(Iowa City, IA) – The Iowa Hawkeyes move on in the NIT Tournament after defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 91-82. Iowa now leads the series 5-4 overall in just nine meetings with the Wildcats. The last meeting between the two was in 2008 before Head Coach Fran McCaffery started coaching at Iowa.
Iowa was led on the night by Payton Sandfort who continues to lead the Hawkeyes in every game this season. Sandfort knocked down 30 points while hauling in 12 rebounds for a double-double and shot 9-14 from the field. Sitting right beside him was Ben Krikke who shot 9-15 from the field and had 24 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, and swiped away three steals. The last double-digit scorer for Iowa was freshman Owen Freeman who had 10 points, six rebounds, and two blocks. Tony Perkins was just shy of nine points while dishing out eight assists on the night.
On the opposite side, Kansas State was led on the night by Dai Dai Ames who had a total of 16 points while shooting 4-5 from beyond the arc and also dished out five assists. Sitting just one point behind was Will McNair Jr. who had 15 points while hauling in seven boards. Cam Carter had a total of 13 points while also swiping away three steals while shooting just 5-14 from the field. The last double-digit scorer for K-State was David N’Guessan who shot 5-6 from the field with 12 points and had seven rebounds.
Kansas State outscored Iowa in the paint 50-28, but could not knock down the three-pointer as the Wildcats shot just 8-30 from the field and Iowa went 11-23 from beyond the arc. The Hawkeyes had a rebounding advantage 41-38 and shot 22-30 from the charity stripe. Kansas State also had a 38-12 advantage in bench points while Iowa led for over 39 minutes of the game.
Iowa will face off against Utah in the second round of the NIT.
