Hawkeyes Cruise Past Bethune Cookman in Season Opener [WATCH]
You hear the term balanced scoring attack thrown around a lot in college basketball. But the bottom line is the Iowa Hawkeye men's basketball team got a lot of scoring from a lot of Hawkeyes last night.
Iowa raced up and down Carver-Hawkeye Arena last night against Bethune Cookman. And even though the Wildcats had an NBA legend in Reggie Theus as their head coach, they were no match for this quick-paced Iowa attack. The Hawkeyes notched an easy 89-58 win for their 12th straight season-opening win, according to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
There are plenty of stats to quote you to show Iowa's dominance. The Hawkeyes shot nearly 60% for the game and had 11-0 runs in both halves. But perhaps the most impressive is the balance that Iowa's starting five showed. All five starters scored in double digits. The Gazette reports that junior guard Tony Perkins had 16 points, Kris Murray added 14 points, Patrick McCaffery had 12, Filip Rebraca had a double-double and locked down the paint, and sophomore Payton Sandfort added 13 points.
These Hawkeyes were also selfless. The Gazette reports that Iowa had 25 assists on their 34 baskets, and 11 different players had at least one assist. That brand of moving the basketball works against any opponent. Of course, the road will get tougher for Iowa which has some big-time schools on their pre-conference schedule. Next up is North Carolina AT&T at home on Friday night.