Easy win for Iowa men, but now it gets much tougher
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – This was a business deal disguised as a non-conference college basketball game between Iowa and Delaware State.
The home-team Hawkeyes were at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday to pad the win column one last time before heading into Big Ten play, while the 3-11 Hornets were there to get paid for being Iowa’s sacrificial lamb.
It’s the kind of business deal that sometimes takes place at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where an overmatched visitor gets pummeled in a game that means very little.
The good news for Iowa besides winning 89-57 to extend its winning streak to five games and that both teams shook hands afterwards is that nobody was injured.
Senior guard Peter Jok walked gingerly to the locker room with 6 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first half, appearing to favor his left hip. But he returned to the bench before halftime and then started the second half and led Iowa with 17 points.
A breakaway dunk by seldom-used freshman guard Maishe Dailey expanded Iowa’s lead to 30-11 just slightly beyond the midway point of the first half. The 6-foot-5 Ohio native then made 3-point basket on Iowa’s next possession, pushing the lead to 33-11 with 7:25 left before halftime.
By that point, the game was over for all intents and purposes, if it ever really started. Iowa led 43-20 at halftime and the only drama in the second half was whether the burrito lift would be part of the festivities.
Sadly, it wasn't.
No disrespect to Delaware State, but it had no chance of winning on Thursday from a physical standpoint. Iowa could’ve performed woefully and still have prevailed.
Delaware State was here to make money for its athletic department more than to try to win a basketball game.
What’s hard to understand is that Thursday’s game was televised by the Big Ten Network, whereas Iowa’s victory over Northern Iowa wasn’t on normal television.
Iowa is now finished with its nonconference schedule and to say that the competition will improve significantly is putting mildly. The 8-5 Hawkeyes will go from playing at home against one of the lowest ranked Division I teams in the country to playing at No. 15 Purdue next Wednesday in the Big Ten opener.
The Boilermakers are big, physical and talented. And they will face the Hawkeyes at home where their many strengths are magnified.
Iowa will be closer to full strength against Purdue with the expected return of 6-9 freshman forward Tyler Cook, who has missed the last seven games with a broken index finger on his right hand.
You never want a player to get injured, but Cook’s injury might prove to be a blessing because it has created more playing time for fellow freshman forward Cordell Pemsl, who has since performed well in Cook’s absence.
Iowa's freshmen class has played well for the most part.
Jordan Bohannon has established himself as the starting point guard, while redshirt freshman Isaiah Moss has taken advantage of Fran McCaffery's lineup change, which occurred after the sixth game. Moss was inserted in the starting lineup for the Notre Dame game, along with Bohannon and Pemsl, and has since become an explosive scorer in transition.
Iowa also has improved significantly on defense since the lineup change.
"I'm just really proud of not only the fact they made the changes and got better, but they've consistently done it now for five games against some really good teams," McCaffery said after Thursday's victory.
The Hawkeyes still are hard to read after 13 games because so many of the key players haven't had significant roles before. The freshmen have been warned about the 18-game Big Ten grind, but you have to experience it to really know what to expect.
Iowa could've unraveled after losing to Nebraska-Omaha 98-89 on Dec. 3 at home to fall to 3-5, but it hasn't lost since that game. The lineup change has provided a spark, and it helps playing inferior opponents every now and then.