HOUSTON — Nobody has a more unusual perspective of the impending Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament showdown between Nebraska and Iowa than Payton Sandfort.
On one side, the younger brother (Nebraska leading scorer Pryce Sandfort) who he used to join in the driveway to simulate March Madness end-of-game moments.
On the other, the home-state alma mater (Iowa) for which he truly gave four years of blood, sweat and tears.
“It’s like a Hollywood horror story almost,” Payton Sandfort said. “You want both teams to do so well. And they’re both having dream seasons. … And now they run into each other?”
Sandfort is having a dream season of his own.
The No. 11 scorer in Iowa men’s basketball history with 1,619 points recently earned a two-way NBA contract, which is an entry point to the big-time especially for an undrafted rookie. He scored his first career NBA points for the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 3-pointer at Brooklyn on March 19.
He’s back in the G League for now, with eight more scheduled NBA games to come at the end of the season. The plan is to stay with the Thunder in the playoffs as they begin their NBA title defense.
Sandfort flew back to Oklahoma City from Brooklyn to attend his younger brother’s NCAA Tournament opener. He watched Pryce, a first-team All-Big Ten Conference selection, knock down seven 3-pointers and score 23 points as the Cornhuskers beat Troy to record the first NCAA Tournament win in school history.
When fourth-seeded Nebraska reached the Sweet 16 with a harrowing 74-72 win over Vanderbilt, Pryce delivered the game-winning assist on a lane drive in the final seconds.
“Every other leading scorer in the country is shooting that basketball,” Payton Sandfort said. “And for him to give that up and make a play, that’s the type of stuff you dream about.”
Payton still bleeds black and gold, too. He scored 30 points in his final game as a Hawkeye, which was also Fran McCaffery’s final game as Iowa coach after 15 years last March. After Iowa hired Ben McCollum, every Hawkeye scholarship player except one transferred to a new home, including Pryce to Nebraska.
The exception was redshirt freshman Cooper Koch, and Sandfort was stoked to see him knock down four second-half 3-pointers in the ninth-seeded Hawkeyes’ 73-72 upset of top-seeded Florida to reach the program’s first Sweet 16 since 1999 and second in 38 years.
Koch had to redshirt last season after suffering a collapsed lung that required surgery. Iowa doesn’t knock off Florida without Koch, who Sandfort considers another younger brother.
“You could see it last year, he was going to be such a big part of what we were doing,” Sandfort said. “And then he went through a life-changing experience. You really feel for him. He reminded me of a younger me, just the way he attacked every day. He was on a better path than I was.
“There were times (this season) he was struggling to shoot the ball. But there was not a single second where I thought it looked like he wasn’t improving. I could tell he was going to be a phenomenal Big Ten player. Even when he was missing shots, I used to watch him shoot every day, I knew he was going to make those shots.”
Video: Cooper Koch on Iowa basketball’s Sweet 16 berth
Cooper Koch reacts to Iowa basketball’s 73-72 win over Florida in the NCAA Tournament.
That love for Iowa is why it was difficult for Payton to see his brother get taunted with profanity from the student section and booed by thousands of Hawkeye fans when Nebraska played at Iowa on Feb. 17.
“I was a little disappointed, just because I sacrificed my career for that place,” Sandfort said. “I get it from the students, but there were some people that I was close with there that didn’t treat him the best, which bothered me a little bit. But that’s how it goes. It’s a rivalry. I get it. We’ll call it a sign of respect. I was incredibly proud of how he handled himself.
“All the right people treated him great over there. No hard feelings.”
So … Sandfort will be glued to the Iowa-Nebraska game, right?
Well … not exactly.
Guess where Sandfort’s G League game is on Thursday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. CT — the exact time Iowa-Nebraska tips off here in Houston on TBS?
The Casey’s Center in downtown Des Moines, just 20 minutes from the Sandforts’ hometown of Waukee. Instead of a family reunion at the Iowa Wolves game, Sandfort doesn’t even need to get tickets for friends or family. They’ll all be watching Pryce.
And if Nebraska reaches the Elite Eight, guess where his Oklahoma City Blue team plays Saturday? Still in Des Moines.
“You can’t make it up,” Sandfort laughed.
The story gets funnier because when Nebraska played Vanderbilt, Sandfort’s G League team was playing in front of a very light crowd in Memphis. There were four guys along the baseline in one of the corners — where as a 3-point shooter, Sandfort often camps out on offense — giving him Nebraska updates during the game.
“And then I run to the other corner,” Sandfort said, “and their head coach is like, ‘Hey, Nebraska is up seven at half.’ It was insane.”
And yes, Sandfort might get some in-game updates at the Casey’s Center.
As fate would have it, the Iowa Wolves’ operations assistant is Ben Sheridan, who was a head manager for the Hawkeye basketball team when Sandfort played in Iowa City. Sandfort said Sheridan has offered to provide Iowa-Nebraska updates to Payton when possible.
After playing his game, he’ll probably go rewatch Iowa-Nebraska with his grandparents in Waukee.
You really can’t make this up.
Sandfort’s rooting interest is obviously for his family first. But he still wants the best for the Hawkeyes, too.
“I could never not support Pryce,” he said. “I know what we’ve been through together and what we’ve dreamed about. For him to have a chance to play in the Final Four, that’s pretty special for my family. It’s just, why couldn’t it be (against) anybody else?”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
