Hawkeyes handle Southeastern Louisiana, 93-62

IOWA CITY — Iowa defeated Southeastern Louisiana in men’s basketball at Carver-Hawkeye Arena Tuesday night, 93-62.

“There were some breakdowns,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said, “but we got a lot of really good performances from a lot of different people.”

Hawkeye forward Keegan Murray, the nation’s leading scorer, tallied 10 points in the first 4:35 of the second half and had a game-high 20. He also had 10 rebounds.

“I had a rough first half,” Murray said. “On the foul side (he had two in the half) I think it was the first time really this year that I’ve been in foul trouble.”

Murray left the game with 6:05 left and went to the Iowa trainer’s room.

“I just rolled my ankle again, but it’s nothing crazy,” Murray said. “It was just precautionary for the rest of the game.”

Patrick McCaffery had 16 points for Iowa, Jordan Bohannon 13. Freshman forward Payton Sandfort scored 10 points, all in the first half. He’d scored a total of 10 points in his previous six games.

Iowa had a 50-32 advantage in rebounds against the shorter Lions. Hawkeye guard Joe Toussaint had 5 assists and 3 steals.

Lions guard Keon Clergeot was ejected late in the first half after getting a Flagrant 2 foul for his role in a skirmish with Iowa’s Joe Toussaint.

Toussaint maintained his poise in the middle of a heated situation. If anyone was ready to extend the confrontation from Iowa’s side, it was guard Connor McCaffery. His brother Patrick had a good laugh after the game talking about it.

“I know that we have people on our bench that aren’t going to let him get over there,” Patrick said. “Although, he’s going to try, man. He’s pretty strong, so I don’t know.”

Clergeot was laughing himself, derisively, as he walked by the Iowa bench on his way out of the arena. Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery told his players not to say anything to the Lion lest things flare up again.

Patrick McCaffery finished his portion of the game with a flourish, scoring two straight baskets on lobs from Toussaint.

“I think our timing on the second one could have been better,” Patrick said. “Plus I was a little tired because there’s like about four seconds from the first one. So I didn’t really have the usual lift that I do.”

Iowa reserve center Josh Ogundele sprained his left ankle midway through the second half and had to be helped to the trainer’s room.

The Hawkeyes improved to 9-3. Their next game is here Dec. 29 against Western Illinois, which took a 10-2 record into its game at Omaha Wednesday.

Southeastern Louisiana, which played its eighth-straight game away from home, is 4-9.