Iowa men’s basketball glides over Slippery Rock as Game 1 nears

IOWA CITY — It wasn’t a big crowd despite what the box score said (10,789? Uh, no, not even close.). But it was men’s basketball in Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time in 612 days.

“It was really cool seeing this many fans for an exhibition game,” said Iowa’s Filip Rebraca, a transfer from North Dakota who said 3,000 was a big gathering there.

The senior forward said “nerves got me” coming out of the gate, but he and the other four starters looked relaxed as they stacked a 22-5 lead on the way to a 99-47 cruise. Then Fran McCaffery pulled them for a second unit, and Iowa went almost seven minutes without a basket.

“They were playing hard,” McCaffery said. “They were a little tight.”

The starters returned and built a 41-18 halftime lead. McCaffery knew he needed his subs to taste some success leading into the Hawkeyes’ regular-season opener here Tuesday against Longwood. So he started them in the second half.

They scored the first 14 points of the half, with freshman Payton Sandfort getting eight straight. The 6-foot-7 forward from Waukee showed zero hesitation as he swished back-to-back 3-pointers.

“The coaches have preached to me since recruiting, since day one when I got here, that I’ve got the green light wherever I want it,” Sandfort said.

Guard Connor McCaffery, a starter last season, has moved to the second team and is the vet with Sandfort and sophomores Tony Perkins, Kris Murray and Ahron Ulis, all of whom were lightly used a season ago. Connor McCaffery told Sandfort at halftime that he was going to get him the ball, and he did.

Sandfort finished with 12 points, behind Patrick McCaffery’s 18 and Keegan Murray’s 17. Those two scored almost all their points in the paint, and made things look easy against a team that used just two players taller than 6-foot-4 and none taller than 6-7.

Murray, Patrick McCaffery and Rebraca are 6-8, 6-9, 6-9. The opponents get taller soon.

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