WATCH: Iowa wing Payton Sandfort blows kiss to Indiana student section after late 3, gets T'd up
Iowa sophomore wing Payton Sandfort earned what might be his favorite technical foul ever. And he might just avoid an earful from his coaches about it.
With a double-digit lead over Indiana late in a game at Assembly Hall, Sandfort buried a 3 to stretch the Iowa lead to 25 points. After splashing the wing 3 in front of the Indiana student section, he turned and blew them a kiss.
It drew an immediate technical foul, one Sandfort will probably find well worth it.
Sandfort finished with 16 points, going 5-of-9 from 3 on the night. And it’s been a heck of a few days for the sophomore, who also buried a clutch game-tying 3 to cap an incredible comeback in the end of regulation for Iowa against Michigan State.
When you’re on a heater like Sandfort’s been on the past few games, who can blame him for letting the crowd know about it. Plus Iowa got a huge road win, 90-68, over a Quad 1 team.
Fran McCaffery praises Iowa’s offense after scoring conference-high 47 first half points at Indiana
It was a sterling first half performance for Iowa on Tuesday night at Assembly Hall against Indiana. After 20 minutes, the Hawkeyes had scored 47 points — the highest first-half mark by a Big Ten team in conference play this season — and led the Hoosiers by 11.
Against a team generally capable of playing some good defense, Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery was complimentary of his squads offense at the break. He explained to ESPN sideline reporter Myron Medcalf that it’ll take another similar half to get the win.
“Well I thought we moved the ball well. You know you’re going to get a great effort defensively from them. They’re going to be in your space. You gotta be strong with the ball, you gotta move the ball and get a shot every time. Then get your defense back. They got two really special guys in [Jalen] Hood-Schifino and Trayce [Jackson-Davis], gotta watch them. But I thought, overall, our composure was really good,” McCaffery said.
With 15 points in the first half from Kris Murray and another 13 from Tony Perkins, the Iowa offense clicked along as McCaffery described. And while a similar scoring output in the second half would be ideal, McCaffery isn’t going to have his team sit back and find out.
He wants to keep crashing the glass and pushing tempo, as Iowa wants to do. Against Jackson-Davis, in particular, that’s easier said than done.
“I think more of the same. We gotta rebound,” McCaffery said. “They’re going go back and get it. You gotta be able to rebound, and that also enables us to run.”
This first-half offensive outburst comes just days after the Hawkeyes stormed back from the 3-point line to complete an improbably comeback against Michigan State before winning in overtime. If the blistering offense keeps up, Iowa will be in fine shape going forward.