Iowa blows out Davidson behind White’s 26

Senior Aaron White went 11-of-14 from the field en route to a game-high 26 points as the Hawkeyes rolled over the Wildcats for an 83-52 win in the NCAA Tournament round of 64 at Seattle.

Mike Gesell contributed 15 points and six assists for seventh-seeded Iowa (22-11), which plays Gonzaga or North Dakota State in Sunday’s round of 32. Peter Jok chipped in with 12 points while Jarrod Uthoff added eight points and nine boards as the Hawkeyes won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2001.

Jack Gibbs and Peyton Aldridge led the way with 14 points apiece for 10th-seed Davidson (24-8), which produced its lowest scoring output of the season – almost 28 below its average. The Wildcats’ leading scorer Tyler Kalinoski was held to five points on 2-of-9 shooting as Davidson made only 33.3 percent from the field.

Adam Woodbury and Jok each scored six as Iowa put together an 18-4 run for a 15-point lead before Gibbs helped Davidson trim the deficit to 38-29 at intermission. Kalinoski picked up his third foul with 8:20 left in the first half and the Hawkeyes had an 11-5 edge on the offensive boards in the opening 20 minutes.

The Wildcats trimmed the deficit to six, but White scored the last 13 – including a 3-pointer — as Iowa ran off 18 of the next 21 points to push its lead to 62-41 with 11:43 to go. Another White basket with eight minutes left made it 70-48 and the Hawkeyes cruised from there to win for the seventh time in eight games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: White also grabbed six rebounds to become the third Iowa player to reach 900 in his career. … Davidson came in shooting 39.7 percent from 3-point range, but made only 6-of-28 on Friday. … Iowa, which finished with a 46-30 edge on the boards, won the only other meeting 76-61 in 1969 at Davidson.