By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Former All-America center Luka Garza had a way of making some things seem incredibly easy, like for example, predicting who would lead the Iowa men’s basketball team in scoring on a game-by-game basis.

It was almost always Garza in each of the past two seasons, but Iowa’s all-time leading scorer is now a member of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and he leaves behind an Iowa team that has several players who could lead the way in scoring this season.

The list of candidates includes sophomore forwards Keegan Murray and Patrick McCaffery, sixth-year senior guard Jordan Bohannon and transfer Filip Rebraca, who scored in double figures in 33 of his final 34 games at North Dakota.

“From game to game, it presents opportunity for a number of different guys who could be in double figures that day, what lineup is clicking at any particular time,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said Monday. “The last couple years we were pretty set with our top seven or eight guys, and that could change from game to game.

“I do think there’s a couple that stand out that we certainly hope are at or near the top pretty much all the time. But it’s nice to be able to know that you have some other guys that are ready to step up when you need them.”

The new-look Hawkeyes will start for real on Tuesday when they face Longwood at 9 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Fans caught their first glimpse of life on the court without Garza last Friday when Iowa defeated Slippery Rock 99-47 in an exhibition game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Patrick McCaffery, who is Fran McCaffery’s son, led all scorers with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field, while Keegan Murray scored 17 points.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can do a lot of stuff with the ball,” Patrick McCaffery said. “We’ve got a lot of really talented players, especially coming off the bench, too. We have a lot of guys that can make an impact.

“So, obviously, that’s good just knowing that if somebody doesn’t have their best night, then somebody else can step up and cut that guy some slack.”

What Iowa doesn’t have this season, unlike last season, is high expectations from the outside.

Iowa was ranked fifth in the Associated Press preseason poll last season, whereas the current team was picked by Athlon Sports to finish 10^th in the Big Ten.

In addition to Garza, Iowa also has to replace All-Big Ten small forward Joe Wieskamp, power forward Jack Nunge and shooting guard C.J. Fredrick.

Wieskamp is now a rookie with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, while Nunge and Fredrick transferred to Xavier and Kentucky, respectively.

The loss of all that scoring and experience has many on the outside assuming that Iowa will take a step back this season after finishing 22-9 and making it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

“Nothing changes for me,” Patrick McCaffery said. “Wherever anybody is ranked or whatever, it really doesn’t matter. We were able to kind of figure that out the other way last year.

“Everybody laces up their shoes the same way and if I cut you, and you cut me, we’re both going to bleed. So, the expectations and the rankings don’t really mean anything. We’ve all got to step out there on the court and play.”

Patrick McCaffery has embraced this new role as an underdog.

“I think we like being the underdog more so than the hunted,” he said. “I think we would rather kind of come in with a chip on our shoulder and really try to embrace that and prove a lot of those people wrong, and prove the people that believe in us right.”

Iowa’s starting lineup against Slippery Rock consisted of Patrick McCaffery, Keegan Murray and Rebraca on the frontline with Bohannon and junior Joe Toussaint in the backcourt. That is also expected to be the starting lineup against Longwood.

Bohannon is Iowa’s all-time leader in 3-point fields with 364 and is capable of having a big scoring night at any time. He also has moved from point guard to shooting guard in order take advantage of his 3-point shooting prowess and to allow Toussaint to be the starting point guard.

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As for Longwood, it’s a member of the Big South Conference and finished 12-17 overall last season, including a 10-10 conference mark. The Lancers won eight of their final 10 regular season games to place fifth in the 12-team league.

Longwood is picked to finish second in the Big South North Division this season behind Campbell.

Fran McCaffery said Longwood will be a much tougher challenge than what Iowa faced in the exhibition game.

“Obviously, Longwood is on another level from Slippery Rock,” said Fran McCaffery, who is entering his 12th season as the Iowa head coach. “They have some talented guys that produced last year. They have some new faces. They’re much more physical, have much more size and experience.

“”So, I think in terms of matchup size-wise, we could go with a smaller lineup if we wanted to and wouldn’t have to play our 5 men as much, but at the same time you want to get those guys some opportunity and experience, as well.”

Iowa has won 10 straight season openers dating back to the 2011-12 season and has won 70 of its last 75 nonconference home games, dating back to 2012.

Tuesday’s game will be televised by the Big Ten Network and is part of a doubleheader at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with the Iowa women’s basketball team facing New Hampshire in the first game at 6 p.m.

 

Iowa vs. Longwood

When: Tuesday, 9:05 p.m.

Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena

TV: Big Ten Network

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network