Iowa wrapped up a 3-0 record on its European tour with a 106-79 win over the Barcelona All-Stars on Monday afternoon -- but the game wasn't quite as easy as the final score might suggest.

The Hawkeyes fell behind early and trailed 32-24 after the first quarter thanks to some hot shooting from outside by the Barcelona All-Stars and a bit of foul trouble. Iowa closed the gap in the second quarter, but still trailed 56-52 at the half.

The second half was all Hawkeyes, all the time. In the decisive third quarter, Iowa took firm control of the game, using a 10-2 run at the start of the quarter to take the lead. Iowa outscored the All-Stars 28-11 overall in the third quarter to take an 80-67 lead into the final period. The fourth quarter was more of the same, with Iowa outscoring the All-Stars 26-12 to finish up a blowout victory.

A box score for Iowa is available here.

What can we take away from Iowa's win over the All-Stars -- and the European tour as a whole?

Yet again the scoring load was split across several different players for the Hawkeyes -- seven different Iowa players finished in double-figures, led by Ben Krikke, Payton Sandfort, and Dasonte Bowen with 16 points each. Josh Dix and Tony Perkins each chipped in with 14 points, while Brock Harding added 12 points and Owen Freeman had 11 points.

Part of that scoring balance is the nature of these European exhibition games -- the goal is to get as many players involved as possible and rotate minutes among 10-12 guys. That rotation will shrink a bit when Iowa starts playing meaningful games this winter. But it also feels like this could be a team where 3-4 guys average 13-15 ppg than one with an alpha dog scorer averaging 20+ ppg.

Iowa has had that "alpha dog"-archetype lead scorer for each of the last four seasons -- Luka Garza in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Keegan Murray in 2021-22, and Kris Murray last season. Right now it doesn't seem like this roster has a player like that; it seems more likely that fans will see a combination of Krikke, Sandfort, Perkins, and Patrick McCaffery scoring in double figures each night. A truly balanced scoring attack could make Iowa's (perennial top-five) offense even harder to defend.

The transfer portal addition of Ben Krikke from Valparaiso already feels like a pivotal move for Iowa for the 2023-24 season. Krikke's combination of experience and versatility looks invaluable for a team in need of both in the post after the departures of Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca.

This game wasn't Krikke's finest shooting effort -- his team-high 16 points came on just 7/17 shooting, including 6/15 on 2-point tries. But Krikke's 9 points in the third quarter were key to Iowa taking control of the game and he had a very positive impact on the game in non-scoring ways as well, hauling in 8 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Krikke's ability to impact a game even if his shots aren't falling should be a big positive for Iowa this winter.

Two players who look poised to make a leap in 2023-24 are sophomores Josh Dix and Dasonte Bowen. Dix averaged 11 ppg on this European tour and shot 7/13 from 3-point range. The threat he can provide from deep will be one of the keys to Iowa's fortunes this season. He made 40% of his 3-point tries last season, albeit on just 35 attempts; he's going to get a lot more attempts this season and if he's still able to convert at a good clip, Iowa's offense will be even more threatening.

Dix's passing caught my eye more than his scoring in Europe, though -- he led the team with 16 assists in three games, an average of 5.3 assists per game. Connor McCaffery was Iowa's top assist man last season (3.7 per game), so there's a need for someone to fill that passing void -- Dix looks like he might be able to be a big help on that front.

Dasonte Bowen, Iowa's other freshman guard, also looks ready to take on a bigger role in 23-24. He averaged 12.3 ppg on the European tour on 12/22 shooting from the floor. Bowen may not crack the starting lineup this season, but he could provide some juice for Iowa's second unit.

Payton Sandfort was Iowa's leading scorer on the European tour, averaging 19 ppg while shooting 12/27 (44%) from 3-point range. Tony Perkins wasn't too far behind him, averaging 16.3 ppg during the tour. Perkins did more of his damage near the rim or at the free throw line (11/13), though he did also finish 4/6 from deep. Sandfort was also unexpectedly great on the boards, averaging 11 rebounds per game.

Along with Krikke and Patrick McCaffery, Sandfort and Perkins figure to be the core of Iowa's attack this season. Last season both guys flashed a lot of potential with some big games -- but they also had several very quiet games. Perkins finished with under 10 points in nine games, while Sandfort suffered through a horrendous shooting slump from deep in the first half of the season (15/70, or 21%).

Iowa will need more consistency out of Sandfort and Perkins in 23-24 than last season. But if they're able to reduce their number of quiet games, Iowa's multi-headed offensive attack should be a nightmare to slow down.

Most of Iowa's incoming freshman class got a lot of run on this European tour -- and they made the most of those opportunities as well. Brock Harding averaged 11.3 ppg while shooting 6/18 from 3-point range and averaging 3.3 assists per game over the tour. Owen Freeman was even more impressive, averaging 10.3 ppg and a team-best 12.3 rpg during the European tour, highlighted by 15 and 16-rebound performances against the Paris All-Stars and Valencia All-Stars in the first two games of the trip, respectively.

Ladji Dembele wasn't able to make quite as much of an impact on the European tour as he would have hoped. Visa issues prevented him from playing in Iowa's first game against the Paris All-Stars. He was able to play against the Valencia All-Stars and finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds. He wasn't able to get much run against the Barcelona All-Stars though, finishing scoreless on 0/2 shooting with 3 rebounds.

Obviously we have to take those numbers with a certain amount of skepticism, given the opposition and the nature of the exhibition tour environment. But they still flashed enough in these games to be eager to see what they might be able to do for Iowa this winter.

Harding looks like he could provide offense from the bench and the rebounding prowess of Dembele and Freeman was very eye-catching, considering that looks like one of the bigger question marks on this team. Their ability to attack the glass could definitely earn them some minutes in Iowa's rotations this winter.