Murray's 24 Points, 15 Boards Helps Hawkeyes Beat Gophers 71-59

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Keegan Murray had 24 points and 15 rebounds, Patrick McCaffery added 18 points and seven boards and Iowa used a big second-half run to beat Minnesota 71-59 on Sunday night.

Murray and McCaffery combined to shoot 17 of 32 from the field, while the rest of the team shot just 36% (12 of 33).

Iowa (14-7, 4-6 Big Ten), which went into the game No. 3 nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 8.9, committed six. The Hawkeyes scored 21 points off 12 Minnesota turnovers.

Payton Willis hit a 3-pointer and Luke Loewe added two more in a 110-second span to give Minnesota a 52-47 lead with 15 minutes to play, but the Golden Gophers made just two of their next 16 field-goal attempts. Murray had eight points and Ahron Ulis added seven as Iowa scored 26 of the next 31 before McCaffery hit a 3-pointer to give Iowa its biggest lead of the game at 71-53 with 3:33 remaining.

McCaffrey made a layup to start the decisive spurt, Murray followed with another and the Iowa defense forced back-to-back shot-clock violations. Murray sank a 3-pointer to give the Hawkeyes the lead for good. Filip Rebraca scored in the paint to make it 51-47 with 12:28 to play.

Minnesota (11-9, 2-9) has lost four in a row and eight of its last nine.

Loewe made 7 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and finished with 19 points for the Gophers. Willis added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery missed the game after he tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and third-year assistant Billy Taylor served as acting head coach.

Minnesota plays Wednesday at Nebraska. Iowa plays Thursday at Maryland.

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