The Iowa men’s basketball team put the exhibition loss behind them.
By Ian Murphy
The Iowa men’s basketball players say they’ve put the exhibition loss to D-2 Augustana behind them.
Coming off the 76-74 loss, just the second exhibition loss Iowa suffered this millennium, the Hawkeyes now turn their attention to Gardner-Webb.
In all respects, it should be a tune-up for the Hawkeyes, but then again, Augustana should have, too.
Head coach Fran McCaffery said his team responded to the loss accordingly and praised the play of junior Peter Jok, who led the Hawkeyes with 21 points and had all five of Iowa’s trips to the free-throw line.
“He’s got to take that next step, and I think you’re seeing that. He’s scoring the ball,” McCaffery said. “He’s way more active. His stamina and his defense are greatly improved. And we need him thinking the way he’s thinking, and that is as an aggressive offensive scorer.”
Jok aside, most of the the team played poorly n Nov. 6 against the Vikings, a game that saw Iowa get out-rebounded 42-35.
The Hawkeyes also missed 39 shots and with only five free-throw attempts, there was a lack of penetration across the board by the Hawkeye guards.
Jok not only scored 21 points, he hit the game-tying 3 with just under 30 seconds left.
Jok said the team will need to match the intensity of the opponents for the whole 40 minutes rather than just the waxing and waning minutes of the game.
“We came out strong and were ready to go,” Jok said. “Then we let down and they got scoring, when we matched their intensity, we started to come back.”
Regardless of the intensity, the Hawkeyes will have to put the exhibition loss behind them. The team stressed repeatedly at Wednesday’s media availability that they will move past the Augustana game.
They’ll need to, because Gardner Webb, a team the Hawkeyes beat 65-56 with McCaffery at the helm in 2012, can score in a hurry, averaging 74.8 points per game last season. It also returns second-leading scorer Tyler Nelson, who averaged close to 14 points and 6 rebounds last season.
McCaffery said the Augustana game gave the Hawkeyes a chance to see holes in their game, and he’d rather have them exposed in a game that doesn’t affect the Hawkeyes postseason chances.
Those holes include a lack of bench production and the rebounding issue, to name a few.
The bench should see more playing time this weekend, as the Runnin’ Bulldogs, and the Coppin State Eagles on Nov. 15, shouldn’t pose much of a threat to the Hawkeyes.
And while they might not garner the name recognition of opponents down the road, such as Iowa State, Florida State, and Marquette, Gardner-Webb has to have the Hawkeyes’ attention.
“Playing Augustana was an eye-opener,” senior Jarrod Uthoff said. “And you just have to come in with that mindset, or you’re going to lose.”
*Follow @ianfromiowa on Twitter for Iowa men’s basketball news, updates, and analysis.*
