Suddenly, Payton Sandfort is no longer the wide-eyed, sharpshooting youngster. Now, he’s one of the Iowa Hawkeyes‘ seasoned vets heading into the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season.
Sandfort has appeared in 67 career games and started seven last season. Alongside senior guard Tony Perkins and redshirt senior forward Patrick McCaffery, Sandfort will be expected to be one of Iowa’s key night-in, night-out performers.
Last season, Sandfort averaged 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game on 40.4% field goal shooting, including 34.3% marksmanship from 3-point range. The 6-foot-7, 215 pound junior netted 14 double-figure scoring games last year, including six contests with 20 or more points. Sandfort also had seven double-figure scoring games as a freshman.
When he’s hitting from deep, Sandfort can be downright lethal for opposing defenses to have to deal with. As a result, Sandfort finds his name among 20 players named to the prestigious Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award Preseason Watch List.
1-of-20.
Payton Sandfort has been named to the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Preseason Watch List.#hoophall x #ErvingAward x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/aUoMaw9vju
— Iowa Men’s Basketball (@IowaHoops) October 25, 2023
Sandfort joins Ohio State‘s Jamison Battle, Michigan State‘s Coen Carr, and Wisconsin‘s Tyler Wahl as Big Ten forwards named to the preseason watch list.
Over the course of his Hawkeye career thus far, the Waukee, Iowa, native has authored some incredible games and singular moments. Sandfort has demonstrated a knack for the heroics, too.
Last season, Sandfort drained a 3-pointer while being fouled in the final minute of regulation to register a four-point play that sent Iowa into overtime during an eventual 93-84 win over Michigan inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Then, a little more than six weeks later, Sandfort was back at it again, electrifying the Carver crowd with a game-tying 3-pointer that capped an 11-point rally in the game’s final 55 seconds versus Michigan State. That sent the game into overtime, where Iowa wound up with a rousing 112-106 win over the Spartans.
Now, the charge will be bottling those types of heroics up and then delivering the consistency on a nightly basis.
Iowa tips off its exhibition season on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network Plus versus Quincy from inside Carver. Then, on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m., Iowa officially opens its 2023-24 campaign versus North Dakota with the game also set to stream on B1G+.
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