It’s tempting to suggest the first team to 100 points would win the neutral-court battle between Utah State and Iowa in Kansas City, Mo., on Friday, but both teams could hit the century mark in the NABC Hall of Fame Classic.
Utah State (4-0) enters play leading the country with an average of 104 points per game. By comparison, Iowa (5-0) averages “only” 86.6 points, but both teams love to push the ball and pressure defensively, and both shoot better than 38 percent from 3-point range.
“I think this is the way the game is supposed to be played,” said first-year Utah State coach Jerrod Calhoun, who came over from Youngstown State after Danny Sprinkle moved on to coach Washington.
“When people are paying the prices that they’re paying in college basketball — whether it’s NIL, whether it’s season tickets — to me, basketball is supposed to be exciting. Basketball is supposed to be ran up and down. You’re supposed to give players freedom. You’re supposed to give players confidence.”
Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of the Aggies, “They’re averaging over 100. That gets your attention. They’ve got the kid (Ian) Martinez, who we know because he was at Maryland. He was a really good player there, and he’s a really good player here.”
Martinez is averaging just 26 minutes per game, but he is pacing the Aggies in scoring (22.8 ppg) and assists (3.8 ppg) while shooting 56 percent on 3-point attempts and 93.9 percent at the free-throw line. He scored a career-high 32 points in a 95-83 home win over Montana on Monday.
His counterpart on Iowa is Payton Sandfort, who is leading the Hawkeyes in scoring (17.8 ppg) while ranking second in rebounds (7.0) and assists (4.2). Owen Freeman, the Big Ten’s reigning Freshman of the Year, balances Iowa’s attack while averaging 17.5 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds.
Both head coaches hope to get their No. 3 scorers back Friday. Utah State’s Aubin Gateretse (12.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg) missed the Monday win due to a concussion but returned to practice this week. Calhoun believes Utah State missed his rim protection against Montana.
“He has a major impact on the game,” Calhoun said. “We’re going to need him against Iowa.”
Josh Dix (12.3 ppg, 4.0 apg) missed Iowa’s 83-58 victory over Rider on Tuesday because of a wrist injury.
“He’s day-to-day,” McCaffery said. “Hopefully he’ll play Friday.”
–Field Level Media
