Fran McCaffery becomes all-time Iowa men’s basketball wins leader as Hawkeyes handle Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Iowa’s men’s basketball program required a rebuild when Fran McCaffery arrived in 2010. The win that sent McCaffery to the top of the team’s all-time wins list Monday necessitated a similar early recovery.

Iowa didn’t trail in the last 30 minutes of an 86-77 victory over Minnesota (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) that was the 272nd win of McCaffery’s career — one more than Tom Davis achieved from 1986-99.

“When I came here, I was very aware of the history — great players, great teams, great coaches that coached at Iowa. I was just so proud to be the Hawkeye coach,” McCaffery said. “You never think 14 years later, you’re still doing it and you’re being talked about like the other ones, more specifically Dr. Tom, who’s somebody that I knew really well and got to know even better, who’s supported me since I got here.

“It’s just an incredibly proud moment for me, my family, the program and all those guys that wore the jersey.”

The Hawkeyes (11-6, 3-3) were down a starter in Patrick McCaffery (ankle) and fell behind 10-1 with four turnovers before they made a shot from the field. The Williams Arena crowd of 8,379 had reason to make the old barn loud after a pair of Joshua Ola-Joseph dunks.

McCaffery’s crew soon settled.

Iowa entered play Monday leading the Big Ten in turnover rate, handing over the ball on 11.6 percent of its possessions. It eventually played to form with only one more giveaway in the first half (it finished with 10).

When the ball stayed out of Gopher defenders’ hands, it was able to reach the steady mitts of Ben Krikke. The graduate transfer scored a team-high 25 points on 11-for-17 shooting, hitting his typical midrange jumpers, backing down defenders for layups and even swatting in a lob pass from Dasonte Bowen as part of a three-point play that put the Hawkeyes up 10 almost midway through the second half.

“If the team needs me, I’m there,” Krikke said. “I try to play my role to the best of my ability.”

Josh Dix started in place of Patrick McCaffery and scored a career-high 21 points three days after setting his previous high with 16 on five 3-pointers against Nebraska. He did much of his work at the basket here, converting on five of his eight 2-point attempts.

“Last year I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that as well (after recovering from a leg compound fracture his senior year of high school),” Dix said. “Getting healthier and working with our training staff our weight room people, they’ve helped me a lot to get back to this kind of level.”

Dix’s two treys (two of Iowa’s three for the game) came back-to-back to make the score 65-55 and end a 7-0 Minnesota run that had the Gophers within five. He frequently handled point-guard duties, too, and notched five assists.

When Minnesota got within five again and brought the crowd to its feet with less than five minutes left, Iowa again found the answer inside. Tony Perkins (13 points, five assists) scored two straight buckets on a backdoor cut and a drive to push the lead to nine. He tallied eight points at the hoop in the game’s last five minutes.

The prolific scoring of Krikke and Dix was critical with Patrick McCaffery out and Owen Freeman (12 points and eight rebounds) — named Big Ten freshman of the week Monday for the sixth time — limited to 17 minutes before fouling out.

Krikke played the first 12 minutes of the game (and 37 total), scoring 10 points as Iowa fought back from the early hole. His free-throw line jumper with 10:27 left in the opening half gave Iowa a 20-18 lead, its first advantage since 1-0. A couple minutes later, he hit the floor after having a layup rejected, sprinted back for a steal, then hustled back the other way for a putback as part of his 6-for-8 start from the field.

“He’s just a veteran influence on the floor, and it’s amazing how he has assimilated into our program so quickly,” McCaffery said.

Iowa exploited Minnesota’s defense by scoring 56 points in the paint to the Gophers’ 38.

Dawson Garcia led the Gophers with 28 points, making 12 of 15 free throws.

Minnesota missed its first 10 3-point attempts and 14 of 15 in the first half, unable to extend the early lead. It finished 5-for-29 from deep. Iowa wasn’t successful there either (3-for-13), but didn’t settle for many long-range attempts (13 of 65 total field-goal attempts).

Iowa has won three straight games at Minnesota for the first time since 1954-56.

McCaffery’s first club was 11-20, but Iowa produced a winning record in the 11 of the next 12 seasons and a top-half Big Ten finish in 10. This year’s group started 0-3 in the conference but is back to .500 with second-ranked Purdue up next at 1 p.m. Saturday in Iowa City.

“I just think (this Iowa team) is a group that has character and they believe in each other,” McCaffery said. “They hung in there together. They stayed positive.”

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com