Hawkeyes Men’s Hoops Season Begins With Win Over Bison

“So, I liked it. I thought defensively it was exactly what we needed. We were able to keep guys fresh. Lineups aren’t going to always totally be like that; we’re still finding ourselves. That’s a really hard team to guard. They’re a good basketball team. I mean, they were up at Duke at halftime last season. The guy’s a really good coach, and honestly, it’s a horrible matchup for us because they play a bunch of guards. So we couldn’t play like a big group ever because they played so many guards. Bad matchup for us, but good for us in the long run.”

GAME NOTES

• The Hawkeyes won their 15th consecutive season opener, downing Lipscomb, 76-54, on Tuesday night on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
• Iowa had two players land in double figures: Jaidyn Coon 12, Ty’Reek Coleman 10
• Ten different Hawkeyes scored.
• Coon finished with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and played lock-down defense on Takai Simpkins. The first-year guard/forward started the second half.
• Second-year Trevin Jirak finished with six points and a career-high seven rebounds and four assists.
• The Hawkeyes held Lipscomb to 54 points – the fewest in an opener since allowing 39 points to UNC Wilmington in 2013-14.
  • The Bisons had a 36.2 field goal percentage and went just 3-of-18 from 3-point range.
• Iowa committed just 8 turnovers in the game.
• Iowa held Lipscomb to 7 field goals and forced 10 turnovers in the second half.
• The Hawkeyes won the rebounding battle, 41-33.
• Iowa attempted 28 free throws, but went just 14-of-28 from the charity stripe.
• Iowa scored 33 points off turnovers while Lipscomb score 5.
• Iowa led 26-14 at the 7:55 mark before Lipscomb used a 13-0 run to grab a 27-26 lead with 4:43 left in the first half.  The Hawkeyes closed out the first half on a 12-2 run to take a 38-29 lead into the break.
• Fourth-year center Andrew McKeever did not play because of injury.