(Salt Lake City, UT) – In the second found of the men’s National Invitation Tournament, the Hawkeyes fell to Utah 91-82 to end the season. Iowa accumulated a 19-15 overall record.
Iowa pushed back after being down by 14 points to push within five in the second half and had a whole lot of time to work with. Utah put together a 6-0 run to push their lead back to 11 points and then went on to lead by nine points throughout the rest of the night.
The Utes were led on the night by Gabe Madsen who scored a game-high 31 points while going 9-19 from the field and 9-9 from the charity stripe. Scoring behind with 19 points on the night was Deivon Smith who also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists, earning a triple-double on the night. The last double-digit scorer on the night was Branden Carlson who had 12 points and had two blocks. Cole Bajema was just shy of double-digits with nine points and five rebounds while swiping away two steals.
Iowa was led on the night by Patrick McCaffery with 19 points and four rebounds. Josh Dix came up right behind shooting 6-9 from the field and knocked in 14 points while snagging four rebounds. After Dix, four players scored 12 points on the night, Ben Krikke, Owen Freeman, and Josh Harding. Both Freeman and Krikke snagged a combined 13 rebounds on the night.
With the conclusion of tonight’s game, Ben Krikke officially ends his college basketball career. I had the fortune of watching Krikke throughout all four years of his basketball career and followed him and the Hawkeyes all season. He was not only a great person, but a phenomenal player and was dedicated to excellence on the hardwood.
Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffery stated, “Very, very proud of this group that we made it to the postseason, 19 wins. 10-10 in the Big Ten. Some big-time wins, as I said before, we got off to a slow start in Big Ten play. We rallied and had some terrific wins. Are young guys continued to improve. We had the freshman of the year in the league. Had multiple all-conference players. The improvement of Josh Dix becoming a premier player in this league. Just, really proud of this group and how they stayed connected and positive. Incredibly enjoyable group to be around. Day in and day out.”
Utah will go on to the third round of the Men’s NIT to battle VCU on Wednesday, March 27th at 9:00 p.m.
