IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — With an early start time, a late-arriving crowd and a huge rivalry game to look ahead to, No. 23 Iowa could have easily overlooked heavy underdog Fairleigh Dickinson. The Hawkeyes still had more than enough energy to put aside the Knights. Gabe Olaseni tied a career high with 14 points and had 10 rebounds as Iowa pulled away to a 92-59 victory Monday night, its 10th win of the season.
Melsahn Basabe had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (10-1), who broke the game open with an early 19-0 run and led by at least 20 points for the entire second half. Iowa got 51 points from its bench, which was led by Olaseni and Jarrod Uthoff, who had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Iowa outrebounded the Knights 54-32, including 30-13 in the first half, and cracked the 90-point plateau for the fourth time this season.
Mathias Seilund led Fairleigh Dickinson (3-9) with 19 points and Sidney Sanders had 16 — albeit on 5-of-20 shooting from the field. The Knights shot 32.3 percent overall (21 of 65).
Now Iowa can focus on one of its biggest non-conference game in years. Iowa will play its first true road game of the season Friday night at No. 17 Iowa State — the first ranked meeting between the instate rivals in 26 years.