Big things are expected for Iowa senior forward Payton Sandfort this season -- and the watch lists are taking notice. On Wednesday, the Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Sandfort bad been named to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Preseason Watch List.
This is the second year in a row Sandfort has been named to the watch list for the award. He is one of four Big Ten players on the watch list along with Indiana’s Mackenzie Mgbako, Michigan State’s Frankie Fidler and Rutgers’ Ace Bailey.
Sandfort, who elected to return to Iowa after testing the NBA Draft waters this offseason, comes back to Iowa City as the Hawkeyes' leading scorer from 2023-24, putting up 16.4 points per game. He tied with freshman center Owen Freeman for the team lead in rebounds last season as well, grabbing 6.4 boards in 30 minutes per game.
"My gut feeling was always to go back," Sandfort told the media after he made his decision to don the black and gold one final year. "I just didn't know if I could leave behind that feeling of regret of not getting to play with [Pryce] one more year and not seeing this thing out -- what we've helped build at Iowa."
Last year, Sandfort shot 44.6 percent from the floor, 37.9 percent from three and 91.1 percent from the free throw line. He ranked second in the Big Ten in free throw percentage, third in three-point percentage, eighth in scoring, 12th in field goal percentage and 13th in rebounding en route to earning third-team All-Big Ten honors.
Last Friday, Sandfort led all scorers with 23 points in Iowa's exhibition matchup with DII Minnesota-Duluth. He finished 9-of-16 from the field with eight rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes.
Getting Sandfort's production back is enormous for a young Iowa team.
"He's always been a guy that moves incredibly well without the ball," Fran McCaffery said at Iowa's media day. "He is nonstop motion. He sprints the floor in transition. He really works hard defensively. He rebounds well. So he tries to impact a game in a number of different ways."
Sandfort's leadership may be even more important for Iowa in 2024-25.
"While he was also a leader last year, I think he views himself as the guy that is going to be the voice in the locker room, the voice on the bench, the voice on the road," McCaffery said. "I’m very impressed with what he learned going through the NBA Draft process and his attitude upon return and how it relates to his teammates has been, quite frankly, what I would have expected from him."
"When he made the decision to come back, he made it for that reason, and I’m incredibly proud of him and very thankful, and so are his teammates."
Iowa opens its regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 4, against Texas A&M Commerce at 7 p.m. CT in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be televised on BTN+.
