Senior forward had 25 points Friday, and 49 in two games this week. Dasonte Bowen had a career-high 17 points.

IOWA CITY — Krikke, mate!

Not-so-gentle Ben Krikke had a week. He scored 24 points for the Iowa men’s basketball team in its 92-84 loss to No. 8 Creighton Tuesday, then popped in 25 Friday night in the Hawkeyes’ 88-74 win over Arkansas State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

That wasn’t all the 6-foot-9 fifth-year senior from Edmonton, Alberta by way of Valparaiso University did. He had nine rebounds, three blocked shots, and a career-high four steals.

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Krikke has scored 49 points in his last two games and is 21-of-32 from the field in that time.

He averaged a Missouri Valley Conference-best 19.4 points per game last season, but that didn’t guarantee it would translate to similar numbers in a different program, and one in the Big Ten. So far, so really good.

“Offensively, he’s very efficient,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. “He’s not a turnover guy, he’s not a selfish guy.

“He’s really good. He’s everything we hoped he would be.”

Krikke downplayed his four steals, crediting them to coming out of the zone or press. He said he’s a good defender “sometimes” and said he did “an average job” Friday.

“I probably could have helped my guards out a little bit more by getting out there and moving my feet a little better,” he said.

OK. But on a night Iowa was just 2 of 12 from 3-point distance and out-rebounded 44-39, it needed Krikke’s continuous scoring in the paint and on short midrange shots to keep the Red Wolves at bay.

Krikke is averaging 19.8 points through four games, and Iowa wouldn’t mind another 30 or so games of that.

“My main goal is just help this team win, whatever that looks,” Krikke said. “You just want as many games as we can and be as competitive as we can be. Personal goals, play professionally, whatever that looks like. I’ll just keep working my hardest and whatever happens happens.”

Another Hawkeye who shouldered the load Friday was sophomore point guard Dasonte Bowen, who had a career-high 17 points on just five field goal tries. He converted 3-point plays in the first 30 seconds of both halves.

“I tried to get the basket early,” Bowen said.

The 3-point plays, McCaffery said, “tells me he was locked in. It’s really important when you’re playing a team of this caliber because if they come in and they get a lead on you, they’re going to be hard to beat.”

Bowen had another career-high with his 29 minutes. He had three of Iowa’s 11 steals, none of its seven turnovers. By the way, the Hawkeyes haven’t had more than seven in any of their games.

Bowen has 17 assists, one turnover.

“That probably leads the country,” McCaffery said.

“He was a phenomenal player on the AAU circuit and on the prep school circuit. Nobody saw it his last year because it was the pandemic so nobody went to the games. We had seen him when he was a sophomore.

“The thing about him, he’s really talented. He’s an athlete. He can run your offense, he can make plays. He plays defense, he rebounds. He’s an athlete. He’s run your offense. He can make plays.

“He’s one of the finer people you’ll ever come across. Great family. We’re just proud to have him on our team.”

Iowa scored the first seven points Friday and never trailed, but the Red Wolves (1-3) did tie the game at 36 with 4:33 left in the first half. The Hawkeyes closed the half with an 8-0 run for a 49-39 lead.

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Iowa’s next game is Thursday at 2 p.m. (Central time) against Oklahoma (4-0) in the first round of the Rady Children’s Invitational in San Diego.

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