By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Should the Iowa men’s basketball team lose at Rutgers on Tuesday, it won’t be from a lack of depth.

And that’s even if senior star Peter Jok can’t play.

Jok could miss his second game in a row if the Iowa medical staff decides that his ailing back still needs more rest.

“I honestly don’t know,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said Monday on a teleconference when asked about Jok’s availability for the Rutgers game.

With or without Jok, McCaffery still has plenty of healthy options to use against an improving Rutgers squad, which nearly upset Big Ten leader Wisconsin this past Saturday at home.

“Even if Pete had played, I’m going to play a lot of guys and to try to keep them fresh,” McCaffery said. “We have a lot of guys that deserve to play. We have a lot of different guys who are producing. And I think in terms of a sense of fairness, you’ve got to get them in there.”

Funny how depth becomes a burden for a team that is losing, but is often considered a strength for a team having success.

McCaffery was praised for skillfully using 10 players during the 85-72 victory over Ohio State last Saturday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. He had to make up for Jok’s absence and did so by orchestrating a group effort in which multiple players made significant contributions.

The tone was different after Iowa’s 76-64 loss at Illinois last Wednesday. McCaffery used 13 players in that game, but since Iowa lost, that was viewed by some as too many.

Ideally, McCaffery would have an eight- or nine-player rotation filled by experienced and established players whose skills blend perfectly with each other.

But instead, he has a roster filled mostly with young players who are trying to establish themselves, but who also have different skill sets.

McCaffery goes into each game not knowing who will have the hot hand, because other than Jok’s consistent scoring, the other players come and go on offense.

One night it might be forward Ahmad Wagner who sparks the offense, while other nights it could be Dom Uhl, Cordell Pemsl or Ryan Kriener.

You just don’t know with this Iowa team because most of the players are young and still experiencing some things for the first time.

Outside of Jok and freshman forward Tyler Cook at times, there are no stars on this Iowa team, at least not yet.

McCaffery has a bunch of players, including six freshmen, who are similar in talent, but who also play different roles in many cases.

Combine those two things and you have a situation in which McCaffery is always looking for the right combinations. He does that by using multiple lineups during the course of a game.

"I've had young teams, but those teams were kind of different than this team," McCaffery said. "The thing that excites me about this group is all these kids want to be great. They want to please. They want to be respected by their teammates, their coaches, by the people who watch them play. And if they're making mistakes and struggling, they'll work that much harder to get better.

"It's hard at this level to be inexperiened, especially on the road. And like I said the other night, sometimes, you just have to go through it. You've got to have some successes, but you've got to have some failures and you've got to be able to play through those failures and learn from them and recognize the value of every possession and how it impacts the end of a game. And I think we're realizing that as we go through it."

McCaffery has changed his starting lineup multiple times this season. Sophomore forward Nicholas Baer began the season as a starter then switched to coming off the bench, but is now starting again with Jok out of the lineup.

"When Pete comes back, I'll bring Nicholas off the bench," McCaffery said.

Baer prides himself on being ready for every game whether he starts or comes off the bench. He watched Wisconsin struggle to defeat Rutgers this past Saturday and knows that Tuesday's game will be a challenge, with or without Jok.

"That was a tough one, but they're competing just as well as anyone in this conference and they're playing as hard as any other team in this conference," Baer said of Rutgers, which is led by first-year head coach Steve Pikiell. "So they're going to be a tough matchup."   

Some might say it's hard to build consistency and team chemistry while using so many players. But what is McCaffery supposed to do if he truly believes that 10 or 11 players deserve a chance to contribute on a regular basis?

That’s where his team is right now.

It still is searching for its identity, along with its first road win this season. Iowa is 0-5 on the road this season with four of the losses coming by double figures, including a 35-point drubbing on Jan. 15 at Northwestern.

"We certainly played better in our last game and I think we've had some experiences on the road that we can learn from," McCaffery said. "I just expect it to be better."

Iowa vs. Rutgers

When: 6 p.m., Tuesday

Where: Piscataway, N.J, The RAC

TV: Big Ten Network

Records: Iowa is 12-10 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten; Rutgers is 12-10 and 1-8.

Last meeting: Iowa outscored Rutgers 26-11 the final 10:12 to rally from a nine-point second-half deficit to upend Rutgers, 68-62, on Jan. 8, in Iowa City. The win was Iowa's fourth straight over the Scarlet Knights.