Brotherly Love: The Sandforts Reunite in Iowa City
A signee in Iowa basketball's 2023 class, Pryce Sandfort arrived on campus just a few weeks ago, and there was a familiar face there to welcome him to Iowa City. Not just a former teammate, but his brother Payton was there waiting to show him the ropes.
"It's been pretty awesome," Payton said on Thursday afternoon. "It's been weird to have to pick him up and drive him around showing him the city. I was used to being on my own, but it's been a lot of fun. I'm super excited to have him here."
"It's been great to play together again," Pryce added. "We play pretty well together and our chemistry went right back to what it was in high school. It's been really fun to play with him again."
Reuniting on and off the court has largely been positive, but things have definitely gotten a little chippy between the brothers on the court, too.
"It's pretty bad," Payton said with a laugh. "There are some hard fouls, and there's a lot of physicality. We'll call it that. I would never do to everybody else what I do to him."
"One of the practices I hit two or three threes right in his face," he added. "Then I said 'Welcome to the Big Ten.'"
Pryce claims he doesn't recall that moment.
"No I don't remember that," he said with a smile. "I do remember hitting like five in a row on him, though."
"Usually there won't be much trash talk or anything between us," Pryce added. "That would probably end in a fight. So, we kind of have to control each other a little bit. But, we definitely go back and forth at each other just attacking each other off the dribble."
"It's been awesome overall, "Payton said. "It always makes us better. I feel like I have an edge to want to show him what this league is and how different I am from high school. He has the same mentality, so it really just pushes us higher."
"It's kind of what you grow up dreaming about," he continued. "Seeing [Pryce] walk into practice has been a little weird, but I'm getting used to it. It's been fun when we get to play on the same team and getting to do a lot of the different things that we've been doing since we were like five or six years old. So, it's been a ton of fun and I'm happy he's here."