By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery seems optimistic that graduate guard Drew Thelwell will play against Indiana on Saturday, but as far as Thelwell playing for Iowa beyond this season, McCaffery wasn’t as certain.

Thelwell, who played his first four seasons for Morehead State before transferring to Iowa last summer, said Wednesday on the Hawk Fanatic/KCJJ radio show and podcast that he might try to at least look into gaining another season of eligibility, which would be his sixth season in college.

Thelwell was eligible for a free Covid year since he enrolled in college in 2020, but he is believed to be using that to play for Iowa this season.

“I hope so,” Fran McCaffery. “My guess is he’s referencing everybody getting five years. I think that’s well documented. But does that kick in for the new guys?

“My son Jack, who will be a freshman, does he get five years? Or does that mean every senior gets another year, every junior gets an extra two years?

“I don’t know. That would be really complicated.”

Fran McCaffery was referring to his son, Jack McCaffery, who is a senior forward at Iowa City West and a Butler recruit.

The eligibility of student-athletes is hard to keep track of these days, due to multiple factors, including the free Covid year. There are some cases in which a student-athlete has been granted seven or even eight seasons of eligibility.

Former Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara is currently in the transfer portal and trying to play for a seventh season in college.

His appeal is likely based on having two seasons cut short by knee injuries.

As for Saturday’s game against Indiana, Fran McCaffery is optimistic that Thelwell will be available.

Thelwell missed this past Tuesday’s 98-87 victory over Nebraska in overtime at Carver-Hawkeye Arena due to what was described as a minor lower leg injury that apparently had occurred in pre-game warmups.

When asked about the injury Wednesday on the radio, Thelwell only said that he would be ready for the Indiana game.

Iowa didn’t practice on Wednesday, so when Fran McCaffery met with the media before practice on Thursday, he still hadn’t seen Thelwell test the injury on the court.

“I would expect him to do stuff today, so we’ll see,” Fran McCaffery said. “I wouldn’t push him today, and I probably won’t push him too much tomorrow.”

Iowa survived without Thelwell against Nebraska, but it took Josh Dix and Payton Sandfort scoring 31 and 30 points, respectively, with all of Sandfort’s points coming in the second half and overtime.

Dix also played over 44 minutes.

“We can survive it,  but you need Drew’s versatility both defensively and he can play the off-guard position, and he can take over and run the point,” Fran McCaffery said. “It’s just changes things if he’s out in a big a way.”

Thelwell was one of the few bright spots for Iowa in the 116-85 loss at Wisconsin last Friday as he scored 25 points and had four steals.

The Orlando, Florida native is averaging 10.1 points and 3.4 assists per game.

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Words to motivate: Iowa assistant coach Courtney Eldridge made sure that the Iowa players heard what Wisconsin guard Kamari McGee said in the post-game press conference last Friday.

McGee basically accused Iowa of not wanting to play defense and it struck a nerve with the Iowa players according to what Thelwell said Wednesday on the radio.

Iowa sophomore forward Owen Freeman also addressed the subject on Thursday.

“It kind of resonated with our team,” Freeman said. “It kind of set us off a little bit.

“Courtney showed us that clip and it really kind of lit a fire in all of us.”

Iowa struggled at times on defense against Nebraska, but then picked up the intensity in overtime.

“That kind of amplified our defense and that’s something we really wanted to hone in and focus on,” Freeman said.

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Cooper Koch out again: Cooper Koch’s freshman season continues to be interrupted by health concerns.

Fran McCaffery said Thursday that Koch will not play against Indiana on Saturday and that he could be out for an extended period.

“Cooper is not going to be ready this weekend,” Fran McCaffery said. “And moving forward, that could be a long shot. But we’ll see. That’s up to the medical personnel. But he’s not going to be ready right now.”

Cooper Koch, who is the son of former Iowa forward J.R. Koch, has appeared in 10 games this season and is averaging 4.6 points nd 2.1 rebounds per game.

Fran McCaffery said Thursday that Cooper Koch might qualify for a medical redshirt.

“That would be a possibility,” Fran McCaffery said. “He’s had surgery and so forth. It’s not been easy for him. I really feel for him because he’s a wonderful; kid and a really good player. We could really use him.”

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Status of West Coast trip: Following Saturday’s game against Indiana, Iowa is scheduled to play back-to-back games against USC next Tuesday and against UCLA next Friday in Los Angeles.

However, with much of the area in and round Los Angeles being ravaged by wild fires, Fran McCaffery was asked Thursday if the trip to the West Coast could be in jeopardy.

“As of right now everything is good,” Fran McCaffery said. “Certainly, thoughts and prayers with the folks that are going through it out there.

“They have a women’s game at UCLA on Sunday, so we’ll see how that goes. If that is played, or if that is changed. And then we’ll make a decision.’

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