IOWA CITY -- It's no secret that Payton Sandfort is the guy for Iowa going into the 2024-25 season. The leader of the team, Sandfort also returns as the top scorer and rebounder from last season's roster. He is the straw that will stir the drink for the Hawkeyes this season.

But he's not the only Sandfort Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeyes will lean on for production this season. Payton's younger brother and sophomore wing, Pryce, is expected to take a large step forward this season after putting together one of the more productive off-seasons on the team. He averaged 2.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per game last year.

"He got in the weight room, so he put on probably 12 pounds of muscle," McCaffery said at Iowa's media day on Tuesday. "So he is way more physical. He's always had great length. He's always been an underrated defender with his length, and he will rebound his position well."

That, and his calling card -- shooting -- has only gotten better.

"At the end of the day he's just really shooting the ball at an incredibly high clip on a consistent basis," McCaffery added. "We stat everything from every five-on-five situation every practice. So from the second week of June into October, he's killing it."

For Pryce, it all started last season when he asked the staff to start playing more on scout team.

"It's all just confidence with me," Pryce said. "When I went to scout team last year, that really helped. I was able to play free, play like myself -- like I know how to. Bringing that into this year has helped loosen up my game and got me back to what I was doing."

Coincidentally, playing on the scout team allowed him to focus on helping his teammates more than on how he was playing at any given moment.

"I was trying to get our guys ready to go," he said. "Maybe I wasn't going to play the most minutes, but I was going to do whatever I could to get those guys ready to go win some games. I think that really boosted my confidence."

Though the scout-team days and practices got him to where he wanted to be, it wasn't an easy first season in black and gold for Pryce.

"It was definitely tough at first," he said. "I'd never not started a game since I'd been playing basketball. Coming off the bench and not playing very many minutes was definitely a tough transition. Once I accepted my role, which I needed to, it ended up being a great year."

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Through those difficult stretches in 2023-24, McCaffery saw things start to materialize for Pryce, too.

"In Pryce's case there was so much more in his game than we were seeing in the beginning, and you started to see it manifest itself at the end of the year," Iowa's head man said. "He made a concerted effort from an attitude perspective. He was going to be more physical. He was going to be more aggressive."

Pryce's freshman year proved to be a positive experience, and it prepared him for what's ahead.

"I learned patience, not knowing when I was going to get in, always being ready," Pryce said. "That's kind of prepared me for this year, being a guy that's probably going to have a bigger role."

This season, he's expected to play a mixture of the two and three positions, potentially flipping to shooting guard if Josh Dix is on the bench or filling in at point guard.

"I'll be coming in and hitting shots. Obviously, that's what I'm known to do," Pryce said. "Also, just making the right play. I've been playing a lot more at the two, so I've been having the ball in my hands a lot more. I'll be making plays for other guys more and playing off the dribble. Those have been my focuses."

The two transfer portal acquisitions Iowa made this offseason have opened things up as well, and a certain returning sophomore point guard has made things easier on him when they're on the court together, too.

"We've got Drew (Thelwell) and Seydou (Traore)," Pryce said. "I think adding those guy has really freed up some of our shooters. And you know Brock (Harding), he can find me wherever I am. We have really great chemistry stemming back from last summer when we were playing together as freshman."

It's a work in progress, but things are coming together in practice.

"I'm figuring out how to get to spots where guys can see me, and how to get open with screens and stuff like that," Pryce said. "Now, I'm shooting like 15-20 threes a practice. I'm really confident in myself and I believe that every shot is going to go in."

Sandfort and Iowa will begin the 2024-25 season against Minnesota-Duluth in an exhibition game on Friday, October 25 (7 PM CT, BTN+).