IOWA CITY, Iowa – A unanimous first-team all-Big Ten selection and Iowa’s first All-American in 19 years, senior forward Jarrod Uthoff is without question the star of the Iowa men’s basketball team.

Junior swingman Peter Jok is arguably the best shooter on the team, while 7-foot-1 senior center Adam Woodbury is the team’s best rebounder and its emotional leader.

All three of them should play a significant role in the NCAA Tournament, which will match No. 7 seed Iowa against No. 10 seed Temple in the first round on Friday in Brooklyn, N.Y.

But it’s the other two starters who haven’t been mentioned yet that probably will have the biggest impact, either good or bad, on Iowa’s performance.

Senior guards Anthony Clemmons and Mike Gesell will have the ball in their hands probably more than any other players on the team. They’ll be most responsible for getting their teammates involved on offense and for stopping the ball in transition on defense and for stopping penetration in half-court sets.

“The NCAA Tournament is a guards’ tournament,” said former Iowa all-Big Ten forward Jess Settles, who now works as a studio analyst for the Big Ten Network. “Most teams usually go as far as their guards can take them.”

Settles picked Clemmons and Gesell as Iowa’s two most important players heading into the NCAA Tournament.

You have pretty good idea what to expect from the 6-9 Uthoff, from the 6-6 Jok and from Woodbury.

But with Clemmons and Gesell, it’s anybody’s guess as to how they will play on Friday.

Neither was effective against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament and look what happened. Iowa lost 68-66 to a depleted team with a losing record.

Jok and Uthoff combined for 50 of Iowa’s 66 points against Illinois, while Clemmons and Gesell combined for seven of Iowa’s 18 turnovers and for just three points, all of which were scored by Gesell.

If Clemmons and Gesell have anything close to that kind of performance on Friday, you can almost be certain that Temple will advance to face Villanova in the second round on Sunday in a battle for bragging rights in Philadelphia.

The Owls will test the patience of Iowa’s guards because they prefer a slower pace on offense and are more comfortable scoring from half-court sets, whereas Iowa wants to push the pace

Whichever team controls tempo should be in position to win the game, assuming it shoots a reasonable percentage from the field.

Iowa doesn’t necessarily need Clemmons and Gesell to both score in double figures to prevail on Friday. But one of them can’t be held scoreless, either, because that would put too much burden on the other players. They also need to combine for fewer than five turnovers because the last thing Iowa wants is for Temple to have more opportunities to melt time off the clock.

Gesell and Clemmons have combined to start 184 games for the Hawkeyes, including 128 by Gesell. They will play in their third consecutive NCAA Tournament and their fourth consecutive postseason tournament. And they’ll play alongside a veteran cast of players and for a head coach who has nearly three decades of experience.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery is also a former standout point guard, so he understands the challenges of playing the position, both mentally and physically.

There is no reason for Clemmons or Gesell to be intimidated by the grand stage or by any opponent.

This is one last chance for them to shine as teammates, and much is expected from them on both ends of the floor.

They have to play with precision, poise and passion because their performances will have a trickle-down effect.

It’s hard to think of an Iowa team that has made some noise in the NCAA Tournament without its guards having a significant impact.

Iowa’s 1999 team, which is the last Hawkeye squad to advance to the Sweet 16, was powered by the fine all-around play of point guard Dean Oliver and by the spectacular 3-point shooting of senior guard Kent McCausland.

Iowa advanced to the Sweet 16 in 1988 thanks largely to point guard B.J. Armstrong, who scored 35 points in a victory over Florida State in the first round and then dished out seven assists in a victory over UNLV in the second round.

The Hawkeyes made the Elite Eight in 1987 behind a backcourt that featured Armstrong and Kevin Gamble, both of whom went on to play in the NBA.

Iowa made the Final Four in 1980 thanks largely to point guard sensation Ronnie Lester.

Neither Clemmons nor Gesell are anywhere close to Lester or Armstrong in terms of talent. But Iowa also doesn’t need them to be superstars in order to prevail.

They just can’t be liabilities. And at this stage in their careers, they shouldn’t be liabilities.