perimeter shooting by getting better looks elsewhere.

The Sooners shot 48.4 percent for the game, 55.2 percent in the second half. Oklahoma got 46 points in the paint, and McCaffery said defensive breakdowns led to much of that.

“When your offense isn’t clicking, your defense has to be locked in,” he said. “We were battling on the glass, big-time. I’m really proud of that. But off the dribble, a few of the post-ups, a few of the drive-and-kicks gave us problems.”