By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IOWA – A new season of the Fran McCaffery led Iowa Hawkeye Men’s basketball team is here! Tonight’s was the second time we saw the Hawkeyes take the floor as  posted a 102-81 victory over Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 25 in its lone exhibition game.

The Hawkeyes shot 59.4 percent from the floor and made seven 3-pointers in the game. Iowa’s big three of Payton Sandfort (23), Josh Dix (22) and Owen Freeman (21) combined for 66 of the team’s 102 points and the trio combined to make 28-of-40 field goals, shooting 70 percent in the game.

Iowa has won its last 13 regular season openers and are 13-1 in season openers under Fran McCaffery. Iowa has won 89 of its last 95 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.  The Hawkeyes’ first three games against Texas A&M Commerce, Southern and South Dakota are part of the Kenny Arnold Classic. See what led them to their 22 point victory tonight here.

1st half: The Hawkeyes started off slow this evening, starting just 5-14 from the field. The positive in that was most of the attempts were open looks. Seydou Traore was in street clothes tonight with a boot on his foot, so we saw Fran McCaffery go deep into his bench early when Ladji Dembele picked up a couple of early fouls.

Before the eleven minute mark, Iowa had already put ten different guys on the court. Texas A&M Commerce stuck around and then some as they had a 18-17 lead over the Hawkeyes with 8:18 till the half.

Similar to Iowa’s exhibition last week, too many turnovers and easy opportunities inside the arc on defense kept their opponent in the game. A&MC shot 10-16 (62.5%) from two in the first half and had seven turnovers.

A positive for the Hawkeyes were the eleven turnovers they forced, both Brock Harding and Payton Sandfort had a pair of steals themseleves. Both Payton (8) and Pryce (7) were the leading scorers for the Hawkeyes in the half, knocking down three shots from deep combined.

2nd half: The second half started very similar to how the first half ended, Iowa giving up way too many easy looks inside. Texas A&M Commerce made five of their first seven shots from two in the second half as they continued to hold the lead under double digits.

At about the 14 minute mark, a switch flipped for Iowa. They sparked an 11-0 run in just two minutes, capped off by a Drew Thelwell dunk on the break that the entire arena got excited for. Thelwell put together a very solid opening day performance with ten points, two steals and finished the game +17. His upside as a defender as well as Seydou Traore when healthy, could be a huge factor for the Hawkeyes success this season.

Late in the game Iowa went on a 13-2 run over four minutes to put the game out for reach, the ability to make defensive adjustments is not always the Hawkeye’s greatest strength, but tonights game was good sign.

Eight different Hawkeyes played over 15 minutes and five got into double digits, led by Payton Sandfort (20). Next up, Southern University on Thursday night.

Check out what Coach Fran McCaffery and the Sandfort brothers after the game here: