By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IOWA – A new look starting lineup took the floor for the Iowa Hawkeyes Tuesday night as Pryce Sandfort started his second game as a Hawkeye for the injured Josh Dix. Dix missed the game with a wrist injury he sustained in Iowa’s last game, a 76-66 win over Washington State in Moline Friday night.

Fran McCaffery and the Iowa Hawkeyes Men’s basketball team won their fifth contest of the year Tuesday night 83-58 over the Rider Broncos.

The Hawkeyes were led by big performances offensively from Owen Freeman and Payton Sandfort, while Drew Thelwell and Seydou Traore shined on defense. Here is how it happened. Iowa has now won 93 of its last 99 non-conference home games since 2012.

1st half: Iowa has struggled to get started in games so far this season, but they came with an intensity that helped change that tonight. Iowa held Rider to just 2-6 with two turnovers in the first five minutes. On the other side of the ball, Iowa make 4-7 shots to start the game and added a couple free throws on top of it.

That hot start immediately turned into a drought as the Hawkeyes went on an over three and a half minute scoreless stretch. Rider plays at a very slow pace, which is very opposite of the Hawkeyes. Let a team like that control the pace and it is very hard to adjust.

They say basketball is a game of runs and this was no different. After the under twelve timeout, Iowa went on a 12-2 run in just over three minutes to take a 13 point lead. While the Hawkeyes shooting struggles (3-13 from three in the half), prevented them from pulling away early, the Hawkeye defense did not give up a single three pointer and forced ten turnovers in the half.

2nd half: Rider had to call a timeout just over two minutes into the second half as Iowa forced two turnovers and held them to 1-5 from the field out of the break. Iowa started the half a perfect 4-4 out of the break, kicking off the half on a 10-2 run.

Once the Hawkeye stretched the lead to 18 at that point, they never looked back. They held Rider to just 32 points in the second half (11-26 from the field, 1-10 from three). They also forced ten turnovers. Defensive intensity will be key in their success in conference play this year, additions Drew Thelwell and Seydou Traore continue to show how much their elite play on that side of the ball can change the game for Iowa.

Here more from Thelwell, Traore and Head Coach Fran McCaffery postgame here: