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Hawkeyes rout USC Upstate, 110-77, behind Brock Harding’s 20-10 double-double
Harding has career-high 20 points and 10 assists as Iowa breezes, but an injury to forward Seydou Traore dampened the joy of the result
Nov. 26, 2024 8:51 pm, Updated: Nov. 27, 2024 8:26 am
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IOWA CITY — The story of the USC Upstate-Iowa men’s basketball game had sadness for the Hawkeyes despite the result.
Iowa routed its guest from the Big South Conference, 110-77, behind a 20-point, 10-assist game from sophomore guard Brock Harding. The overriding news, however was the ankle injury suffered by sophomore forward Seydou Traore in the first half on top of an undisclosed injury to freshman forward Cooper Koch that sidelined him Tuesday and will keep him out a while.
Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery called Traore’s injury “a bad sprain.”
In his four full games at Iowa, Traore gave the Hawkeyes explosiveness, shot-blocking, and irksome defense when he has been at the front of his team’s full-court pressure. He also averaged 8.3 points.
In the absences of Traore and backup post player Even Brauns, who also missed the game, redshirt junior center Riley Mulvey played a season-high 12 minutes and scored a season-high 11 points.
“Yesterday,” Mulvey said, “Fran actually came up to me and said ‘Hey, be ready.’ He also told me a couple other things that were pretty funny like ‘Don’t get sick for the rest of the year.’ That was a wake-up call, especially just to stay as ready as I can.”
Mulvey made all four of his shots from the field, and celebrated some of his teammates’ baskets.
“I had a blast,” he said.
Iowa scored the game’s 14 points — 10 by center Owen Freeman — on the way to a 55-28 halftime lead. Then it tallied the first 10 points of the second half.
Harding’s 20 points marked a career-high, four days after he scored 19 against Utah State. Freeman had 17, Drew Thelwell 15 and Josh Dix, who appeared to regain health after a wrist issue last week, scored 14.
Harding appears to be progressing nicely this season. He’s had big-assist games (12 is his career-high), but now the scoring is coming along and he has 42 assists to just 14 turnovers.
“I feel like I’ve gotten more comfortable out there,” Harding said.
“He’s a guy that really puts the work in, a guy that works constantly,” said McCaffery. “He’s a confident guy in what he does. He studies it, lives it, and he’s playing at an incredibly high level.”
The Hawkeyes don’t play again until hosting Northwestern next Tuesday night in their Big Ten-opener.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
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