‘He’s earned it’: Owen Freeman named starter for Hawkeyes

Freshman forward Owen Freeman will start for the Hawkeyes moving forward. Freeman’s seen a steady increase in minutes over the course of the season. He’s now played a total of 160 minutes this year — most among the four Hawkeye freshman.

The lineup change was in part due to head coach Fran McCaffery preferring more size. Ben Krikke slides down to the four, and guard Josh Dix exits the starting lineup completely.

Freeman’s proved himself to be a worthy contributor in the 10 games he’s played. He’s averaging 17.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per 30 minutes.

Freeman had been inserted into the starting five against Michigan this past Sunday, but the results were mixed. The Moline product didn’t score in the first half, and consistently struggled to handle the Wolverine’s physicality inside.

But, overall, Freeman’s play over the first trimester of the season has been enough to be trusted in a new role.

“It was something I’ve never experienced before, and I thought I did pretty well.” Freeman said. “It feels really comfortable being in the starting lineup. It’s something that I’ve worked for and it’s really a blessing from God.”

“It’s not an easy thing to get your first start in a Big Ten game, but I thought he came in ready — he brought energy.” Payton Sandfort said. “I was really proud of him for that. He’s going to continue to get better and just more confident in that role. He’s learning a lot right now and he’s going to continue to improve. I think you’re going to see him make massive jumps throughout the rest of the year.”

“I think he’s earned it,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “I think at some level, at some point, we need to be bigger. Sometimes young guys — they try to be too perfect. They ultimately become a little more tentative than they should be. You have to follow the game plan but you can’t be mechanical. He’s just playing free and easy. He’s pretty special. And that’s how I want to play.”

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