Kris Murray’s big double-double is big trouble for Georgia Tech in Iowa win

IOWA CITY — Kris Murray put Florida and shooting woes in the rear-view mirror.

Everywhere else the junior forward has played this year, he’s put the ball in the basket and Iowa (6-1) has prevailed. That included Tuesday night when he had career-highs of 31 points and 20 rebounds in the Hawkeyes’ 81-65 men’s basketball win over Georgia Tech (4-3) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It was the first time a Hawkeye had 30 points and 20 rebounds in the same game since Bruce “Sky” King went 31-21 against Ohio State in 1977, and only the third 20-20 for a Hawkeye in the last 40 years. Keegan Murray had one last season against North Carolina Central.

This was quite the contrast from Kris Murray’s two games at Florida’s Emerald Coast Classic last weekend when he was 8-of-31 from the field and averaged 10.5 points in a win over Clemson and a loss to TCU. Outside those two games, he is averaging 25.2 points.

“I came away from Florida just not playing like I wanted to play,” Murray said.

“Once I got back from Florida I just flushed all that out.

“I knew this team was a little bit smaller. I tried to make my presence felt tonight.”

Yeah, 31 and 20 is a presence. Georgia Tech Josh Pastner was worried it was coming, and he was right.

“I told our team ‘Hey, we’ve got to be ready. He’s going to come out gunning,’ ” Pastner said. “Because he didn’t play well against Clemson or TCU. Credit to Clemson and TCU, but he didn’t play as well. I knew he was going to be locked in.”

Murray had 14 rebounds at halftime, more than he’d had in any Iowa game. Six of his first-half boards were on the offensive glass.

“We were struggling shooting the ball,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said, “and he went back and got it six times.

“A lot of guys can get 30 (points), but very few people are going to get 20 (rebounds). Most guys that are getting 30 aren't rebounding. So I think that's impressive.”

The Hawkeyes had a second double-double. Senior Connor McCaffery had 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Georgia Tech got the first four points of the second half, and Fran McCaffery went to the bench for Connor McCaffery and Payton Sandfort.

Connor played the rest of the way, and Iowa gradually pulled away. He had no turnovers in a season-high 31 minutes.

“He settles everybody down,” Fran McCaffery said.

“Whether we were in our press or man or zone, you need that one guy out there that's kind of anchoring everything, and that's what Connor does.”

“I always try to bring a little bit of spark, a little bit of edge,” Connor McCaffery said. “I try to pride myself on that. If we need a little flow, I’ll come in there and try to fire something up.”

Iowa’s 44-35 rebounding edge and Georgia Tech’s 39.1 percent field goal shooting were the deciding elements. Also, the Hawkeyes had 21 assists to just nine turnovers.

The Hawkeyes are off until they face Duke next Tuesday in New York.

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