Moline heroes, Brock Harding and Owen Freeman, return home for Hawkeyes’ game Friday

IOWA CITY — Moline High School’s first appearance in the Illinois high school state boys’ basketball tournament was in 1916. Its first time in the title game was in 1951.

The one and only time the Maroons won the championship was 2023, with current Iowa sophomores Owen Freeman and Brock Harding leading the way. Point guard Harding scored 28 of his team’s 59 points in the title game, and was Illinois’ Mr. Basketball to boot for his 35-3 team.

Center Freeman transferred to Moline after his junior year at Bradley-Bourbonnais High in northeast Illinois. He went there mainly to get used to playing with Harding, since both signed with Iowa in 2022.

“The community and Quad Cities kind of wrapped their arms around me and showed me love,” Freeman said.

Friday night, Harding and Freeman will play in the arena where they had their high school graduation ceremony when the 3-0 Hawkeyes play 3-0 Washington State at Moline’s Vibrant Arena. The pair got more than a few requests for tickets.

“A lot of people asked,” Harding said, “but a lot of people bought them right when they came out so they didn’t have to worry about having me try to get them for them.”

So how many of Harding’s friends and family members will be there?

“Basically everybody that lives in the Quad Cities,” he said.

After the championship-game win over Benet Academy from suburban Chicago, Harding said People told me teams not from Chicago or the ‘burbs don’t win it. We came here and shut them all up. What can they say now?“

Moline’s big-school title was a big, big thing in there and even on the other side of the Mississippi River in Davenport and Bettendorf.

“The biggest thing was probably how the entire Quad Cities got behind us after their teams lost,” said Harding. “Even Rock Island fans were rooting for Moline.”

Friday’s game is part of Iowa’s effort to spread nonconference games to other areas.

“We no longer play in the (Big Ten’s) ACC Challenge or play in the Big East Challenge,” McCaffery said, “so we wanted to challenge our team with really good opponents and we wanted to be able to play in different locations for our fan base.”

The Hawkeyes face Utah State in Kansas City, Mo., next Friday, and meet Utah in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Dec. 21.

“Just because we’re playing in Kansas City, Moline, Sioux Falls, doesn’t mean we would do one of these in Las Vegas or someplace like that,” McCaffery said.

“It’s necessary to play powerful opponents outside of your conference, teams with different styles. That’s what you’re going to end up seeing in the NCAA tournament."

Harding had six assists in each of Iowa’s first three games. His statistical goal?

“Probably 30 wins on the season and make sure we don’t take any losses, however many assists that takes.”

Freeman scored 15 points and blocked three shots in each of his first two games. He is recovering from an illness that sidelined him for Iowa’s 96-77 win over South Dakota Tuesday.

“I’ll be good for sure,” he said Thursday. Friday, after all, is his 20th birthday.

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