IOWA CITY, Iowa – Kris Murray’s final rebound was the final of Iowa’s 81-65 win over Georgia Tech in Tuesday’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge game.
The undisputed rebound on Lance Terry’s 3-point corner attempt ended one of the most historic single nights in program history.
Murray had 31 points and 20 rebounds, becoming the first Iowa player to score 30 and 20 in a game since Bruce “Sky” King did so in 1977.
When asked which number was more impressive, guard Connor McCaffery said, “The rebounds.”
McCaffery’s father agreed.
“A lot of guys can get 30 points,” said Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. “But very few people will reach 20. Most guys who hit 30 (points) don’t recover. I find that impressive.”
Both numbers were career highs — Murray had set his previous career high just eight days earlier at Carver-Hawkeye Arena when he had 30 in the win over Omaha.
“I feel like the game came to me today,” said Murray, who made 11 of 18 shots, including four of his eight 3-point attempts. “I knew I had mismatches at the bottom and I tried to take advantage of that.”
Murray was unhappy with his performances in two games last weekend at Florida’s Emerald Coast Classic. He had double-doubles in both games — 10 points and 12 rebounds in a win over Clemson on Friday, 11 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to TCU on Saturday. He was 8-of-31 off the field in the two games.
Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner sensed something was coming from Murray.
“I said to the team, ‘Hey get ready, he’s going to come out shooting,'” Pastner said.
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Murray did. He had a double-double at halftime — 15 points, 14 rebounds — part of a Hawkeyes rebound show.
Fourteen of Iowa’s 29 first-half rebounds were offensive, and Murray had six of them.
“It was just to send a message early in the game,” Murray said. “We knew they would play different defenses and different zones. We knew they couldn’t just unpack. We wanted to kind of bring down the offensive glass, grab a few easy baskets and shut down the rest of the offense.
“We were struggling to kick the ball and he went back and got it six times,” said Fran McCaffery. “That was a big difference in the game.”
Iowa (6-1) overtook the Yellow Jackets (4-3) 44-35 for the game, finishing with 27 points for the second chance.
“Look, we’re not a big team,” Pastner said. “We kicked each other in the butt on the offensive boards in the first half.”
Murray helped the Hawkeyes fend off Georgia Tech’s run to start the second half. The Yellow Jackets scored the first seven points of the half to cut Iowa’s lead to 40-36, then Murray scored eight straight points for the Hawkeyes and the lead was back at 48-39.
It was an efficient offensive night for the Hawkeyes, scoring 42 percent for the game. They had 21 assists with 27 field goals.
“I thought we moved it from side to side, I thought we faked it and raced it,” said Fran McCaffery. “We mixed our rides and our ins and outs and we really picked each other. This is how we are and this is how we have to play.”
Iowa got 13 points from Filip Rebraca. Tony Perkins had 11 points. Connor McCaffery had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Miles Kelly led Georgia Tech with 21 points.
