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Four freshmen get off to good start filling in Iowa’s 10-man basketball rotation
Making threes, blocking shots, collecting assists -- Ladji Dembele, Owen Freeman, Brock Harding and Pryce Sandfort had nice first games at Carver Monday
Oct. 30, 2023 10:35 pm, Updated: Oct. 31, 2023 9:41 am
IOWA CITY — The 103-76 win over a Division II opponent was expected. The way Iowa’s four men’s basketball freshmen played Monday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena was better than expected this soon.
Well, not to Hawkeyes Coach Fran McCaffery.
“They were brought in here with that expectation by the staff,” McCaffery said, “and I think their expectation is they’re going to play.”
“They” are center Owen Freeman and point guard Brock Harding of Moline, Ill., wing Pryce Sandfort of Waukee, and power forward Ladji Dembele of Newark, N.J.
Monday, Freeman and Sandfort had 12 points each. Sandfort made four 3-pointers, two more than junior brother Payton Sandfort. Harding had 4 assists and 3 steals. Dembele had 3 assists and blocked 2 shots, one after the 250-pounder chased down Quincy guard Orlando Thomas in the open court.
That moment induced the biggest roar of the night from the small crowd.
“I’ve seen that a bunch of times (in practice), been a victim to it a couple times,” said another Iowa newcomer, senior starting forward Ben Krikke. He had 14 points and 7 rebounds.
The 6-foot-8 Dembele and 6-10 Freeman give the program something it lacked last season: Bigs.
Krikke, a senior transfer from Valparaiso, is no small fry himself at 6-9, 245. He likes the freshmen.
“They’re very impressive,” Krikke said. “Very aggressive and kind of an in-your-face group.”
The four freshmen and sophomore guard Josh Dix played together for a long shift in each half. The 10 rotation players all had plus-minus totals (points their team gained while they were in the game) of 11 to 15.
Iowa senior forward Patrick McCaffery had a game-high 16 points.
Freshmen typically are inconsistent, but these may not be four typical freshmen.
“They can all make plays for each other,” Fran McCaffery said. “They can all make shots. There’s a sense of toughness. There’s a mindset that they have. They were all winners in high school, I mean big-time winners. So they have an expectation to win.”
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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