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Iowa men’s basketball announces 3-game European tour this summer
By Keith Farner
Published:
Iowa men’s basketball will spend part of its summer in Europe thanks to a 3-game tour to Paris and Spain, the program announced on Tuesday.
Fran McCaffery and the Hawkeyes will travel on Aug. 5 before they come home on Aug. 16. The Hawkeyes’ trip will take them to the Paris, Valencia and Barcelona with 3 games against opponents to be determined at a later date.
The Hawkeyes will spend 4 days in Paris (Aug. 6-9), 3 days in Valencia (Aug. 10-12) and 3 days in Barcelona (Aug. 13-15).
Key newcomers for the Hawkeyes this season include Belmont transfer Even Brauns, and former Valparaiso big man Ben Krikke.
“We are grateful to have the resources available to provide this opportunity for our student-athletes,” McCaffery said. “Not only will our players experience different cultures and create lifelong memories with their teammates, but we get 10 extra team practices leading up to the trip. With us adding 6 new players, I believe this is a perfect time for this opportunity.”
The trip will be the first for Iowa since the program visited Germany, Switzerland and Italy in the summer of 2017.
“I could not be more excited for the opportunity our team has to go overseas this summer,” Payton Sandfort said. “The extra practices will greatly benefit our new guys and our overall team by developing our on-court bond. The opportunity to see new cultures that few of us have experienced will be a special experience while allowing our team to become closer off the floor as well. This experience will benefit our team tremendously.”
Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.