Freshman forward Ladji Dembele makes early statement on the boards
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Nobody is ready to call Iowa freshman forward Ladji Dembele the second coming of Reggie Evans.
At least, not yet.
But the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Dembele has certainly made a strong first impression with his ability to rebound, and with his effort.
“He’s got a really good skill set,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said of Dembele. “He moves it. He can put it on the deck. He can make threes.
“But he has been a phenomenally impressive rebounder every day since he got here, which is what we need from that position.”
Asked if Dembele has exceeded his expectations so far, Fran McCaffery said:
“No. I think that’s what we expected. But I think in fairness, most freshman don’t come in and consistently rebound the way he has. It’s there. We thought it was there. It’s just every day he’s over ten rebounds in practice.”
Dembele is among four incoming freshmen and six newcomers overall on the Iowa roster.
The other three freshmen are former Moline, Illinois high school teammates Brock Harding, a 6-0 point guard, and Owen Freeman, a 6-10 forward, and 6-7 Waukee native Pryce Sandfort, who is the younger brother of Iowa junior forward Payton Sandfort.
Harding and Freeman gained a lot of attention while playing together and winning a state title as seniors, as did Pryce Sandfort while playing for Waukee.
Dembele, on the other hand, comes from New Jersey, so it was easy for him to be overlooked.
But that could soon change if he keeps dominating on the boards because Iowa has to replace its top two rebounders from last season in Kris Murray and Filip Rebraca.
“Ladji, he works hard every single day, I mean he goes after it,” Harding said. “He gets every offensive rebound every time down the court. So, having somebody that plays that hard and we’ve been able to bond on the court, and that’s transferred off the court as well.”
Teammates of Reggie Evans used to describe him the same way during his two seasons as a Hawkeye.
Evans led the Big Ten in rebounding in 2001 and 2002, and was named Big Ten Tournament MVP in 2001, second-team All-Big Ten in 2002, and Honorable Mention All-American in 2001.
He would also go on to play for 13 seasons in the NBA before retiring in 2015.
So, yes, it would be way premature to compare Dembele to one of the greatest rebounders in program history.
But the way in which Dembele’s new teammates talk about his rebounding prowess, and his effort on the boards, is similar to how Evans’ teammates talked about him at Iowa.
Dembele met with the Iowa media for the first time this past Thursday and talked about his transition from high school.
“The game is a little bit faster coming from high school and you’ve got to play tougher,” he said. “So, I’m trying to learn and do the best I can so far.”
In addition to his work on the boards, Dembele is also working on his ball handling and shooting.
Fran McCaffery likes to play at a fast pace on offense and he expects his players to handle the ball in transition.
That’s why ball handling has been an emphasis for Dembele since he joined the team this summer.
“I would say dribbling the ball because coach McCaffery gives you freedom to dribble the ball,” Dembele said.
Iowa’s four incoming freshmen will have a chance to help their cause for playing time when the team travels to France and Spain in August for a three-game tour.
Fran McCaffery has put the four freshmen on an accelerated learning course in preparation for the tour, and he is impressed with how quickly they have adjusted.
“We have six new players, four freshmen and they’ve picked everything up amazingly quickly,” Fran McCaffery said. “That’s impressive to me because a lot of times it takes a while when you’re throwing quick hitters and zone defense and press, motion offense, and defensive concepts, terminology, continuity offense, we’re throwing it all at them.
“Side out-of-bounds plays, out-of-bounds plays under the basket, all the counters, it’s pretty involved.”
“Normally, you don’t play until November, so you’re not really worried about that. But we actually play in August. So, we’re getting it all in.”