Payton Sandfort ready to ‘showcase everything’ in 2023-24, sees potential in younger brother Pryce

IOWA CITY — The competitiveness of the Sandfort brothers has been on full display on the second floor of Carver-Hawkeye Arena this summer.

Payton Sandfort, the older brother and Iowa junior guard, allegedly hit three 3-pointers in Pryce Sandfort’s face as they battled each other in practice.

“I hit like five in his face,” said Pryce, a freshman. “We just kept going back, hitting 3s in each other’s faces. It was a pretty fun battle.”

As a crowd of reporters surrounded Pryce at one point of Thursday’s media availability while only three reporters were with Payton, the older brother lightheartedly called it “sad.”

“I’m old news now, I guess,” Payton said with a laugh.

If Payton Sandfort accomplishes his goals for his junior year as a Hawkeye, he will not be old news for long.

When Payton was a freshman, he saw Keegan Murray average 23.5 points per game — a sharp contrast from his 7.2 points per game a year before.

Then sophomore-year Payton saw Kris Murray take a similar jump — from 9.7 points per game to 20.2.

Looking ahead to 2023-24, Payton would like to be that guy after averaging 10.3 points per game off the bench last year.

“The last few years, there’s always been that younger sixth man that jumps into that role,” Payton said. “Why not me this year?”

He sees this season as a chance to “showcase everything” that he has to offer.

“I’ve been boxed up a little bit in that regard,” Payton said. “Kind of been the shooter for the team. But this year, it’ll be kind of like a full game.”

Payton undoubtedly had a green light to shoot from deep last year, attempting 172 3-pointers — second on the team only to NBA draftee Kris Murray’s 197 attempts.

“Ever since his freshman year, it’s been that neon green,” his brother Pryce said.

Payton is quick to recognize the start of his 2022-23 season “wasn’t great.”

Through Iowa’s first 15 games, he was shooting 22 percent from deep. But then his fortunes changed dramatically, shooting 44 percent from 3 in the remaining 16 regular-season games.

“I didn’t have quite the shooting year I wanted,” the older Sandfort said. “So that’s priority No. 1.”

Payton’s biggest lesson from the season was “the mentality of never too high, never too low.”

“There was a lot of moments I was super high, a lot of moments I was super low,” he said. “Learning to manage that is going to be crucial."

Payton thinks he “can take something” from Keegan and Kris Murray in “staying emotionless.”

“I’ll never be exactly like that, but a lot more even-keel,” he said.

Payton also knows there is a “certain level of confidence that it takes to be at that level” of Keegan Murray in 2021-22 or Kris Murray in 2022-23.

“I’m still developing that,” Payton said. “But I definitely feel like I can get there and make a huge impact on this team next year.”

What Keegan and Kris Murray have done is no easy feat to repeat. Between them and Luka Garza, Iowa has had first, second or third-team All-Americans in four straight seasons.

But in the two decades before the recent run of success, the only Hawkeye to earn those accolades in the previous two decades was Jarrod Uthoff in 2016. (Another three players were honorable mentions.)

As Payton prepares for the 2023-24 season with hopes of a Murray-esque jump in production, he has not gone easy on his younger brother in practices.

“He’s trying to get me up to speed,” Pryce said. “He obviously has some really good parts of his game that he could score on me with, but I feel like I’m getting better every day and getting better defensively.”

When not shooting 3s in his younger brother’s face, Payton has high praise for Pryce’s basketball abilities.

“He comes in with more ball skills and even more defensive skills than I did,” Payton said. “So he’ll be able to be a lot more versatile in that regard.”

But for now, Payton seems to have the upper hand on the court and on the Iowa City roads.

“I don’t have a car here,” Pryce said. “He’s taking me everywhere, which is awesome to have a big brother that will do that for you.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com