Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort were a pair of scoring aces for Hawkeyes in OT win over Nebraska

IOWA CITY — Look, Iowa is 2-2 in Big Ten men’s basketball and may bob around .500 from now until season’s end.

But Iowa’s Payton Sandfort and Josh Dix can play this game, folks, and if you didn’t see how they played Tuesday, you missed a showstopper. What that duo did in Iowa’s 97-87 overtime win over Nebraska Tuesday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena may lack an adequate superlative. We’ll start with “sensational.”

Sandfort, the senior forward who was a preseason All-Big Ten honoree, was scoreless at halftime after scoring just two points in Iowa’s 116-85 loss at Wisconsin last Friday.

“At halftime, I was pretty upset,” he said. “Went in (to the locker room) and acted like I was going to the bathroom. I just went back and read some Bible verses, read some notes to myself.”

He still hadn’t made a basket when Nebraska had a 52-37 lead and Iowa called a timeout with 14:53 lead. Then he made a 3-pointer. And five more. Another time, he was fouled in the act of shooting a three and sank three free throws.

Sandfort scored 30 points, matching his career-high.

“He’s hunting for the ball and we’re trying to find him,” said Dix. “Especially when we see one or two go in. We know it’s a heat-check.”

Junior guard Dix scored 31 points, topping his career-high by seven. He tied his career-high in assists with seven, and had a career-best four steals. He either scored or had an assist on all but two of Iowa’s first-half baskets. He had just one turnover, and committed no fouls while playing all but 22 seconds of the 45 minutes,

“My body hurts a little bit,” Dix said afterward, saying he was headed for an ice bath.

“He was exhausted,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “He played as hard as he could. Every possession at both ends, he made phenomenal decisions, made big shots, made big plays. I mean, he was really, really special.”

This is someone who has played for six weeks with a wrist issue. This is someone who, three Januarys ago, broke a fibula and tibia in a high school game. Eight months later, he began practicing with the Hawkeyes.

“From a toughness standpoint, from a skills standpoint, nothing rattles him,” Sandfort said. “Nothing makes him excited. He's just out there playing ball.

“The way we were struggling in the first half, and he just kind of kept us in the game. And then big plays down the stretch. You know, he's, he's the toughest dude I've ever been around. Getting to play with him is a joy.”

Dix’s Council Bluffs hometown is just across the Missouri River from Nebraska, and wouldn’t the Huskers love to have him? Dix has a lot of Fred Hoiberg the player in him with his great jump shot and perpetual poise. Nebraska Coach Hoiberg is a fan.

“I think Josh Dix is a hell of a player,” Hoiberg said. “I think he's the most underrated player in this league.

“He was a great player last year, and he's built on that and made himself a really complete overall player on both ends. Defensively, he gave us problems, and then offensively, you saw what he did.”

McCaffery said that when Dix was in high school, “I remember watching him and thinking this guy is like the real deal. He was fairly heavily recruited, but I think he was under-recruited for as good as he is. He didn’t care. ‘’Whoever recruits me recruits me, and I’ll just go do what I do.’”

Five minutes into the second half, the Hawkeyes looked like a beaten team. They were not.

“They kept swinging, they kept clawing,” Hoiberg said.

“They’ve got a lot of weapons out there. Dix and Sandfort, when they get it going, they're hard to shut off.”

Dix had Iowa’s statistic line of the season to date. Sandfort scored 25 points in the last 15 minutes of the second half. Sensational.

“We stayed together,” Sandfort said. “That's the mantra, you know.

“Bad teams fall apart when things go bad. And I just tell everybody if we stay together as a team and block out what everybody's saying, just be in the room, be present, be where your feet are, it always turns out all right.”

Having a pair of players combine for 61 points in a tight game is pretty good, too.

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