College Basketball: Iowa defeats Seton Hall, 85-72

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA – Iowa soundly defeated Seton Hall Friday afternoon, 85-72, maintaining a lead throughout much of the game.

Iowa (4-2) improves to 3-1 all-time against Seton Hall (4-2), including posting wins in back-to-back years.

The win is head coach Fran McCaffery’s 265th as Iowa’s head coach, seven wins shy of becoming the winningest coach in school history.

Junior Payton Sandfort scored a season-high 22 points and went 7-of-14 from the field, including four 3-pointers. He also had a team-high nine rebounds.
He was named to the Rady Children’s Invitational All-Tournament team. It is his second 20-point game of the season and the ninth of his career. It is Sandfort’s second game this season with four or more 3-pointers and the eighth such game of his career.

Graduate Ben Krikke scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, making a season-high 80 percent of his attempts. He also tied for the team lead with five assists.
He has been in double figures in every game this season.
Krikke has shot at least 60 percent from the field in four games.

The Hawkeyes had at least four players reach double figures for the fifth time in six games – Sandfort, Krikke, Tony Perkins (14), Patrick McCaffery (10).

Iowa shot a season-high 56.4 percent from the floor, making 31-of-55 field goals.

It is the fourth time this season the team has shot at least 50 percent.

Iowa finished with 20 assists on its 31 field goals. It’s fourth game with at least 20 assists.

Iowa shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, making 18-of-30 field goals. It is the team’s best shooting first half of the season and second-best overall shooting half (61.8 – second half vs. North Dakota).

Krikke and Perkins scored 17 of Iowa’s first 22 points in the game… Iowa led 15-4 over first five minutes and by as many as 18 (36-18) in the first half.

The Hawkeyes limited Seton Hall to 27.5 percent (11-of-40) in the first half – the lowest shooting half of the season. The Pirates missed 11 straight shots for a 6 ½ minute stretch in the opening 20 minutes.

Seton Hall had a 36.0 field goal percentage this season, the second lowest by an opponent.

Up Next
Iowa returns to action Wednesday, hosting North Florida at 8 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will be televised on BTN.