Peter Jok is averaging more points than Jarrod Uthoff over the last 10 games.
By Kyle Mann
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While Iowa senior Jarrod Uthoff blows up in the national spotlight, junior guard Peter Jok is blossoming into the next player in a growing list of Hawkeyes bound for the NBA.
Jok again proved his name belongs in the conversation after scoring 27 points against Minnesota in Iowa’s 75-71 win Sunday evening.
Beginning with Devyn Marble in 2014 and Aaron White in 2015, Uthoff will likely make for three-straight years that the Hawkeyes have had a player drafted into the league. Uthoff has made a name for himself this season by hovering near the top of the Big Ten’s scoring leaders, but as the season progresses, there’s a legitimate question if he’s the most dangerous scorer on his own team.
And that’s not a knock on Uthoff but instead a realization that Jok is as dangerous a scorer as anybody in the conference, as displayed against the Gophers.
“He’s a tough cover,” Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino said. “He’s got size and he can shoot, we struggled with that a little bit … he’s put in the work.”
While Uthoff missed his first seven shots of the game and the Gophers crashed the offensive boards to keep the score close, Jok carried the team offensively. A team-high 12 points on 3-of-5 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the line allowed the Hawkeyes to lead at the half despite struggling early.
Jok’s performance Sunday was one of his best of the season in which he has shone nearly every time he’s been on the floor. He showed early in 2015 that he had reached a level of maturity both physically and mentally that fans had been hoping to see since his freshman season. Jok has continued to improve mightily even since the beginning of this year.
Most notably, Jok points to a conversation with McCaffery after Iowa’s Jan. 5 victory over Nebraska as his true jumping-off point.
“He told me they’re going to start guarding me differently, and I just got to find a way to get easy buckets,” Jok said. “After that talk I felt really comfortable. He gave me the ultimate green light, so I just go out there and do what I do best, which is score.”
Confidence is often trumpeted to be one of the most important things to a shooter, but it can be difficult to measure intangibles. In Jok’s case, the benefits of confidence are glaringly obvious.
“I don’t have to worry about him taking me out or anything if I make a mistake,” Jok said. “His giving me the green light shows how much confidence he has in me, and that makes me more confident.”
Sunday’s win over the Gophers made 10 contests since that conversation, and Jok has indeed taken his game to the next level in that roughly six-week period. He’s averaged 19.5 points per game since Nebraska, and scored 20 or more five times. Uthoff in that same stretch has averaged only 19.2.
Jok scored Iowa’s first 8 points to begin the second half, and with the Gophers within 2 points with under three minutes remaining, Jok came running off a screen to nail a catch-and-shoot 3 to gain separation. Uthoff, who had 24 points of his own, very much enjoys his confident sidekick.
“His game has always been at a high level, but I think his confidence is through the roof right now,” Uthoff said. “He’s always had this ability, and now you’re starting to see just a little bit of it. He has a lot more in the tank.”
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