Tony Perkins Hones In with Heavy Heart

Iowa Guard Honors Late Grandmother with Prime Performance Wednesday

Iowa's Tony Perkins lines up a shot during the team's annual media day on Oct. 2, 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

Tony Perkins knew not playing was not an option.

He knew that grief would not be an excuse his grandmother would accept.

So Perkins played, and every shot was a memory of her.

Perkins scored 21 points in Iowa’s 103-78 win over North Florida on Wednesday.

Perkins made his first five shots, and eight of 10 for the game, and when he left the court for the final time he went one by one down the Iowa bench, collapsing each time into the arms of coach Fran McCaffery and his teammates as he mourned his grandmother’s death two days earlier.

“Honestly, I had zoned everything out,” Perkins said. “It was just memories in my head as I was playing.”

Perkins didn’t practice with the Hawkeyes on Monday, but worked out on Tuesday and went through Wednesday’s shoot-around.

There was no way he wasn’t going to play in this game.

“My grandma would have never let me sit out a game,” Perkins said, smiling. “She wouldn’t care if I was hurt, couldn’t walk. ‘No, you’re playing. You’re playing. I’m going to be watching.’”

“It’s truly remarkable, and it speaks to his character,” McCaffery said. “He obviously played a spectacular game at both ends of the floor. He showed great leadership, great intensity. I think it was just amazing to see how focused he was under the circumstances.”

Perkins had 12 of Iowa’s first 19 points.

“As I was warming up before the game, I wasn’t missing,” Perkins said.

How he started didn’t surprise McCaffery.

“If you would have talked to me before the game, I would have predicted it, just knowing him,” McCaffery said. “That’s what makes him special.”

“I mean, Tony Perkins is Tony Perkins,” said freshman Owen Freeman. “He started right from the jump. He obviously had a point to prove and he had a little bit more to play for. So I mean, just to go out and see him do that, it’s really something special.

“Tony, he’s a special player.”

Perkins played 30 minutes, the most of any Hawkeye.

The Hawkeyes (5-2) pulled away from North Florida (4-4) after leading just 47-43 at halftime.

McCaffery knew the Ospreys would be a hard team to guard — they were 12-of-31 in 3-pointers, but also had 34 points inside.

“They play a unique style,” McCaffery said. “They've got quickness and drivers, but they're gonna shoot somewhere between 30 and 40 threes every game. It's over 50 percent of the shots typically. So that is obviously going to stretch the defense.”

Iowa also got 21 points from Ben Krikke, with 17 of those coming in the second half. Freeman and Patrick McCaffery each had 16 points. Payton Sandfort had 10.

Freeman blocked five shots, including three in a three-second sequence in the second half.

Freeman blocked the layup attempt of Oscar Berry after an Iowa turnover, then swatted back-to-back shots from Dorian James.

“I turned the ball over, so I had to kind of make up for it,” said Freeman, although the turnover was credited to Patrick McCaffery. “I was kind of able to time James’ shots — I kind of grabbed the rim on the first one, but we won’t talk about that.”

After the third block, Perkins got the rebound and started a fast break that ended when Freeman was fouled going to the basket.

“I was pretty exhausted (after the third block),” Freeman said.

Perkins came out of the game with 1:38 to play, with Freeman following nine seconds later. He was the last one to hug Perkins.

“They’ve helped me with everything,” Perkins said of his teammates. “They have my back.”