Vintage Peter Jok came to play Friday
By Tyler Devine
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Peter Jok did exactly what he's expected to do on Friday night in Iowa's 91-74 defeat of Kennesaw State. He scored in different ways and he did it a lot.
Jok led Iowa with 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including 3-of-8 from three-point range to help the Hawkeyes start the season 1-0.
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery has given Jok the green light and doesn't think there's a such thing as a bad shot for the senior guard.
"He pretty much has the green light," McCaffery said. "He's good for at least four bad shots a game, but they're good shots if he's talking them."
Jok isn't satisfied with 27 points, he wants to score more but will also do whatever gets his team a win.
"I'm trying to get 35 plus and get a good win," Jok said. "If I'm on fire I'm going to keep shooting. I'm not a selfish player but sometimes I have to be selfish but at the end of the day it's all about the win. If I have to take 30 shots to win I'll do it and if I have to take 10 shots to win then I'll do that too."
Not only does Jok's hot hand help put points on the scoreboard, it opens up high-percentage shot opportunities for the big men in the middle.
"If I'm scoring now they have to really focus on me which opens it up for other players," Jok said. "Then we feed them and (freshman forward) Cordell (Pemsl) did really well tonight and they couldn't stop him down low."
The 6-foot-9 Pemsl scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting in his Iowa debut and realizes how much of an advantage having a shooter of Jok's caliber on his side can be.
"He's definitely is a guy who helps me get buckets," Pemsl said. "It helps Tyler and other big men get buckets because they have to double him if he's coming off screens as much as he is, that's what we're trying to do. He's getting opportunities he needs but also once he starts hitting a few shots they have to honor that so that leaves guys like us open.
"Him being able to knock down shots for us is huge. That's the best thing for us big guys is seeing Pete and Brady (Ellingson) knock down shots because they have to honor that so we kind of feed off of him but he knows that when he's not hitting shots he can depend on us getting the ball inside and getting him open in different ways."
Injury report: Senior forward Dale Jones did not play with swelling in his knee from his most recent surgery.
Sophomore guard Christian Williams left the game early in the second half with an apparent back injury but should be good to go when Iowa faces Savannah State on Sunday.
"He could have gone back," McCaffery said. "I just decided, we're up by 16 or 18 points, I'm not going to put him back in. Especially with a 2:30 game on Sunday."
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