IOWA CITY – The Iowa Hawkeyes host the Alabma State Hornets Friday night in a non-conference matchup inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
Iowa beat Alabama State, 108-82, in 2021.
SCOUTING ALABAMA STATE
• The Hornets opened the 2023-24 season with a 69-59 road loss at Ole Miss on Nov. 6. ASU posted a 90-69 win over LaGrange in its lone exhibition.
• Junior guard TJ Madlock is a second-team preseason all-conference selection. Madlock was the SWAC New- comer of the Year in 2023 after averaging 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds.
• Alabama State was picked to finish eighth in the SWAC Preseason Poll in a vote of the league head coaches and SIDs.
SERIES HISTORY
• Friday’s game will be the fifth meeting all-time between Iowa and Alabama State. The Hawkeyes are 4-0 all-time in the series that began in 2001.
• Iowa has put up 100+ points in the last two meetings — 105 in 2018 and 108 in 2021.
• The Hawkeyes are 18-0 all-time against schools from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The Hawkeyes opened the 2023-24 season with a 110-68 victory over North Dakota on Nov. 7. The win was Iowa’s 13th consecutive season-opening victory. Iowa scored 110 points against the Fighting Hawks — the most in a season opener under head coach Fran McCaffery. The point total is tied for the sixth most during the McCaffery era.
Junior Payton Sandfort scored 21 points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, narrowly missing his first career double-double.
He made 7-of-13 field goals with three 3-pointers. It was his eighth career 20 point game and his 11th career game with 3 or more 3-pointers.
Iowa’s newcomers accounted for 49 points (44.5 percent of scoring) against North Dakota. Valpo transfer Ben Krikke had 18 points (8-of-13 FG) and six rebounds, while freshman forward Owen Freeman had 14 points (three dunks) in 15 minutes.
The Hawkeyes assisted on 23 of their 40 field goals with freshman Brock Harding dishing out seven assists in 10 minutes.
Sophomore Dasonte Bowen tied a career-high 12 points to go along with a career-best five assists in 21 minutes. It was Bowen’s second career start.
Iowa has won 84 of its last 90 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
McCaffery is 10 wins from becoming the winningest coach in Iowa basketball history. Tom Davis has 271 victories as Iowa’s head coach. • Seniors Patrick McCaffery (47) and Tony Perkins (48) have combined to start 95 games (and play in 186 games) in their collegiate careers. Perkins is Iowa’s top returning scorer at 12.3 points per game.
Iowa is one of 10 teams in the country to make the last four NCAA Tournaments and one of only three Big Ten teams to accomplish the feat (Purdue, Michigan State).
The Hawkeyes have placed fifth or better in the Big Ten standings in five straight and 10 of the last 11 years.
Iowa has won 10 or more Big Ten games in eight of the last nine seasons.
The Hawkeyes led the Big Ten and was 18th nationally in scoring offense (80.1). Iowa has led the league in scoring in seven of the last 11 seasons, including six straight years.