Hawkeyes cruise past SEMO
The Hawkeyes took care of business tonight and left no doubt in their 106-75 victory over Southeast Missouri State. It’s likely not a game that many people will reference at the end of the season, but for Payton Sandfort, there might not be anyone in college basketball that’s happier than him right now. He finished with a career-high 24 points on 9/13 shooting, as well as seven rebounds and two assists.
“It’s been a tough stretch, but I’m really proud of myself. I think I found myself through the stretch both on and off the court,” said Sandfort. “I’ve played this game forever and I think the biggest thing I had to get back to was playing it like it was a game again. I made it too stressful on myself and put too much pressure on myself, which makes the game really hard.”
The Hawkeyes led 29-22 just past the midway point in the first half when Sandfort went on a run. A couple of driving layups and a pull up three pointer from the logo extended the Iowa lead to 36-22. Better yet, Sandfort was back in business. Over a stretch of 4:17 Payton scored 15 points and the Hawkeyes ran away with it from there.
“This was just a matter of time,” said Coach Fran McCaffery. “He started to struggle, and he was just getting down on himself a little bit. The staff stayed positive with him, his teammates stayed positive with him, his family did.”
“The most important thing was I was just having fun again,” said Sandfort. “No one’s dropped their head about me. Everyone continues to try and help me with confidence and put that confidence into me and show me how much they love me. I love those guys.”
The Iowa offense, down Kris Murray, had no issues scoring. Filip Rebraca had 19 points at the break and finished with a career-high 30 points on 12/13 shooting, as well as nine rebounds and six assists. Rebraca said it’s been tough at times with Kris off the floor, but he has stepped up and been more aggressive in his absence.
“He’s one of our best players, if not the best player, so it’s tough at times, but also it allows us to gain confidence,” said Filip. “When he’s not out there I have to be aggressive, and I feel like I’m doing the right things and I know I can do these things…Just being aggressive I’ve opened so many things. 30 points, but also six assists.
Patrick McCaffery added 20 points and eight rebounds, while Connor McCaffery had nine points and five rebounds. The Hawkeyes lead got above 20 points just 2:20 into the second half and it never got below that threshold again, as they cruised to a 31-point victory.
“Games like these help us with our confidence, but also help us figure out things that we’ve got to do better because we’re going to see better opponents,” said Rebraca.
The Hawkeyes will wrap up the non-conference portion of the season on Wednesday when Eastern Illinois comes to town. The Panthers are 1-9 on the season, including losses to Illinois (87-57) and Ohio State (65-43). The Iowa WBB team plays Dartmouth at 2:00pm, followed by the MBB game against EIU at 7:00pm. Both games will be streamed on BTN+.