CORALVILLE, Iowa. – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team defeated Illinois Springfield, 88-64, in a preseason exhibition on Tuesday night inside Xtreme Arena. This concludes the Hawkeyes’ preseason play.
Iowa opened the game trading baskets in a tight start before breaking a 7-7 tie with a surge to take control. Cooper Koch and Kael Combs helped fuel the early push as Iowa’s defense forced multiple turnovers, allowing the Hawkeyes to build a double-digit lead.
Midway through the half, a 3-pointer by Tate Sage and a fast-break dunk by Cam Manyawu helped extend the advantage. Koch later hit back-to-back triples, and Iowa closed out the half strong to establish a 42-28 lead.
Coming out of the half, Iowa quickly padded its margin as Koch scored inside and Combs knocked down a triple to stretch the lead to 19 points. Sage and Peyton McCollum added from deep as the Hawkeyes maintained clear control through the middle stanza.
In the game’s final stretch, Iowa’s reserves and late-game contributors polished off the victory as the Hawkeyes pushed its advantage to 28 points at 82-54.
Combs led the Hawkeyes with 13 points, while Koch, McCollum, and Trevin Jirak each contributed 10 points. Andrew McKeever orchestrated the offense with a game-high seven assists.
The Hawkeyes shot 28-of-53 (52.8 percent) from the field, 10-of-26 (38.5 percent) from 3-point range, and 22-of-34 (64.7 percent) from the free throw line. Iowa forced 12 turnovers and out-rebounded Springfield, 37-32.
HEAR FROM HEAD COACH BEN MCCOLLUM
“This was a typical exhibition or scrimmage for teams of mine. That’s why I do them in private. We didn’t play very well. Part of it was it was kind of unique defensively where they just give you shots and play percentages, and we took the bait.
“We probably would have ran a few different things offensively where we just went inside the whole time, but that doesn’t help us for Big Ten play. We have to run different actions and stuff like that.
“We played well, really well in in our scrimmage the other day. Hopefully we’ll flip it around. Part of it, too, is like the lineups were all jacked up, but we’ll get better.”
GAME NOTES
- The Hawkeyes posted a 88-64 victory over Illinois Springfield in its lone exhibition contest Tuesday night at Xtream Arena in front of a sold-out crowd of 4,718 fans in attendance.
- Iowa had four players land in double figures: Kael Combs (13), Cooper Koch (10), Peyton McCollum (10), Trevin Jirak (10).
- Twelve different Hawkeyes scored and seven finished with eight or more points.
- Third-year Isaia Howard finished with eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.
- Fourth-year Andrew McKeever had a team-and-game-high seven assists.
- 10 of Iowa’s 53 field goal attempts came from 3-point range. The team went 28-of-53.
- The Hawkeyes had 21 assists on their 28 field goals.
- Iowa limited UIS to 26.1% shooting from 3-point range.
- The Hawkeyes put up 42 points in the first half, shooting 50 percent from the floor with five 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes open the regular season Tuesday, hosting Lipscomb at 7 p.m. (CT) inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
