Iowa men look to extend winning streak to four games
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – In barely two weeks, the outlook for the Iowa men’s basketball team has been upgraded from hopeless to hopeful.
The players and coaches probably never lost hope, but some of the fans did because I heard it for myself.
I heard after the 98-89 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Dec. 3 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena that Iowa would be lucky to win 10 games this season.
I heard that the situation at point guard was a disaster and that Iowa’s defensive liabilities were too much to overcome.
I heard that senior guard Peter Jok was only concerned about scoring points and that he used defense as a time to rest.
It was gloom and doom after just eight games, made even worse by injuries to freshman forward Tyler Cook and senior forward Dale Jones.
But now after 11 games, the mood and the outlook has changed considerably, thanks to an unexpected three-game winning streak against Stetson, Iowa and Northern Iowa.
The 6-5 Hawkeyes will try to extend the streak to four games when they face North Dakota on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The game looks very winnable on paper, considering North Dakota lost to Northern Iowa 78-70 on Dec. 10 in Cedar Falls, whereas Iowa pounded Northern Iowa 69-46 this past Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
Looks often can be deceiving in sports and that’s part of the reason this game is dangerous
“We have a really good team coming to Carver-Hawkeye Arena tomorrow,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said Monday on a teleconference. “We have to make sure we stay dialed in defensively.”
Iowa’s current surge has been caused mostly by performing better on defense. The Hawkeyes allowed at least 91 points in four of the first eight games, but have since held each of their last three opponents to 68 points or fewer.
North Dakota brings a 5-4 record into Tuesday’s game and we can assume a lot of incentive to play well. This will be the Fighting Hawks first game in Iowa City since the 1968-69 season and its head coach is former Iowa assistant Brian Jones, while former Hawkeye point guard Jeff Horner is an assistant coach.
It always is special when a team from any of the Dakota schools gets matched against a Big Ten opponent, as the Iowa football team learned the hard way in September, losing to North Dakota State 23-21 on a last-second field goal at Kinnick Stadium.
It’s fair to assume that Jones and Horner will have their players stoked and ready for the challenge.
If Iowa comes out flat and reverts back to being a sieve on defense, the outcome could be jeopardy.
Horner’s connection goes beyond just being a former Hawkeye. He also was Iowa senior guard Peter Jok’s head basketball coach at West Des Moines Valley High School.
“Jeff was phenomenal when we were recruiting Pete, really as professional as they come and certainly one of our all-time greats,” McCaffery said. “I have a lot of respect for him and I’m happy that his coaching career is going as well as it has.”
There is a chance that Iowa freshman forward Tyler Cook could play on Tuesday after missing the last five games because of a broken finger. But it seems more likely that McCaffery would wait until the Big Ten opener at Purdue on Dec. 28 to use Cook again.
Iowa also will play Delaware State on Thursday, six days before the Purdue game.
Cook was averaging 13.7 points per game when he was injured in late November.
His absence created an opportunity for fellow freshman forward Cordell Pemsl, who has made the most of it by scoring in double figures in each of the five games that he has started in Cook’s absence.
Pemsl has made an incredible 46-of-60 field-goal attempts this season. The Dubuque native made all four of his shots in Saturday’s 69-46 victory over Northern Iowa in Des Moines.
He and Cook rarely played together before Cook’s injury, but that is likely to change now that both players have proven to be reliable scorers.
McCaffery was asked Monday if he planned to discuss with his assistants how to use Cook and Pemsl together.
“We probably will, but we haven’t yet,” McCaffery said. “They played together a little bit so far. Obviously, it was one in for the other for the most part, but they did play together a little bit and I think they can play together because they’re both willing passers, they’re both smart players and they both can score and they both can rebounds.”
“I think it would work. We’ll just have to make sure they get the reps in practice to get comfortable playing together.”
McCaffery has plenty of options to use on the frontline with 6-7 Nicholas Baer, 6-7 Ahmad Wagner and 6-9 Dom Uhl all playing significant minutes and having diferent skill sets.
“There will be times when they’re not playing together because Ahmad has stepped up and really I thought been terrific as has Dom Uhl as has Nicholas Baer,” McCaffery said of Cook and Pemsl. “So it just gives us a whole other dimension when he comes back, another low-post scoring threat, another rebounder and another runner.”
And more reason for hope.
Iowa vs. North Dakota
When: 8 p.m Tuesday
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena
TV: Big Ten Network
Series: Iowa leads with a 7-0 record, but the teams haven't played since Iowa won 91-59 on Dec. 19, 1969 in Iowa City. Iowa won the only game played in Grand Forks, N.D., 43-23 on Jan. 6, 1941.