IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa men’s basketball team capitalized on ball movement and forced turnovers to rout Kansas City, 89-57, Friday night on Mediacom Court inside Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Sophomore Keegan Murray notched a career high for the second straight game, scoring 25 points (in 22 minutes), making 9-of-15 field goals and all six free throws. Senior Jordan Bohannon scored 13 with a pair of 3s and sophomore Patrick McCaffery added 10.
Filip Rebraca narrowly missed double figures, finishing with nine points and a team-and-game-high 13 rebounds.
The Hawkeyes, who shot 52.3 percent from the field in the game, came out blazing in the first three minutes of the contest, jumping out to a 10-2 lead, but the ‘Roos hung around.
Iowa found itself in a battle late in the first half. Kansas City combatted its early shooting struggles by shooting 44 percent from behind the 3-point line. The ‘Roos cut their deficit to four at 27-23 before Iowa closed out the half with a 10-0 run.
Junior Joe Toussaint propelled the run with a stretch of impressive play. The point guard from the Bronx hit a tough turn-around jump shot in the paint, then connected with Bohannon on a back-door pass for a layup.
The Hawkeyes headed to the locker room with a 37-23.
Iowa began the second 20 minutes with three easy buckets in the paint and a triple by Keegan Murray. A hectic almost-turnover that formed a Kansas City 10-second violation brought the contest to a media time-out with Iowa leading 46-28.
Iowa sparked a 9-0 run midway through the second half to extend the score 57-33. The Hawkeyes did so with more forced turnovers and fast-break points, including two Keegan Murray slams and another Bohannon 3 and sophomore Ahron Ulis three-point-play pushed Iowa’s lead to 30 at the 10-minute mark.
The Hawkeyes completed the game with 18 assists with Toussaint (6) and Connor McCaffery (3) accounting for half of the helpers.
Defensively, Iowa forced 17 Kansas City turnovers and limited the ‘Roos to 41.1 percent shooting. Anderson Kopp was the only KC player in double figures with 11 points.
