Iowa City, IA – Iowa broke open a sluggish offensive game with Portland State and ran away to an 85-51 home win over the Vikings at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
 
Iowa entered the game as the nation's top scoring team at just over 99 points per game. But PSU limited the Hawkeyes offensively in the first half and early in the second half. Although Iowa was able to pull away for an easy win, it was actually the fewest points the 6-0 Hawkeyes have scored this year.
 
Keegan Murray, the nation's second-leading scorer at more than 26 points per game, put on a show in the first half, scoring 21 points, then the rest of the Iowa team came to the party in the second half. Murray finished with 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Hawkeyes.
 
It was another troubling shooting night for Portland State, now 2-3 on the season. After a 31% shooting performance against Portland on Tuesday, PSU managed only 31% against Iowa, making 20-65 from the field (.308) and 4-27 from long range (.148).
 
Marlon Ruffin matched his season-high with 18 points for PSU, hitting 7-14 from the field and 3-4 at the line. James Jean-Marie grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds for the Vikings.
 
In the first half, Portland State suffered from poor shooting and a myriad of turnovers. Despite the lack of offensive efficiency, the Vikings hung around behind good defense and rebounding.
 
Other than Murray, the Hawkeyes struggled to score. The 6-8 sophomore forward made six of his first eight shots while the rest of his team was 0-10. With 7:34 to go in the first half, PSU was down only 14-9.
 
Finally, Ruffin warmed up for the Vikings. He scored the last 13 points of the first half for PSU. Murray kept scoring too, though, and by halftime he had 21 points and Iowa led 31-20.
 
The numbers weren't pretty for either team. PSU was 8-28 from the field (.286) with 16 turnovers. Iowa was 12-34 (.353) with nine turnovers. The Vikings had a 22-21 rebound advantage.
 
Ruffin and Khalid Thomas combined to score the first 11 points of the second half for the Vikings as they got as close as eight points on two occasions.
 
Iowa responded with a 22-4 run over the next six minutes. Patrick McCaffery scored 12 points in the Hawkeyes' burst. Iowa led 59-33 with just over nine minutes to play and PSU would not recover.
 
Iowa made 20-33 shots (.606) in the second half, outscoring the Vikings 54-31.
 

GAME NOTES

• Khalid Thomas grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to go with 11 points. His previous career high was seven, accomplished four times in his previous 26 games as a Viking.
• Michael Carter III had a team-best four assists and scored eight points.
• James Jean-Marie did not get a double-double for the first time this season, but he did have 15 rebounds – the most by a Viking in two years – and seven points. Jean-Marie averages 11.2 rebounds per game this season.
• PSU is 0-5 all-time in games against Big 10 teams.
• Portland State begins Big Sky Conference play next week on the road. The Vikings take on Idaho State on Thursday, then Weber State on Saturday. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.