Kris Murray gets career-high 30 points, Iowa overwhelms Omaha, 100-64

IOWA CITY — Sequels often are watered-down versions of the originals.

That certainly is not the case with “The Murray Show,” which again is playing to rave reviews with Iowa men’s basketball observers.

Last season, of course, Keegan Murray was an All-America forward who averaged 23.5 points for a Hawkeyes team that went 26-10. He had averaged 7.2 points the season before.

Keegan left for the Sacramento Kings last spring. Kris Murray stayed. He has grabbed the torch from his twin brother, and is torching opponents so far this season.

Murray had a career-high 30 points Monday night in No. 25 Iowa’s 100-64 win over the Omaha Mavericks. That puts his scoring average at 23.8, after he averaged 9.7 last season. He has 59 points in his last two games for the 4-0 Hawkeyes.

Murray had his first shot of the game blocked.

“Yeah, I was kind of mad,” he said. “I don’t think I missed a shot till the last one (of the first half).”

Correct. He made 11 straight attempts, including three 3-pointers for a 25-point first-half, which ended with Iowa up 49-28. That was after a slow start for the Hawkeyes, who led just 10-9 in the seventh minute.

“We weren’t getting easy baskets early,” Iowa forward Patrick McCaffery said, “and then Kris got about a hundred of them. From then on, we were kind of rolling.”

Murray’s first-half performance eclipsed the 24 first-half markers Keegan Murray had against Nebraska last Feb. 13. He was taken out of the game with 8:40 left, so Kris still has Keegan’s career-high 37 to chase.

“I could have left him in there and he could really have gone for a big number,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “But we’re not going to accomplish anything. I’m not going to get him hurt. I got him out of there.”

Murray was named to the All-Big Ten preseason team, but this was still a player with one career start entering the season. Living up to his brother’s 2021-22 accomplishments would be a burden for many. Murray seems to be shouldering it just fine.

“I think people get into comparing us a lot,” he said. “and he definitely had a good season last year. It would be easy to just kind of fall into his shadow, I guess, but I know I’m not the same person as him. I’m doing my own thing at Iowa, trying to take this team as far as I can.

“I think we’re two different players, two different people, and I guess it just gives me a little more motivation to kind of do what he did and a little bit more.”

No Murray is an island. Iowa made a dozen 3-pointers in 26 tries in rolling away. Patrick McCaffery scored the team’s first seven points of the second half, and had 16 points and three steals. Connor McCaffery had a season-high 12 points and four assists.

Junior point guard Ahron Ulis, making his first career start because Tony Perkins was held out with a thigh injury, made his first two 3-pointers of the year, and had four assists.

“It was a big opportunity for me,” Ulis said. “I’ve been trying to start my whole life. It’s a dream come true for most people growing up and I just went out there and took that opportunity and ran with it.”

“He’s ready for that,” Fran McCaffery said. “He played like a veteran. ... He was terrific.”

Freshman guard Josh Dix made three 3-pointers for nine points, and freshman guard Dasonte Bowen had seven points. Those were career-highs for both.

Dylan Broughan, who had the early swat on Murray, had six blocks. His team fell to 1-4. On Nov. 7, the Mavericks trailed Kansas by 13 points at halftime in Lawrence and lost, 89-64.

They now play six straight games against teams from Power Five conferences, starting with a clash with Clemson Friday in a tournament in Niceville, Fla.

Then, it’s either TCU or California Saturday in Niceville, Georgia Tech in Iowa City next Tuesday, Duke in New York, and Iowa State and Wisconsin in Carver.

Fran McCaffery doesn’t know if Perkins (averaging 13.3 points and 5.3 assists) would be good to go this weekend, saying “I would think, but he’s hurt. I think it’s happened over time.”

The Iowa-Clemson game is Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) on CBS Sports Network. Clemson (4-1) defeated Loyola (Md.) Monday, 72-41.

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