A familiar face was back in North Liberty on Tuesday night, and it surprised just about everyone.
Even Anthony Hubbard didn’t expect to see Andrew Brommer in uniform for the evening’s Prime Time League action.
As the Iowa wing walked in front of the bench the 6-9 forward was sitting on, he saw Brommer and took a step back.
“Brom, Brom, Brom,” he said with a smile on his face. The pair talked for a few minutes before Brommer took the court and helped his team to an 86-72 win.
Iowa’s senior post player saw his first Prime Time action Tuesday night after having knee surgery during finals week in May. The procedure cleaned out scar tissue from around his right kneecap and also removed a bursa, a small collection of fluid that helps cushion the surrounding joint.
Brommer said his knee felt good in his first time back on the floor, but noted his rehab limits him to 10 minutes a half.
“I feel like I’m moving really well, but the thing I can feel a little bit of difference in is my jumping ability,” he said. “But that’ll come back [after rehab].”
The Rosemount, Minn., native said he felt at around 90 percent, and he expects to be fully healthy in about two weeks.
The summer has been one of recovery for Brommer, who was pulled from Iowa’s 66-61 loss to Michigan State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on March 10 because of a neck injury.
“It’s been a lot of rehab and a lot of upper body lifting and core to try to stay in shape,” he said about his summer workouts.
And while there was definitely some rust on the big Minnesotan’s game, he still performed reasonably well as McCurry’s/Gatens (2-3) beat Armstrong/Kroeger (2-3) on Tuesday. He scored 9 points and added 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He also drew an offensive foul in the first half.
Incoming Iowa freshman and summer-league teammate Josh Oglesby said he was impressed with Brommer’s first game in North Liberty.
“You can’t really take any first impressions of someone coming off [an] injury, but he played well,” Oglesby said. “He moved well and got the ball down low with strong rebounding. My first impression was he’s good.”
Randy Larson, the Prime Time commissioner and Brommer’s and Oglesby’s coach, said he was also impressed with Brommer.
“I think what he needs to continue to do is get to where he plays naturally,” Larson said. “He’s just always been a kid who didn’t have as much confidence as I think he should have — that’s one of the reasons I think he’s a good candidate to have a breakout senior year.”
Oglesby led McCurry’s/Gatens in scoring with 18 points, and he also grabbed 7 rebounds.
The Cedar Rapids native was the beneficiary of good ball movement throughout the game, and he made 4-of-9 shots from behind the 3-point line.
“[In] this league, there isn’t a lot of defense,” he said. “If you move the ball a couple of times, people aren’t going to want to play [defense]. All they want to do is get on offense and showboat.”