Hawkeyes are NIT runaway box office leaders

The attendance figures for the first round of the National Invitation Tournament, covering 16 games, are in. Iowa wins.

Not only did the Hawkeyes score a 68-52 win over Indiana State Wednesday, but their sellout crowd of 15,400 in Carver-Hawkeye Arena easily dwarfed the two-largest first-round gatherings.

Here are the home teams and their crowds in Round 1:

Iowa  15,400

BYU  7,511

Southern Mississippi  5,018

Providence  4,953

Virginia  4,790

Tennessee  4,468 (The Volunteers had averaged 16,635 for its regular-season home games. Its upset loss to Mercer Wednesday was played before a lot of ghosts and empties.)

Maryland  4,053

Baylor  4,034

Arizona State  3,519

Robert Morris  3,444 (sellout, for Kentucky)

St. Joseph's  3,148

Florida State  2,989

Alabama  2,889

Massachusetts  2,173

Denver  2,094

Stanford  1,050

Denver is at Maryland tonight in the first game of the NIT's second round. Good seats are still available.