Owen Freeman takes the cake on his birthday, leads Hawkeyes past Washington State, 76-66

MOLINE, Ill. — Everyone should have birthdays like the one Owen Freeman had Friday.

Freeman awakened in Moline Friday morning as a new 20-year-old. He went to bed early Saturday morning in Iowa City as a 20-year-old who had 21 points and 11 rebounds Friday night to pace the Iowa men’s basketball team to a 76-66 win over Washington State in Moline’s Vibrant Arena.

The sophomore center was a senior center for the Moline High Maroons less than two years ago. He teamed with Hawkeye sophomore point guard Brock Harding to lead Moline to its first boys’ basketball state championship. Freeman returned to Moline Friday, and played with purpose and passion.

It almost was too much passion. After dunking with 7:57 left in the first half, Freeman rubbed his head in a taunting fashion and got assessed a technical foul. The personal foul that came with it was his second, so Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery sat him for the rest of the half.

Iowa fell behind by nine points after Freeman’s absence, but cut the gap to 36-33 by halftime. Freeman’s second half was a tour de force in the paint.

The play of the night was a second-half one-hand jam by Freeman on a lob from Payton Sandfort.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was a good pass,” Sandfort said.

It was good enough for the 6-foot-10 Freeman, who is averaging 17 points and 9.3 rebounds.

“He’s really, really, really skilled down there,” WSU Coach David Riley said. “His pump fakes and his pivots down there are impressive.

“I thought he did a heck of a job just impacting the game with his rebound game and his physicality.”

The crowd of 8,488 was loud throughout the night, starting with their welcomes for Freeman and Harding in pregame introductions.

“I kind of expected it to be kind of crazy,” Freeman said. “But the Quad Cities showed out, and it was unreal, just one of the loudest crowds I’ve played in front of. It was just a lot of fun. I’ll remember it forever.”

The game was tense and tight. Iowa led for only 10:29 of the 40 minutes, and trailed 62-60 with 3:26 left. But guard Drew Thelwell, who also was a key part of Iowa’s stellar pressure defense in the final 10 minutes, hit back-to-back 3-pointers. The Hawkeyes then sank all 10 of their free throws in the last 1:11 to pull away.

As birthdays go, Freeman said, “This is number one. This takes the cake for sure.”

Iowa’s next game is in Iowa City Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Rider (3-1).

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