Keegan Murray scored 23 points as undefeated Iowa pulled away from visiting Portland State for an 85-51 victory Friday night in Iowa City.
Murray made 10 of 16 shots from the field and pulled in a team-high nine rebounds.
The contest was the finale of a season-opening homestand for Iowa (6-0).
Patrick McCaffery ended up with 14 points and was a catalyst in a couple of Iowa’s second-half scoring bursts. Kris Murray and Tony Perkins had 13 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa produced its lowest point total of the season, due in part to shooting just 6-for-19 (31.6 percent) on 3-point attempts and committing 13 turnovers.
However, the Vikings had more ball-handling issues, finishing with 23 giveaways.
Marlon Ruffin scored 18 points and Khalid Thomas had 11 points and nine rebounds for Portland State (2-3). James Jean-Marie snatched 15 rebounds, including 11 boards at the offensive end.
Iowa reserves outscored Portland State’s backups by a combined 36-7. Iowa’s starters shot 2-for-11 from 3-point range.
Iowa led 31-20 at halftime and was ahead by eight points with 15 minutes remaining.
From there, McCaffery scored eight points in an 12-2 run to stretch the margin. Shortly after, McCaffery bagged the first four points in an 8-0 spurt.
The final score turned out to be the game’s largest margin.
Despite Portland State’s work on the offensive glass, the Vikings took a total of only nine free throws in the game.
Portland State shot 30.8 percent from the field, including 4-for-27 shooting (14.8 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.
Iowa sees its schedule grow trickier beginning Monday with a visit to Virginia in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Portland State opens Big Sky Conference play on Thursday with a game at Idaho State.
–Field Level Media
