Thursday night, Payton Sandfort will take the court at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for one final time, as Iowa takes on Big Ten-leading Michigan State (7:00 PM CT, FS1).
The game will be Senior Day for Sandfort, but it comes at the end of a senior season that's seen things go sideways more often than not as the Hawkeyes have skidded to a 15-14 overall record and a 6-12 mark in Big Ten action.
This isn't what anyone -- not Sandfort, not his teammates, not the Iowa coaching staff, not the Iowa fanbase -- envisioned when he announced his decision last summer to return to Iowa City for his senior season.
"There's been a lot of really tough nights. It sucks," Sandfort said earlier this week. "This season, it hasn't been what I dreamed of. When I made the decision in May to come back to school, you have all these goals and these dreams, and you picture what it's gonna look like and things have gotten in the way of that."
2024-25 was going to be a year of ending on a high note, a season in which Sandfort built on his breakthrough junior campaign (16.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.7 apg on 44.6 FG%/37.9 3FG%/91.1 FT% shooting) and solidified his NBA Draft stock, while helping lead Iowa back to the NCAA Tournament after the Hawkeyes missed out on the Big Dance in 2023-24. Instead, injuries rocked Sandfort and the rest of the Iowa roster from the beginning of the season, the high-flying Hawkeye offense got more inconsistent, and the oft-maligned Hawkeye defense hit new lows in several blowout road losses.
"There's been a lot of tough games, a lot of tough nights," Sandfort said of this season. "It hasn't been easy. When I made the decision to come back in May, I did it for myself, but I also did it for the program," Sandfort explained. "I love this program, I wanted to do so many great things, I felt like there were things we still hadn't accomplished."
On a team level, the season has been a nightmare for Sandfort and the Hawkeyes. Dreams of returning to the NCAA Tournament withered during a stretch of 10 losses in 13 games in January and February, when things went from bad to worse for Iowa in the Big Ten.
The only shot of making it to the NCAA Tournament now would be the most improbable five wins-in-five days march through the Big Ten Tournament in major conference history -- and the opportunity to do that would require Iowa to scrape together at least one more regular season win (either tonight at home against Michigan State or at Nebraska on Sunday). Even a return trip to the NIT looks extremely unlikely with the Hawkeyes on pace for their worst record since going 14-19 in 2017-18.
On an individual level, the season has been a disappointment for Sandfort as well, as his numbers are flat from what they were a season ago, with worse shooting at all levels.
Sandfort hasn't been able to boost his NBA Draft stock; if anything, his performances this season may have only highlighted question marks about his ability to produce at the NBA level. There was always going to be a greater share of the offensive load on Sandfort's shoulders after the departures of Tony Perkins, Ben Krikke, and Patrick McCaffery after last season.
Unfortunately, that load became even greater than expected when Owen Freeman suffered a finger injury that prematurely ended his sophomore season. Sandfort has been the focal point of defenses all season, but especially in Freeman's absence and his numbers have declined somewhat in the face of that increased defensive pressure.
"I cant imagine there's many people who hate losing more than I do," said Sandfort. "I pretty much beat myself up from the minute the game ends until the next game begins. I think my pursuit of being as good as I can has paralyzed me at times and it's kind of affected my play. I'm trying to work through that."
Star players get showered in praise when things are going well, but drowned in criticism when things go poorly -- that's the bargain for being a star. As the senior leader for this team, Sandfort has found himself in that star role more often than not this season; given how the year has played out -- for the Hawks and for Sandfort himself -- he's been on the receiving end of plenty of criticism.
"It hasn't been easy," Sandfort said. "There's been a lot of bumps and bruises, a lot of tough days. A lot of people quitting on us, got death threats, got all sorts of stuff this year, but I never quit. It hasn't been easy, but of all the years, this might be the year I'm most proud of myself."
It's understandable, at least to an extent -- the death threats that Sandfort said he's received go far beyond any sort of reasonable or understandable criticism and are the sort of hyperbolic negativity that showcase how unhinged fandom too often becomes in the modern era. There is no scenario in which sending a death threat to Sandfort -- or any basketball player -- is justified and anyone who's done so should feel deep shame at behaving in such a monstrous fashion.
But even if the critiques are understandable on a certain level, they're also deeply unfortunate. No one is more invested in the play of Payton Sandfort and the Hawkeyes this season than Payton Sandfort. He's given everything -- his time, his energy, his sweat, his blood, his tears -- to this team and this season and his reward has been a year that everyone involves will want to forget as soon as possible.
"I worked as hard as I ever have - I've never worked as hard I did this off-season, from the day that Utah game ended in the NIT until up to the season," Sandfort said.
In a better world, one where the injury gods were kinder to the Hawkeyes and the team found a way to play with more consistent defensive intensity, this season would have been the sort of celebration that a player like Sandfort deserves. An in-state prep star at Waukee, Sandfort committed to Iowa in 2020 and never wavered in that commitment.
"No one was really giving me a chance to have a good or great career here at Iowa," Sandfort noted. "I was kind of under-recruited, I came out of COVID. I was really just coming out of high school hoping that I could make an impact on this program."
In an era of unprecedented player movement as a result of the transfer portal and NIL opportunities, Sandfort has never hesitated in his commitment to Iowa during his time in Iowa City, either. He's worked his ass off for four years, bled black and gold through all the wins and all the losses and continued to battle for himself, his teammates, and his program.
"You know, this isn't the season I wanted to be defined by," Sandfort said. "[But] in a way, this is kind of the person that I am and what I want to be defined by -- when times were the toughest and things weren't going well, I stayed true to my character and kept fighting. When I had every out possible - I could have called it in January, I could have called it in November, I could have backed down, but I never did."
It's harder to remember now, with Iowa mired in its worst season in eight years, but there have been a lot of ups during Payton Sandfort's time at Iowa, too. Sandfort earned Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year honors in 2023 after averaging 10.3 ppg and 4.1 rpg on 40.4% shooting from the field (34.3% from 3-point range). On a team level, Iowa won 26 games -- including a four wins in four days march through the Big Ten Tournament -- and made the NCAA Tournament in 2022, then won 19 games and returned to the NCAA Tournament in 2023.
"Now, going through the years, winning a Big Ten [Tournament] championship, winning Sixth Man of the Year, and being a part of a couple NCAA Tournament teams," said Sandfort. "After that, bringing in my brother, having him be here with me. Just getting the chance to live out my dream and do so many great things. Right now it kind of feels like a lot of that is being overshadowed by the circumstances of this season."
There's an element of serendipity to Sandfort's final home game being against Michigan State as well -- the last time Sparty visited Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Sandfort helped engineer an absolutely incredible 112-106 overtime comeback victory for the Hawkeyes.
The misery of the current season makes it harder to remember the better times and the positive accomplishments that Sandfort and Iowa have had in the last few years. Thursday's game against Michigan State is one more chance -- one final chance -- for Sandfort to end his Iowa career on a high note, and he's relishing that opportunity.
"It's pretty special [paying in CHA one last time]. Being a kid from the state, having one chance, one more game to do this thing through all the ups and the downs and how tough this year has been," said Sandfort. "It's going to be special walking out there and getting to play Michigan State, a storied program and a top 10 team in your home building. Getting to swing at them one last time will be quite an experience."
