New-look Iowa men face Kennesaw State in season opener
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Peter Jok will play in his final season opener as an Iowa basketball player on Friday against Kennesaw State.
Tyler Cook will make his much-anticipated Hawkeye debut in the same game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
A senior sharpshooter with 93 games under his belt in college and a freshman power forward with a tremendously high ceiling, Jok and Cook are two of Fran McCaffery’s most important pieces to a new puzzle.
The 6-foot-6 Jok is the only returning starter from last season when he made second-team all-Big Ten, while the 6-9, 253-pound Cook has the highest ceiling of any player that McCaffery has recruited to Iowa, according to McCaffery.
Jok’s experience combined with Cook’s potential are two reasons for optimism heading into a season in which many consider Iowa a long shot to make the NCAA Tournament after making it in each of the past three seasons.
“Just get a win, that’s the main thing,” Jok said when asked what he hoped to accomplish on Friday. “We’re trying to win as much as we can. That’s the only thing I’m looking forward to on Friday is getting the win.”
Even with four new starters and a roster that includes seven freshmen, McCaffery still has high expectations heading into his seventh season as the Iowa coach.
“This will be our first game, so I expect us to play well,” McCaffery said. “I think the tangible improvement will be moving forward from there because what's happened so far, we've had practice, we've had an exhibition game, scrimmage…this is different.
“This is, see what these guys do in games and who can perform well when the lights come on. Then from there the tangible improvement area will come into effect in my opinion.”
Fans got their first glimpse of Iowa last Friday when the Hawkeyes defeated Regis University 95-73 in an exhibition game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
To say that Iowa was inconsistent would be an understatement.
“I wasn't really pleased with the consistency of anything, to be honest with you,” McCaffery said of his team’s performance in the exhibition game. “And it's kind of been the trend since June. We look good some days; we look just okay some days. Individually, there's days when guys are absolutely spectacular, and then there's days when they go missing. That's not uncommon for a young team.
“That's the challenge. We have to get more consistent with our execution offensively, whether that be our half-court offense, our transition game, our ball movement, defensively same thing. Post defense, transition pick-up, communication defensively, all of that kind of stuff. It's okay at times, but you can't win at this level by playing in spurts. Our defense was good in a spurt in each half. I mean, really good.”
Cook credits the Iowa coaches for making it easier to be consistent.
“It was a lot tougher before than what it is now,” Cook said. “The coaches support us. They tell us everything we need to know. We’re always prepared for everything.”
The challenge for McCaffery is blending Jok’s experience and skill set with what is largely a new group of players.
Jok played a certain way when he was teamed with Jarrod Uthoff, Adam Woodbury, Mike Gesell and Anthony Clemmons last season as starters. But they’ve all used up their eligibility, leaving Jok with little help in terms of experience.
Jok spent the offseason preparing to be Iowa’s featured player on offense.
“I’ve put in the work, so it’s going to pay off,” said Jok, who averaged 16.1 points per game last season. “I think I’ve been doing a great job of practicing and working on what I need to work on. The coaches have been allowing me to do that, so now it’s show time. It’s time for me to show what I can do.”
Jok and Cook are expected to be joined in the starting lineup by 6-7 sophomore forward Nicholas Baer, 6-6 sophomore point guard Christian Williams and 6-9 junior forward Dom Uhl.
McCaffery used an 11-player rotation against Regis, and that was without sophomore guard Bradly Ellingson and freshman forward Ryan Kriener being available. They both were injured and didn’t play.
“Getting 13 in would be pretty tough,” McCaffery said. “But I don't know that I've ever had a team, quite honestly, that had a lot of guys that kind of deserved to play. They all do. It's going to be interesting to see how that shakes out."
As for Kennesaw State, it returns eight letter-winners, including three starters from a team that finished 11-20 last season and 7-7 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
The Owls are coached by Al Skinner, who is in his second season. Skinner has guided teams to nine NCAA Tournament appearances and four conference titles during tenures and Boston College and Rhode Island. He also twice was named Big East Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2005.
Skinner will lean heavily on sophomore Kendrick Ray, who averaged 18.7 points per game last season. Ray was named Newcomer of the Year in the Atlantic Sun Conference last season.
“Kennesaw State has a well-established head coach in Al Skinner,” McCaffery said. “He knows what he's doing. They run really good offense. They compete. They're athletic. He's had an opportunity to get a really good recruiting class in there, so I think they're deep. How deep he decides to play, I don't know.”
“But I think he's got some pieces that he can play. They have an 18-point scorer coming back in Kendrick Ray. He's really good. So I think a very difficult task for us right out of the gate for a team that will be ready to go.
Iowa has won 37 of its last 38 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.
Friday’s game will be the second of a doubleheader that’ll start with the Iowa women’s basketball team facing Oral Roberts in the first game at 6 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Iowa women’s team is trying to get back to the NCAA Tournament after its streak of eight consecutive appearances ended last season. The women lost to Ball State in the first round of the WNIT last season, finishing 19-14 overall and 8-10 in the Big Ten.
Lisa Bluder is entering her 17th season as the Iowa women’s basketball coach. Bluder is Iowa’s all-time winningest coach for women’s basketball with a 323-88 record.