In 12 games this season, redshirt-junior center Riley Mulvey is seeing the most action he's experienced in four years at Iowa. With Owen Freeman undergoing season-ending surgery on his finger on Monday of this week, those minutes are only set to increase -- especially now that Mulvey is starting in his place.
"[It was] very exciting, honestly," Mulvey said on Thursday, regarding his first start at Iowa. "I was a little nervous, but I think I performed to the best of my ability."
An experimental starting lineup of Drew Thelwell, Josh Dix, Payton Sandfort, Seydou Traore and Mulvey gave the center from the northeast his first start in his career at Iowa in what was a 90-81 loss to No. 7 Purdue at home on Tuesday.
Head coach Fran McCaffery expects to roll with the same group of starters on Saturday against No. 21 Wisconsin.
"I don't see a reason to change it," McCaffery said on Thursday. I thought Riley was really good."
Now up to just over eight minutes per game this season, Iowa's head man is happy with how this season has gone for Mulvey -- even before Freeman went down and he earned his first start.
"He was playing really well in practice, so he's earned those minutes," McCaffery said on a Zoom availability just under two weeks ago. "He knows what to do. He knows what we want. He's the ultimate team guy, there's no selfishness about him at all."
In those eight minutes per game over 12 contests, Mulvey has been as impactful as he can in the time afforded to him.
"He screens, he rebounds, he defends and he's smart," McCaffery added. "That stuff equates to winning, typically."
His unselfishness has culminated in those added minutes.
"He'll do whatever he can to help our team," McCaffery said. "Whether that means be on the scout team, play in the game, be on the floor at the end of the game -- whatever it takes to help our team. ... He's a dream to have in the locker room. It's fun to watch a guy continue to develop, because there was a time when he wasn't playing much."
Though Mulvey hasn't been on the floor near as much as his counterparts at the center position, Freeman pre-injury and Ladji Dembele, his per-40 minutes stats have gotten much better in 2024-25.
Compared to his last season on the floor -- his sophomore campaign prior to redshirting last season -- per 40 minutes, Mulvey has gone from scoring 8.8 points to 13.2 points, 8.8 rebounds to 10.7 rebounds, 1.6 free throw attempts to 6.2 attempts, along with his field goal percentage sky-rocketing from 50% to 75%.
Despite the circumstances, Mulvey is grateful for where he's been and where he's going, finally seeing regular minutes after several years of getting sporadic minutes, or not playing at all.
"I think it's really rewarding being able to push through where a lot of guys nowadays would probably transfer out after the first year of not playing," he said. "I think being able to stay together as a family -- and I mean, that's the culture that Fran has built here -- it's just a family-like culture. Being able to power through, have a team-first mindset, and then eventually all my hard work paying off -- being able to get minutes from that, and being able to take advantage of it [is rewarding]."
Against the Boilermakers on Tuesday, Mulvey paired with Dembele and fellow reserve big man, Even Brauns to play a shared 40 minutes and combine for six points, five rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Like Mulvey, Brauns has experienced a bit of a roller-coaster of playing time over his two seasons in Iowa City after transferring in from Belmont. From his third-year campaign with the Bruins to his first year with the Hawkeyes, Brauns went from starting 30 of 31 games and averaging 21.3 minutes per contest to playing 3.6 minutes per game and seeing the floor just 18 times in his first year with Iowa.
Prior to Tuesday's matchup with Purdue, Brauns hadn't seen the floor since Iowa's loss at UCLA, and, including that game, his last three appearances featured just one minute of playing time per contest.
On Tuesday, he played some of the best basketball of his career with the Hawkeyes, including a sequence where he swatted a shot from Purdue forward, Fletcher Loyer and followed it up with a fastbreak layup.
"It feels good," Brauns said of seeing his first extended minutes against a Big Ten opponent this season. "It gets hard, doing the same stuff everyone else does, but not always getting always in the game -- and it's been a while since I even had a long stretch in a game. So it got hard, but I felt extreme motivation after Owen had to have surgery. The coaches were pretty open with us that the best man gets the spot. So it gave me a lot of motivation to get out there and try to prove myself a little bit."
In his final year of eligibility, Brauns is focused on relishing every single moment over his final nine games as a Hawkeye.
"It's been really weird, to be honest, especially as a fifth year guy," Brauns smiled. " I don't want any regrets with the way my career ends in college. And I think being a fifth year helps that, to be honest. Having Drew here as a fifth year, we talk about that stuff a lot. It's kind of all we got, nine more conference games, and then the tournament, and then whatever's next. So, I think it's been actually really good for me to have this kind of opportunity come. The coaches all believe in me, and my teammates all believe in me, and that all helps me a lot."
The first step of the next nine game sequence is taking on No. 21 Wisconsin at home on Saturday. The Badgers throttled the Hawkeyes, 116-85 when they matched up on January 3 in Madison.
After Tuesday's loss to Purdue, McCaffery noted that Brauns, Mulvey and Dembele needed to be more active on the glass, as the Boilermakers out-rebounded the Hawkeyes, 33-26. That rebounding discrepancy was much worse against Wisconsin last month, as Iowa was out-rebounded, 37-21.
"I think we've got to embrace physicality a little bit," Brauns said. "I think it's easy to kind of get out there, and you want to kind of play your best, and maybe you hesitate, you don't wanna be in foul trouble. I think between me, Ladji, and Riley, we kind of need to have a 'nothing to lose' mentality. We have to get out there and try to act as one unit, split three ways."
The last time the two teams faced off, Dembele and Brauns paired for just under 12 minutes, while Mulvey didn't see the floor.
"I think it's got to be a little more of a pride point for us," Brauns said. "This could be our opportunity to kind of change some of that."
And that's not the only pride point for the three big men -- or the rest of the roster. Following the 31-point victory and a team-record 21 made threes by Wisconsin, Badger guard Kamari McGee took to the mic to share some candid thoughts on Iowa's defensive efforts:
"Once we realized that they came in here to try to outscore us, and they didn't really care that much about the defensive end, we took advantage of that," McGee said. "We knew they didn't want to play defense, and all we had to do was play a little bit more defense than them and the game is ours."
According to Brauns, he and the rest of the roster heard the message loud and clear.
"We're all aware of what went on and what was said," Brauns said. "Not that we needed any extra motivation for this game. I's always competitive with those guys -- they play really hard, really physical. Obviously, about the score, and no one wants to get embarrassed like that. So, to be honest, we don't need extra motivation from something like that, but it is on the forefront of some guys' minds."
The Hawkeyes will face the Badgers in Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 12 pm CT. The game will be broadcast on NBC.
