Iowa Men’s hoops wins the race to 100 over North Florida 103-78
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IOWA – Lots of points were expected today as the Big Ten leading Hawkeyes (88.7 ppg) came back home from their trip to San Diego. They hosted the North Florida Ospreys, who came into the game as one of the most elite shooting teams in the country, knocking down over ten threes a game.
The Hawkeyes have a tough stretch coming up in their next three games as they travel to Purdue on Sunday, Iowa State on Thursday, and host Michigan on December 10th.
1st half: It looks like the Hawkeyes were itching to get back into Carver-Hawkeye Arena as they came out guns blazing in the first half of this one. They put up 47 points in the half on 17/31 (54.8%) from the field and 4/5 (80%) from three.
One notable player for the Hawkeyes that turned a corner tonight was Tony Perkins. Perkins was a combined 5/23 (21.7%) from the field in his last two games. Perkins looks like a man on a mission as he started the game a perfect a 5/5 from the field and 2-2 from three for 12 points in the first eight minutes of the game. He finished the half with 14.
Owen Freeman fresh of his Big Ten Freshman of the week award continued to shine as he put up twelve points in eleven first half minutes. The center position may be occupied by new faces this year with Krikke and Freeman, but they are both showing that they are more than ready to perform at a high level.
Even with the offensive success, the Hawkeyes still found themselves battling with the Ospreys in this one as the lead was only four at the break. In a half that included a 12-0 run from 8:33 till 5:22 for Iowa, forcing four turnovers during the run.
That came in large part to North Florida knocking down seven threes in the half and putting up 43 points of their own. Iowa has never been known for their defense, but it will have to improve with Big Ten play approaching after the weekend.
2nd half: Whatever Fran McCaffery’s halftime speech was, it worked. The Hawkeyes came out on a mission in the second half to put this one away and that is exactly what they did, outscoring the Ospreys 56-35 in the second half alone.
They were led by a 17-point half by Ben Krikke, he was 5-7 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the line.
Tony Perkins also put together his performance of the season season, tying Krikke for the scoring lead with 21 points.
We also learned postgame that Perkins lost his grandmother earlier this week and has had to navigate the emotions of that devastating loss the whole week leading up tonight’s game.
Hear the emotional postgame comments from Perkins, as well as comments from Coach McCaffery and Owen Freeman after the 103-78 victory here: