The biggest factor in Iowa’s favor as well as the largest deterrent is the young, raw talent of the Hawkeyes. The best player on the team is no doubt a dynamic sophomore, Tyler Cook. At 6-9, the forward out of Saint Louis flashed looks of high potential consistently throughout his freshman year. Tyler Cook’s effect on the game cannot always be shown in his stat lines; however, Cook’s impacts every possession, regardless of his possession of the ball.

Jordan Bohannon, Isaiah Moss, and Brady Ellingson will be dominating the guard spots as sophomores and juniors. Bohannon and Moss can both score off the dribble and distribute to make plays at will, even as mere sophomores. Ellingson, however, will be more of a pure point guard. With the powerhouse Tyler Cook at forward, clear leaders at guard slots, and depth at both forward and guard positions, Iowa Basketball will be successful if McCaffery can find a large player to play in tandem with Cook.

This large X-factor for Iowa will be the freshman center for the Hawks, Luka Garza. The 4-star recruit out of Washington DC will play the role which could put Iowa over the top. The 6-11 has already grabbed 18 boards through two games with 27 points in addition. In recent memory, Iowa loses the rebounding affair on a strikingly consistent basis. In addition to the young Garza and Cook, the returning Big Ten Conference 6th man of the year award winner, Nicholas Bear, will jump start the young Hawkeyes whenever needed. With a deep set of young big men behind Garza, Baer, and Cook, the rebounding deficit will improve moving forward.

Another reason for the jump into March Madness will be the schedule for the young Iowa team. With the only notable non-conference opponents coming on the road against both Virginia Tech and the rivaling Cyclones, wins will be racked up quickly prior to conference play. Iowa also draws one of the weakest schedules in the Big Ten Conference. The Hawkeyes will not travel to ranked opponents in #2 Michigan State, #20 Purdue, and #19 Northwestern.

Iowa will also not travel to rival Wisconsin and will only play Michigan State, Maryland and Indiana once. The Hawkeyes will reach 20 wins before the final stretch of the season. Three of the final five games will

play on the road with the last two facing ranked opponents. With an easier schedule than most, even if the young players do not improve in the expected ways, Iowa will rack up at least 22 wins before the Big Ten Tournament in the Madison Square Garden.

The graduation of Peter Jok will also allow the Hawkeye basketball squad to acquire a bid to the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Jok made up the core of last year’s team, leading the Big Ten in scoring. However, Jok also lead the team in shots taken. Despite leading in points, Jok shot a 7^th team best shooting percentage to return for it, behind the likes of Tyler Cook, Nicholas Baer, Ahmad Wagner, and others.

Contrary to popular belief from mainstream sports analysts, Iowa will benefit from the absence of Peter Jok for multiple reasons. Iowa will not be reliant on a one-man effort with multiple people getting involved. A team is much easier to stop with one man scoring instead of a team. The spacing of the floor will also be nicer for shooters with the best player in Cook playing in the post instead of Jok playing around the 3-point arc. All in all, Peter Jok is an absolutely great player; however, Jok’s presence hurt the team more at times than not.

Due to the young raw talent of the Hawkeyes in addition to lucky breaks in scheduling and an ability to involve more players than in years past, the 2017 Iowa Hawkeye basketball team will not only return to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years, but will chance running at Sweet Sixteen for the first time since the 1998-99 season. The next game for the 2-0 Hawkeyes will come against Grambling State on Wednesday, November 16^th at 7:05 pm CST at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The post Spoilers: Hawkeyes Dance in March appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It’s now October 31st, meaning Halloween is upon us and college basketball is right around the corner. Exhibitions are being played across the nation, used to size up the talent of all 347 Division I college basketball teams in the country before the regular season is in full effect.

In the middle of it all, Iowa City is now teeming with excitement around this year’s Hawkeyes: a team that bolsters youth and emerging talent with the recent graduation of star guard Peter Jok. However, Jok’s absence is not bringing groans of rebuilding, but instead eagerness for what the rest of the team has to offer.

Guard Play Will Come with a Learning Curve

Jordan Bohannon is undoubtedly the starting point guard for the Hawks this year. The sophomore scored a team-high 19 points while assisting four baskets in the exhibition win over William Jewell College. He is by no means a ‘true’ point guard, but his three-point prowess (4-7 in the exhibition) makes him a must-start.

The backup point guard looked to be the inconsistent Christian Williams, but his sudden exit via transfer puts pressure onto head coach Fran McCaffery to fill the void. With the news breaking so close to the season, many believed either Isaiah Moss or Maishe Dailey would be tasked with the backup role. Enter: Connor McCaffery.

The coach’s son is a freshman guard out of Iowa City West High School who was tabbed by many to receive little playing time and potentially redshirt. However, he was a surprise constant in the exhibition, tallying the fourth-most minutes (18) and the second-most assists (3).

A large chunk of his playing time may be attributed to Moss’s ankle tweak which sidelined him for much of the second half, but with McCaffery’s increased role up top, we may see Moss more as a true shooting guard in his attempt to fill Peter Jok’s shoes.

There’s no question that Fran McCaffery will reward Bohannon’s stellar freshman season with a starting role, but the backup slot is still up for grabs. With one home exhibition left (Thurs. Nov. 2 vs Belmont Abbey College), Connor McCaffery, Moss and Dailey will likely see increased minutes to sort out the pecking order for the season.

Freshmen Will Be A Focal Point Once More

Last season, 44.7 percent of Iowa’s offense came from four freshmen: Tyler Cook (12.3), Jordan Bohannon (10.9), Cordell Pemsl (8.9) and Isaiah Moss (6.5). This season, four freshmen enter the fold: forwards Luka Garza and Jack Nunge and guards Connor McCaffery and Austin Ash. Garza (26) and Nunge (17) each received extensive minutes in the exhibition and it certainly paid off with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Both forwards will certainly see the floor more often than the guards, but Connor McCaffery is looking toward more minutes with Christian Williams gone. Ash, a walk-on from Cedar Rapids, was the only Hawkeye to not see the floor versus William Jewell College.

Garza, a true freshman from Washington D.C., is a bruising forward that managed nine rebounds in the contest. He’ll open up space to push Nicholas Baer to his rightful small forward spot. Garnering the most attention of the four recruits, he seems to have cracked the starting lineup already.

Nunge, a true freshman from Newburgh, Indiana, is a versatile swingman that can play all across the floor. He was perfect (3-3) from beyond the arc and notched nine boards in the exhibition. He’ll certainly add a third level of scoring past the traditional forwards and guards on the team.

Why The Hawks Can Compete

Last season, Tyler Cook proved to be the man down low that the Hawks have been seeking since Melsahn Basabe. He’ll help Iowa compete in not only the Big Ten, but in the tournament. Fran McCaffery has one B1G tournament win since taking over in 2010 and losing early in the conference tourney has often kept the team out of March Madness.

This year, though, Iowa has the talent down low to win games consistently in the conference. Wisconsin and Ohio State have traditionally given the team trouble and the tandem of Cook and Garza will look to change that.

Another variable that has held the Hawks back in March is poor point guard play, but Jordan Bohannon was recently named to the 20-player Bob Cousy Point Guard Watchlist, hopefully meaning that the string of poor point play is over. The sophomore will have an increased role as far as scoring goes, but he’ll need to facilitate better than guards in the past in order for the Hawks to advance in March.

The real reason the Hawks can thrive this year is the graduation of Peter Jok. He clearly scored points galore and boosted the team for many different reasons, but teams expected points to pour from Jok all year. Opening opportunities for many other skilled players, especially the newcomers, makes this squad exceptionally scary for Big Ten defenses.

Garza and Nunge add the final layer that the Hawks have been lacking for years and while it’s only Halloween, this team should be plenty spooky by the time March rolls around.

The post Why Iowa Basketball Can Be Spooky By March appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Thanks in-part to a 10-0 run in the middle of the second half, the Hawkeyes were able to erase a nine-point halftime deficit and take a three-point lead with just over five minutes to play.

The comeback attempt came up a little short, however, as the #25 Maryland Terrapins held on for an 84-76 victory on the road at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The game looked like it could turn into a blowout in the first half, but the Hawkeyes came out of halftime with a sense of urgency that simply was not there at the start of the game. The 10-0 run seemed to shift the momentum in favor of the Hawkeyes, but Maryland fought back and was able to outlast the Iowa push.

A pair of Melo Trimble three-pointers turned a three-point Iowa lead into a three-point Maryland lead, and the Hawkeyes were never able to get over the hill again.

“You’ve got to give them credit for the shots they made,” said Iowa’s Head Coach Fran McCaffery. “They did a good job of answering our runs with timely baskets.”

A lot of points were left on the floor for the Hawkeyes, as the team was just 27-of-70 from the field (35.7%) and 7-28 from three-point range (25.0%). However, the team did go 19-of-25 from the free-throw line (76.0%), highlighted by a 6-of-8 showing from forward Tyler Cook, who had been struggling to find his stroke from the line.

The Hawkeyes also won the turnover battle, forcing 21 Terrapin turnovers and turning them into 30 points. They also outrebounded the Terps by three and allowed only seven second-chance points on just six offensive rebounds. Still, a slow start for a second straight game ultimately led to a second straight Big Ten loss for the Hawkeyes.

“I’m not entirely sure. I think that’s something we’re still working on,” said Iowa forward Nicholas Baer when asked if he could point to what has been causing the slow starts. “That’s been problematic for us the last couple of games, but we’ll figure that out internally.”

For the third time in the last four games, the team has turned to some unlikely players to lead them through their toughest battles. In the middle of the second half when the Hawkeyes made their big push, the lineup consisted of point guard Jordan Bohannon and four reserves in Baer, Ahmad Wagner, Brady Ellingson, and Ryan Kriener.

Forward Ahmad Wagner highlighted the group’s success with four offensive rebounds in the second half and 12 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting at the free throw line.

“He was the difference in the game,” McCaffery said. “He sort of imposed his will on that game, which is not easy to do against a team that’s that athletic.”

The sophomore brings a lot of hustle and energy to the floor, and he was able to really settle down and get into a rhythm for the first time this season. While it gives him confidence in himself moving forward, he knows the team getting a win is more important than his success.

“I was trying to come in and bring energy,” Wagner said. “For me to go in and play like I did today feels good, but it will feel better to get the win.”

Even though the score did not finish in the Hawkeyes’ favor, depth proved to be a strong point on this Iowa team. On any given night, it appears to be anyone’s guess as to who will step up and play impactful minutes down the stretch.

Now, the Hawkeyes move into a “bye week” as they will have six days between now and their next game when they travel to play at Illinois. The team is looking forward to the break so that they can work to improve their own game for a couple of days without focusing on an opponent. It will also give Peter Jok a chance to rest after nursing a back issue for the last couple of games.

“We’ll utilize this time to work on ourselves internally and work on the things we need to fix up,” Baer said.

The Hawkeyes (11-9, 3-4 Big Ten) travel to Champaign, Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini (12-7, 2-4 Big Ten) on Wednesday January 25^th at 8 p.m. CST on Big Ten Network.

The post Comeback Attempt Falls Short for Hawkeyes appeared first on KRUI Radio.

After going through a four-game losing streak and having a complete makeover in the starting lineup, winning five in a row before facing a top-15 team in Purdue seems pretty good for the young, but talented, Hawkeyes.

“Considering where we were, yeah,” said head coach Fran McCaffery when asked if he liked where the team stands at the end of non-conference play.

Since McCaffery changed the starting lineup at Notre Dame, which included starting three true freshmen in Jordan Bohannon, Cordell Pemsl, and Isaiah Moss, the Hawkeyes are 5-2 and they have found some balance in their game. Before the change, defensive communication had been a problem and senior Peter Jok was the only player scoring consistently. That has not been the case during the current five-game winning streak.

“They’ve definitely shown signs of improvement,” McCaffery said. “We played so poorly in that stretch of games defensively, and they knew we had to be better. Then they had to figure out how to do it together.”

During the four-game skid, opponents were scoring 91 points per game against the Hawkeyes. Since, that number has gone down to 61.6.

Since becoming starters, Pemsl and Bohannon have averaged 13.6 and 11.7 PPG, which has given the team a much-needed boost offensively since freshman Tyler Cook was sidelined with a broken finger.

Before the injury, Cook was averaging 13.7 PPG and 5.3 rebounds per game.

Cook is expected to return to the lineup for the first time in three weeks against Purdue next Wednesday, although it is unclear whether or not he will be in the starting lineup. McCaffery says he will evaluate how he plays in practice over the next few days before making a decision.

“We’ll see how he does when he comes back,” McCaffery said of Cook. “Ahmad (Wagner) and Cordell have really played well together, so I’ll think it through.”

As is often the case with good players who miss time with injuries, it could take a while for Cook to get re-acclimated to playing with his teammates again, and for the team to get re-acclimated to Cook being on the floor. The team thinks the next week of practice will help them get accustomed to the change, and they don’t expect Cook to struggle at all when he returns to the lineup.

“I don’t see it changing at all,” said Wagner of the team chemistry when Cook returns. “We’re going to be just as effective as we were before, and I don’t think he’s going to miss a beat.”

Having Cook’s 6’9” frame back in the lineup will be helpful, as Purdue is one of the bigger teams Iowa will face all season. The Boilermakers have a potential first-round NBA Draft pick in 7’2” center Isaac Haas, as well as a B1G player of the year candidate in 6’9” forward Caleb Swanigan. Both players are averaging more than 14 PPG so far this season.

The Hawkeyes will have to be at their best from this point on. Only a couple of players on this young team have been through B1G play before, and they will be relied on more in the coming weeks as the freshmen get accustomed to the conference schedule.

“Our team’s been clicking lately, and we’re only going to get better from here,” Wagner said. “People say we’re young and inexperienced, but I think our team’s good and I think we can surprise a lot of people.”

It will be an interesting conference season for the Hawkeyes who are still trying to find their groove. Fans will need to keep their expectations in check as they watch this young team grow and learn on the fly, and we have to understand that the team will have to make mistakes and hit some bumps in the road if they want to keep improving.

Big Ten Conference play starts on Wednesday, December 28^th as Iowa (8-5) travels to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on the #15 Purdue Boilermakers (11-2) at Mackey Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 PM central time and can be seen on Big Ten Network.

The post Hawkeyes Turn Their Attention to B1G Play appeared first on KRUI Radio.

It was all Iowa from the get-go, they began the game with a 9-0 run and never looked back. As expected Peter Jok was the centerpiece for the Iowa offence and defense. He lead both teams in scoring with 27 points on 11-19 shooting.

Jok described this as only a decent game for him, “I’m trying to get 35+, that’s a good game for me.”

In order for the Hawkeyes to succeed they’re going to need Jok to continue to put up points.

One of the things going in to tonight game is seeing if the Hawkeyes can find their number two guy behind Jok. Going into tonight’s game many thought that guy would be Tyler Cook, however, Cook struggled to get anything going scoring 6 points on 1-7 shooting he also had 4 turnovers. He will look to have a better game on Sunday.

Some more concerns for the Hawkeyes is the fact that they had 17 turnovers.

“That’s too many turnovers.” Said Iowa Coach Fran McCaffrey, his two main concerns about the game were the turnovers and defensive lapses. “We have to be better than that.”

Something that worked well for the Hawkeyes was their bench, they got 36 points from their bench including an extremely impressive showing form Ahmad Wagner. He had 12 points 5 rebounds 4 assists 4 blocks and 2 steals, his performance did not go unnoticed by the senior leader.

“Ahmad really impressed me, I think he played really well.” Said Peter Jok.

Pemsl was the other player off the bench with double figures. He finished the night with 10 points and 6 rebounds.

Overall it was a pretty successful shooting night for the Hawkeyes as they shot .500 from the field. They also were able to give some valuable playing time to some of their young players.12 different players saw action tonight, which is important for this young team in order for them to grow.

The Hawkeyes next game is this Sunday at 2:30pm at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against the Savanah State Tigers, another game they hope to win.

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