Payton Sandfort triple-double, first-ever for an Iowa men’s player, leads Hawkeyes to win

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s Payton Sandfort grabbed a rebound of a missed Penn State free throw with 21 seconds left and victory in hand, but a big roar was sounded in Carver-Hawkeye Arena all the same.

The fans — as well as Sandfort and many of his teammates — knew the rebound of Ace Baldwin’s miss gave the junior forward from Waukee the first triple-double in Iowa men’s basketball history. His 26 points, 10 rebounds and career-high 10 assists led the Hawkeyes to a 90-81 win over Penn State.

“You think about the great ones that played here,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “The fact that he was the first one, I think that probably surprised everybody.

“For Payton to be such a terrific human being and a great leader, I’m thrilled for him.”

Baldwin is an 84 percent free throw shooter. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Sandfort got the rebound and was fouled, and smiles abounded on the Hawkeye team.

“Once they fouled,” Sandfort said, “that was a pretty good feeling.

“It’s crazy no other Hawkeye has done it. Well, I mean I see Caitlin (Clark) do it every day.

“I’m pretty proud. Being from this state, it’s a pretty special thing to be the first one.

Iowa’s Clark has 16 career triple-doubles, second in NCAA women’s history to Sabrina Ionescu’s 26. Sandfort’s was the first by a Big Ten player and 31st in Division I this season. Iowa State’s Keshon Gilbert and Tamin Lipsey each have one.

Sandfort made 18 free throws in 19 tries. He had never taken more than seven foul shots in a game. And, he had a career-high three blocked shots.

Iowa improved to 17-12 overall and 9-9 in the Big Ten. Penn State is 14-15, 8-10.

Penn State scored first, but the Hawkeyes tallied the next seven points and never let go of the lead after that.

They almost did when the Nittany Lions pulled within 51-49 three minutes into the second half after trailing by as much as 17 points in the first half. Iowa, however, went on runs of 11-3 and 10-0 after that to rebuild a lead of 15 points with 10:49 left.

The Lions didn’t get closer than six points after that.

“Credit to Iowa,” said Penn State Coach Mike Rhoades. “They played great down the stretch.”

It was a night for Hawkeye milestones. Fifth-year senior forward Ben Krikke, a season removed from Valparaiso, surpassed the 2,000-point career mark. Owen Freeman got his 51st blocked shot of the season, a record for an Iowa freshman that had been held by another Moline (Ill.) High grad, Acie Earl.

Also, senior forward Patrick McCaffery reached 1,000 points, all at Iowa.

“It shows I’ve had a long, successful career,” McCaffery said. “I’ve been a pretty good player on really good teams.”

“I’m just really proud of his perseverance, his attitude, his leadership on his team, has been impressive,” Fran McCaffery said. “I’m thrilled for him.”

The Hawkeyes opened a 29-12 lead in the first half, which ended with them ahead 47-39. Sandfort had eight of his assists by halftime, five to Josh Dix, who scored 18 of his 20 points in that half.

“It was just Josh Dix,” Sandfort said. “I made maybe a couple of cool passes, but for the most part it was just giving him the ball.”

No, it was 26, 10 and 10.

Asked if Sandfort has NBA potential, Fran McCaffery said “He definitely does. The important thing is he’s not a shooter. You want to make the pros, you’ve got to be a player. He certainly was today.”

Iowa has a chance to get over .500 in the Big Ten for the first time this season in its next game, at Northwestern Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

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