IOWA CITY -- Iowa throttled USC-Upstate 110-77 in a non-conference home victory. The Hawkeyes took care of the low-major team with ease behind another career effort from point guard Brock Harding, though the roster didn't escape unscathed.
Here are three takeaways from the win.
Didn't Play with Their Food
The Hawkeyes came out scalding hot from the floor, outscoring the Spartans, 18-3 to start the game and taking a 55-28 lead into the half.
"I thought we did a really good job with the game plan, especially early," Fran McCaffery said postgame. "We got a big lead because we defended. We got our transition game going."
Owen Freeman scored 12 of the team's first 16 points in just over five minutes.
"We got the ball inside," McCaffery added. "We got Owen going early."
Once USCU began doubling Freeman, the rest of the team started to fill up the stat sheet. Iowa spread the wealth through the contest, as all 12 players that saw the floor scored, and five Hawkeyes scored in double figures.
"We got great play off the bench, Riley Mulvey and Drew Thelwell were terrific," McCaffery said. "I thought Carter Kingsbury was great. Jacob Koch came in there, hit a three and got an assists. Pryce (Sandfort) was rock solid. It was good to see Chris Tadjo get some minutes. He was flying around, and yeah, he committed four fouls, but he did some good stuff."
Mulvey, who was one of the Hawkeyes to reach double figures, scored a career-high 11 points.
"I've spent the last four years working in the gym," Mulvey said. "I've been trying to get every bucket I can. I wanted to be in the post, score every time, be strong with it, and that came in handy today. I got a lot of dunks, a lot of finishes, and they all came around the rim."
Taking on the No. 342 team in the KenPom rankings, the Hawkeyes handled their business.
Back-to-Back Career Highs for Brock Harding
In Iowa's Friday night loss to Utah State, Brock Harding set a career-high in scoring with 19 points. Just four days later, he set a new career high of 20 points.
"He's really been special lately," McCaffery said. "He's figured out when to go, when not to go, when to keep his dribble, when to play off two, when to shoot it. He's flying around defensively."
Harding finished with a double-double, adding 10 assists on the evening for a season-high.
"He's playing with a lot of confidence," McCaffery added. "When he does that, everyone else is confident."
For Harding, that confidence has come from an offseason of work.
"I trust all the work I've put in," Harding said on the postgame TV broadcast. "All the coaches tell me I'm one of the hardest workers they've ever been around. I just go out there and have the confidence I'm one of the best players on the court."
Seydou Traore Goes Down
Early in the first half, 6'7" wing Seydou Traore went down with an apparent ankle injury. the Manhattan transfer was averaging 8.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.
"It's a bad sprain," McCaffery said. "We hope it's a week or a few extra days rather than two-three weeks being out."
Should Traore have to sit out for an extended amount of time, the Hawkeyes will miss one of the most effective defenders on its roster.
In addition to Traore missing time, Cooper Koch and Even Brauns were listed as out on the pregame availability report. Though no injury was disclosed to the media, Koch is expected to miss a significant amount of time, and he wasn't on the bench for the Tuesday night victory.
Brauns was on the bench, but no update was given on his status.
UP NEXT: Iowa will take on Northwestern in its Big Ten Conference opener next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Carver Hawkeye Arena. The game will be broadcast on Peacock.
